About Backstage Capital
Backstage Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2015. It is primarily based out of West Hollywood, United States. As of Feb 2025, Backstage Capital has invested in 172 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Consumer to Retail and Enterprise Applications. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Audiomob Overall, Backstage Capital portfolio has seen 8 acquisitions including key companies like Career Karma, CareAcademy and Plural. A lot of funds co-invest with Backstage Capital, with names like Arlan Hamilton sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Backstage Capital has team of 98 people including 5 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 2 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Backstage Capital's List of Top Investments
Backstage Capital has a portfolio of 172 companies. Their most notable investments are in Topknot and Nicolette.Their portfolio spans across United States, United Kingdom, Canada and 3 more locations. They have invested in Consumer, Retail, Enterprise Applications and 29 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 2 more. Here is the list of top investments by Backstage Capital:1. Kairos
Provider of AI-powered identity verification, document authentication, and biometric solutions. It offers tools for ID verification, liveness detection, and age estimation. The company's technology supports various industries, including financial services, online gaming, and adult entertainment. It helps businesses grow their user base while mitigating fraud.
Key facts about Kairos
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Miami (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $19.6M
- Employee Count: 185 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Eniac Ventures, Vesuvio Ventures and 21 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Angel, Feb 19, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Career Karma
Online platform for candidates career guidance. It provides an app-based code learning platform for adults. It is a community platform of peers, mentors, and coaches for adults to learn coding. Its users take assessments to get matched with boot camps, peer circles, and career guides and also get notifications about scholarships & stipends. It is available for iOS and Android platforms.
Key facts about Career Karma
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $53.5M
- Employee Count: 70 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: SoftBank Group, Emerson Collective and 57 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Jan 10, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
3. Carrot
Provider of fertility benefits and family-building support for employers globally. The company offers personalized plans based on individual needs from localized experts. It facilitates access to services, including egg, sperm, and embryo freezing, assisted reproduction, gestational surrogacy, and adoption. Support extends to pregnancy, postpartum, parenting, return to work, hormonal health, and men's health.
Key facts about Carrot
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $115M
- Employee Count: 605 as on Feb 28, 2026
- Investors: Orbimed, Catapult and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Aug 17, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Hello Alice
Online networking platform for businesses to launch and grow. It provides knowledge, funding, networks, and peer-to-peer connections with small business owners. It also provides financing options such as loans and credit cards for small businesses.
Key facts about Hello Alice
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Houston (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $43.4M
- Employee Count: 79 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Mastercard, Serena Ventures and 21 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Apr 04, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Developer of thermal management solutions integrating diamonds with semiconductor technology. This technology combats heat, enabling devices and systems to operate more effectively. The company’s products include chip-on-diamond solutions, servers, radios, and power amplifiers. These products serve industries such as AI, data centers, space, automotive, cellular communications, and radar.
Key facts about Akash Systems
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $17.6M
- Employee Count: 162 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Flucas Ventures, Khosla Ventures and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jul 10, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Backstage Capital's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Backstage Capital has invested in 173 companies over the last 10 years, with an average of 5 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 1 investment. Its most recent first time investment was in Audiomob and most recent follow-on round was in Hello Alice.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2024 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2022 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
2021 | 13 | 2 | 15 |
2020 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
2019 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2018 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2017 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
Backstage Capital's Investments by Stage
Backstage Capital has made 36 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $1.95M, 13 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $9.45M, 2 investments in Series C stage with an average round size of $20M and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $21M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 36 |
Series A | 13 |
Series C | 2 |
Series B | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage Capital's Investments by Sector
Backstage Capital has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Consumer, Retail, Enterprise Applications, Media & Entertainment and EdTech. Notably, it has invested in 143 Tech companies, 105 Consumer (B2C) companies, 67 Software companies and at least 63 companies focusing on Enterprise (B2B).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Consumer | 19 |
Retail | 11 |
Enterprise Applications | 10 |
Media & Entertainment | 7 |
EdTech | 6 |
Others | 46 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage Capital's Investments by Geography
Backstage Capital has made most investments in United States (49), followed by United Kingdom where it has made 2 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 49 |
United Kingdom | 2 |
Canada | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Backstage Capital's recent investments
Backstage Capital has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Backstage Capital:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 02, 2025 | United Kingdom | Series A | 2085 | [+2] | |
Apr 04, 2024 | United States | Series C | 9567 | [+6] | |
Mar 28, 2024 | United States | Seed | 4939 | ||
Apr 24, 2023 | United States | Series C | 3019 | [+6] | |
Apr 19, 2023 | Canada | Seed | 5462 | [+3] |
Acquired companies in Backstage Capital's Portfolio
8 companies from Backstage Capital's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Plural in Dec 2025 by SAI360 for $*****.Here are Backstage Capital's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dec 01, 2025 | May 12, 2022 | Series A | 5966 | |
Nov 12, 2025 | - | - | 4098 | |
Sep 05, 2025 | - | - | 6356 | |
Apr 18, 2024 | May 13, 2021 | Series A | 4012 | |
Oct 05, 2022 | Jun 07, 2021 | Seed | 9805 |
Team profile of Backstage Capital
Backstage Capital has a team of 98 members including 5 Partners and 1 Venture Partner located in United States. Backstage Capital's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in Backstage Capital:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Los Angeles | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - | - | |
Partner | Philadelphia | - | - | |
Partner | Concord | - | - | |
Venture Partner | Santa Monica | - | - |
Co-investors of Backstage Capital
Over the past 10 years, 346 investors have co-invested in Backstage Capital's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Backstage Capital: Techstars, Right Side Capital Management and 93 others have invested in rounds before Backstage Capital. There are 7 companies where Techstars has invested before Backstage Capital and 5 companies where Right Side Capital Management has invested before Backstage Capital.
- Top Co-investors of Backstage Capital: 201 investors entered a company along with Backstage Capital. These include investors like Arlan Hamilton (4 companies).
- Invested after Backstage Capital: A total of 50 investors have invested in Backstage Capital's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Mastercard (1 company), Lovell (1 company) and Correlation Ventures (1 company).
Recent News related to Backstage Capital
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Arlan Hamilton Transitions Leadership at Backstage Capital to Focus on Empowering Diverse FoundersGlobal Village Space•Dec 15, 2024•Backstage Capital
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BoldHue Personalized Foundation Device Gains $3.3 Million in FundingBeauty Packaging•Jul 08, 2024•BoldHue, Lucas Venture Group, Capital Eleven, Backstage Capital and 1 other
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Beauty tech startup Boldhue raises capital to ship its ‘Keurig for makeup’TechCrunch+•Jul 02, 2024•BoldHue, Lucas Venture Group, Capital Eleven, Backstage Capital and 1 other
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Hello Alice Raises Series C Funding RoundFinSMEs•Apr 04, 2024•Hello Alice, QED Investors, Mastercard, Backstage Capital and 4 others
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EdLight Raises $4M in Seed Round to Revolutionize EducationEdTechReview•Mar 29, 2024•Edlight Technologies, Gates, Cambiareducation, Backstage Capital and 5 others
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With thousands of subscribers, The Juggernaut raises $2 million for a South Asian-focused news outletTechCrunch+•Aug 01, 2023•The Juggernaut, Precursor Ventures, Unpopular Ventures, Backstage Capital and 2 others
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Community, the SMS Engagement Platform, Secures $25MM in Funding to Fuel Its Rapid Growth and ExpansionTullahoma News•Apr 24, 2023•Community, Salesforce Ventures, Morgan Stanley, HubSpot and 5 others
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Guava Raises $2.4M in FundingFinSMEs•Jul 27, 2022•Guava, Heron Rock, Global Good Fund, Precursor Ventures and 1 other
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Backstage Capital cuts majority of staff after pausing net new investmentsTechCrunch+•Jun 27, 2022•Backstage Capital
