About ASCEND
ASCEND is a venture capital firm founded in 2019. It is primarily based out of Seattle, United States. As of Oct 2026, ASCEND is an active investor, having invested in 67 companies, with 5 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Retail. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Sabi Overall, ASCEND portfolio has seen 8 acquisitions including key companies like Included, Clarity and Spiral. A lot of funds co-invest with ASCEND, with names like Madrona sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. ASCEND has team of 12 people including 8 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 2 more
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
ASCEND's List of Top Investments
ASCEND has a portfolio of 67 companies. Their most notable investments are in Groopit and Meetingflow.Their portfolio spans across United States, Canada, Israel and 1 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Retail and 21 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 2 more. Here is the list of top investments by ASCEND:
1. Overland
Provider of AI-enabled self-driving delivery vehicles for off-road. The company develops off-road autonomous vehicles for terrain addresses and for labor shortages. It is used for diverse vegetation, uneven surfaces, changing terrain, and other obstacles.
Key facts about Overland
- Founded Year: 2022
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $132M
- Employee Count: 140 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: TriplePoint Capital, Shasta Ventures and 13 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Venture Debt, Feb 03, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Dolly
On-demand moving and delivery service connecting individuals with local helpers. The company provides a platform to book now for on-demand truck and muscle for moving and delivery needs. It offers services like apartment moves, store delivery, and hauling. The platform connects individuals needing help with moving and delivery tasks with local helpers. It optimizes for convenience, safety, and affordability. The company aims to create freedom of time, choice, and worry for its users. It offers services for both individuals and retailers, providing a way to boost sales and scale business with nationwide delivery. The platform also provides an opportunity for individuals to become helpers and earn money. The company focuses on reimagining the moving and delivery experience by putting the customer in control.
Key facts about Dolly
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $32M
- Employee Count: 125 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Western Technology Investment, Hyde Park Venture Partners and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, May 15, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Vouched
Provider of identity verification solutions for multiple industries and AI agents. The company delivers identity verification, fraud detection, data verification, and compliance. It offers tools for healthcare, financial services, automotive, real estate, and hospitality sectors. The company provides application programming interfaces, software development kits, and JavaScript plug-ins.
Key facts about Vouched
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $30.9M
- Employee Count: 62 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: SK Ventures, SpringRock Ventures and 14 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Sep 04, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of EV battery health analytics and decision tools for vehicles. Collects and analyzes real-world driving and charging data from connected electric cars to estimate current and future battery performance. Gives shoppers model-level and vehicle-specific battery scores, range projections, and degradation insights to support confident new and used EV purchases. Helps owners track battery health over time and receive guidance on usage, charging, and resale timing. Equips dealerships with reports, valuation signals, and retailing tools tailored to electric vehicles so they can price, acquire, and sell EV inventory.
Key facts about Recurrent Auto
- Founded Year: 2020
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $24M
- Employee Count: 32 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Vulcan Capital, Prelude Ventures and 15 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jan 08, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Included
Recruitment analytics for diversity and inclusion. It provides insights based on organizational DEI data. It includes integrated crawls to gather data on multiple data points and generate DEI reports.
Key facts about Included
- Founded Year: 2020
- Location: Redmond (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $7.3M
- Employee Count: 5 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: SignalFire, Alumni Ventures and 3 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, May 07, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
ASCEND's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
ASCEND has invested in 67 companies over the last 7 years, with an average of 5 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 6 investments, while as of Oct 2026, it has made 3 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Sabi and most recent follow-on round was in Overland.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2025 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
2024 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
2023 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
2022 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
2021 | 10 | 2 | 12 |
2020 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
ASCEND's Investments by Stage
ASCEND has made 35 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $5.43M, 6 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $16.3M, 1 investment in Convertible Debt stage with an average round size of $500K and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $100M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 35 |
Series A | 6 |
Convertible Debt | 1 |
Series B | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
ASCEND's Investments by Sector
ASCEND has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech, Consumer and Retail. Notably, it has invested in 57 Tech companies, 49 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 45 Software companies and at least 28 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 28 |
High Tech | 14 |
FinTech | 8 |
Consumer | 6 |
Retail | 6 |
Others | 39 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
ASCEND's Investments by Geography
ASCEND has made most investments in United States (41), followed by Canada where it has made 2 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 41 |
Canada | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
ASCEND's recent investments
ASCEND has made 3 investments in 2026 so far. Sabi and Endurance Energy are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by ASCEND:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 09, 2026 | United States | Seed | 8266 | [+5] | |
Jun 11, 2026 | United States | Series A | 5091 | [+6] | |
May 19, 2026 | United States | Seed | 1476 | [+1] | |
Nov 18, 2025 | United States | Seed | 3714 | ||
Nov 05, 2025 | United States | Seed | 6890 | [+7] |
Acquired companies in ASCEND's Portfolio
8 companies from ASCEND's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Clarity in Aug 2026 by Deel for $*****.Here are ASCEND's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 04, 2026 | - | - | 8723 | |
Apr 08, 2026 | Dec 07, 2022 | Seed | 4059 | |
Jan 14, 2026 | Nov 16, 2021 | Seed | 6528 | |
Nov 18, 2025 | Dec 20, 2019 | Seed | 7993 | |
Jan 24, 2025 | Sep 23, 2020 | Seed | 7148 |
Team profile of ASCEND
ASCEND has a team of 12 members including 8 Partners. ASCEND's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in ASCEND:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | - | - | - |
Co-investors of ASCEND
Over the past 7 years, 221 investors have co-invested in ASCEND's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before ASCEND: Techstars, Y Combinator and 20 others have invested in rounds before ASCEND. There are 2 companies where Techstars has invested before ASCEND and 2 companies where Y Combinator has invested before ASCEND.
- Top Co-investors of ASCEND: 161 investors entered a company along with ASCEND. These include investors like Madrona (5 companies).
- Invested after ASCEND: A total of 38 investors have invested in ASCEND's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Hearst (2 companies), Alumni Ventures (2 companies) and 8VC (1 company).
Recent News related to ASCEND
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StitcherAI Emerges from Stealth with $3 Million Pre-Seed FundingFinTech Futures•May 19, 2026•Stitcher, Founders' Co-op, ASCEND, Plug and Play Tech Center
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Seattle-area startup Govstream.ai raises $3.6M to improve city permitting processes using AIGeekWire•Dec 04, 2025•Govstream, Ascend, ASCEND
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US AI-powered software platform Clarify nets $22.5m total fundingTech in Asia•Jun 26, 2025•Clarify.ai, USVP, Gradient Ventures, Madrona and 4 others
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Leading Credit Unions Fund ModernFi CUSO to Drive Deposit Growth via the First Credit Union Deposit NetworkBusiness Wire•Nov 19, 2024•Modern Finance, Airbnb, ASCEND, Onevc and 4 others
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Moondream raises $4.5M to prove that smaller AI models can still pack a punchVentureBeat•Oct 28, 2024•Moondream, Felicis Ventures, M12, ASCEND
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Former Techstars Seattle Leader, Ridwell Co-founder Raise $4m For Stealthy New Ai StartupGeekWire•Jul 29, 2024•Ludlow Ventures, Four Acres, ASCEND, Breakers and 9 others
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Overland AI Secures $10M in Seed Funding to Accelerate Development of Autonomous Vehicle Software for High-Risk MissionsForexTV•May 20, 2024•Overland, Shasta Ventures, ASCEND, Pioneer Square Labs and 3 others
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Velou Raises $4M in Seed FundingFinSMEs•Mar 11, 2024•Velou, Animo, ASCEND, First Sentier Investors and 3 others
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Finpilot, a Seattle startup using generative AI to help financial analysts with research, raises $4MGeekWire•Feb 23, 2024•Finpilot, Madrona, ASCEND
