About The W Fund
The W Fund is a venture capital firm founded in 2012. It is primarily based out of Seattle, United States. As of Mar 2023, The W Fund has invested in 24 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Life Sciences to High Tech and Enterprise Applications. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Vivid Machines Overall, The W Fund portfolio has seen 1 IPO and 3 acquisitions including key companies like Athira Pharma, C-SATS and AnswerDash. A lot of funds co-invest with The W Fund, with names like Washington Research Foundation sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. The W Fund has team of 12 people including 2 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed & Series A
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
The W Fund's List of Top Investments
The W Fund has a portfolio of 24 companies. Their most notable investments are in Hypersciences and VICIS.Their portfolio spans across United States and Canada. They have invested in Life Sciences, High Tech, Enterprise Applications and 12 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A stages. Here is the list of top investments by The W Fund:
Developer of DNA sequencing technology to identify genomic mutations. It specializes in advanced DNA sequencing technologies, particularly proprietary Duplex Sequencing to identify genomic features that determine susceptibility to benzo pyrene-induced in vivo mutations.
Key facts about Twin Strand Bio
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $84M
- Employee Count: 13 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Janus Henderson Investors, Ridgeback Capital Management and 9 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Feb 13, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Developer of drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. The company's product is Fosgonimeton for the treatment of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, various dementias, and others. Also, have two drug candidates ATH-1020 for neuropsychiatric indications and ATH-1019 for peripheral indications.
Key facts about Athira Pharma
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $121M
- Employee Count: 51 as on May 31, 2026
- Investors: RTW Investments, Perceptive Advisors and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Dec 08, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Shiru
Developer of functional proteins for the food industry. The company's protein leverages machine learning and precision biology to identify and create food proteins that are used in alternatives for cheese, yogurt, milk, eggs, or meat. It enables users to get access to sustainable food products.
Key facts about Shiru
- Founded Year: 2019
- Location: Emeryville (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $36.7M
- Employee Count: 25 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Peak State Ventures, Veronorte and 18 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Nov 12, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. VICIS
Provider of tech-driven footballer's helmets for concussion management. The helmet is comprised of multiple layers that claim to reduce linear and rotational impact forces from multiple directions. It has a high-definition prism lens that gives a detailed definition of the football field.
Key facts about VICIS
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $98M
- Employee Count: 28 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Washington Research Foundation, Hampstead Park Capital Management and 14 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Nov 08, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Developer of cloud-based protein-modeling software for drug discovery. Their lead product, Cyrus Bench is a modified version of the open-source Rosetta molecular modeling software. Cyrus Bench delivers Rosetta with the complete associated array of bio-molecular computation tools (e.g. BLAST) required to use Rosetta to its full potential, along with a custom UI.
Key facts about Cyrus Biotechnology
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $32M
- Employee Count: 16 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Orbimed, Agent Capital and 11 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Dec 20, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
The W Fund's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
The W Fund has invested in 24 companies over the last 13 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Vivid Machines and most recent follow-on round was in WiBotic.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2017 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
The W Fund's Investments by Stage
The W Fund has made 9 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $1.81M and 5 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $9.07M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 9 |
Series A | 5 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
The W Fund's Investments by Sector
The W Fund has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Life Sciences, High Tech, Enterprise Applications, Sustainability Tech and Energy Tech. Notably, it has invested in 21 Tech companies, 20 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 11 Tech hardware companies and at least 9 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Life Sciences | 5 |
High Tech | 4 |
Enterprise Applications | 3 |
Sustainability Tech | 3 |
Energy Tech | 2 |
Others | 14 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
The W Fund's Investments by Geography
The W Fund has made most investments in United States (12), followed by Canada where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 12 |
Canada | 1 |
Japan | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
The W Fund's recent investments
The W Fund has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by The W Fund:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar 13, 2023 | Canada | Seed | 7306 | [+10] | |
Oct 03, 2022 | Japan | Series A | 8034 | ||
Oct 27, 2021 | United States | Series A | 1384 | [+9] | |
Aug 20, 2019 | United States | Series A | 3270 | [+2] | |
Oct 31, 2017 | United States | Series A | 1868 | [+4] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in The W Fund's Portfolio
1 of The W Fund's portfolio company became public - Athira Pharma. It got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Sep 2020 at marketcap of $204MHere are The W Fund's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 18, 2020 | Feb 11, 2016 | Series A | 2385 |
Acquired companies in The W Fund's Portfolio
3 companies from The W Fund's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was AnswerDash in Jun 2020 by CloudEngage for $*****.Here are The W Fund's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 23, 2020 | Nov 05, 2013 | Seed | 6194 | |
Mar 27, 2019 | Apr 06, 2017 | Seed | 1131 | |
Apr 05, 2018 | May 26, 2015 | Series A | 9356 |
Team profile of The W Fund
The W Fund has a team of 12 members including 2 Partners and 10 Principals located in United States. The W Fund's team sits on the board of 1 company.Here is a list of top team members in The W Fund:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Seattle | - | ||
Partner | Oakland | - | ||
Principal | United States | |||
Principal | Seattle | - | ||
Principal | Seattle | - | ||
Principal | North Bend | - | ||
Principal | Seattle | - | ||
Principal | Redmond | - | ||
Principal | - | - | ||
Principal | Seattle | - |
Co-investors of The W Fund
Over the past 13 years, 112 investors have co-invested in The W Fund's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before The W Fund: Cleanup Expert, Women Who Tech and 14 others have invested in rounds before The W Fund. There is 1 company where Cleanup Expert has invested before The W Fund and 1 company where Women Who Tech has invested before The W Fund.
- Top Co-investors of The W Fund: 39 investors entered a company along with The W Fund. These include investors like Washington Research Foundation (5 companies).
- Invested after The W Fund: A total of 57 investors have invested in The W Fund's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include HHS (2 companies), Alzheimer's Drug Discovery (1 company) and Dolby Family Ventures (1 company).
Recent News related to The W Fund
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Tradem, Series A raises 410 million yenPR TIMES•Nov 15, 2024•TRADOM, DBJ Capital, Nippon Steel, W Fund and 3 others
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Flea market service “Pickyou” raises 140 million yen in fundingFashionsnap.com•Apr 03, 2024•PickYou, Nissay Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, The W Fund and 7 others
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WiBotic Raises $5.7M in Series A Financing RoundFinSMEs•Jun 11, 2020•WiBotic, Junson Capital, SV Tech Ventures, Aves Capital Management and 2 others
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Johnson & Johnson acquires C-SATS, a University of Washington spinout that grades surgeonsGeekWire•Apr 05, 2018•Johnson & Johnson, C-SATS, The W Fund, Washington Research Foundation and 5 others
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M3 Biotechnology raises $15.2M, launches clinical trial for drug that could reverse Alzheimer’sprofitmaker.tips•Nov 02, 2017•M3 Biotechnology, Dolby Family Ventures, The W Fund, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and 1 other
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Cyrus Biotechnology Announces $8M Financing to Expand Computational Drug Discovery Software PlatformVCA Online•Jul 27, 2017•Cyrus Biotechnology, Trinity Ventures, Orbimed, SpringRock Ventures and 1 other
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Wibotic reels in $2.5 mln seedPE Hub•Apr 26, 2017•WiBotic, Tsing Capital, Comet Labs, The W Fund and 2 others
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Spokane clean-energy startup led by Blue Origin vet raises $1.3 million | The Seattle TimesThe Seattle Times•Jun 30, 2016•Hypersciences, Shell, Washington Research Foundation, Spokane Angel Alliance and 1 other
