About Watchfire Ventures
Watchfire Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2020. It is primarily based out of Santa Barbara, United States. As of Sep 2026, Watchfire Ventures is an active investor, having invested in 12 companies, with 3 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Retail and Real Estate and Construction Tech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series B round of Confido Overall, Watchfire Ventures portfolio has seen 1 acquisition, namely Black Buffalo. A lot of funds co-invest with Watchfire Ventures, with names like Barrel Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Watchfire Ventures has team of 3 people including 3 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 1 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
Watchfire Ventures' List of Top Investments
Watchfire Ventures has a portfolio of 12 companies. Their most notable investments are in The Renatural and Stay Ai.Their portfolio spans across United States, Canada and United Kingdom. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Retail, Real Estate and Construction Tech and 10 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Watchfire Ventures:1. Operto
Provider of cloud-enabled property automation and access control solutions. It offers a suite of integrated solutions to enable keyless entry, automated temperature control, energy management, and more for short-term rentals and hotels. Its features include PMS integration, custom branding, upsell, and a real-time dashboard.
Key facts about Operto
- Founded Year: 2005
- Location: Vancouver (Canada)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $40.7M
- Employee Count: 69 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: BlackPines Capital Partners, FUSE and 6 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 16, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Key facts about Oats Overnight
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Tempe (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $102M
- Employee Count: 268 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Creative Capital, Asto Consumer Partners and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Jan 30, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Internet first brand offering nicotine patches. The product is made of edible green leaves and pharmaceutical-grade nicotine. The company claims that the product does not include tobacco leaf or steam.
Key facts about Black Buffalo
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Chicago (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $38M
- Employee Count: 42 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Listen VC, Bridge Builder Ventures Group and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Aug 08, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
Producer and distributor of organic hummus and related products. The company offers a variety of hummus flavors, bundles, and taster packs, directly to consumers and through retail partnerships. Production emphasizes organic chickpeas and fresh ingredients, with a focus on quality and unique flavor profiles. They also operate a restaurant serving their hummus.
Key facts about Little Sesame
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Washington, DC (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $15.9M
- Employee Count: 30 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: InvestEco, Beliade and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jun 30, 2025, $*****
5. Confido
Revenue management platform for businesses. It offers solutions for accounting, revenue recognization, trend management, and more. It also offers solutions for data management, deduction management, reporting, and more.
Key facts about Confido
- Founded Year: 2022
- Location: New York (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $77M
- Employee Count: 94 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Y Combinator, Insight Partners and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Sep 22, 2026, $*****
Watchfire Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Watchfire Ventures has invested in 12 companies over the last 4 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 3 years. In 2025, it made 3 investments, while as of Sep 2026, it has made 2 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Confido and most recent follow-on round was in Fynn.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2025 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2022 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
Watchfire Ventures' Investments by Stage
Watchfire Ventures has made 6 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $17M, 4 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $8.06M and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $55M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 6 |
Seed | 4 |
Series B | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Watchfire Ventures' Investments by Sector
Watchfire Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Retail, Enterprise Applications, Vertical SaaS, Consumer and Consumer Goods. Notably, it has invested in 9 Tech companies, 6 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 5 Saas companies and at least 5 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Retail | 5 |
Enterprise Applications | 4 |
Vertical SaaS | 3 |
Consumer | 2 |
Consumer Goods | 2 |
Others | 12 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Watchfire Ventures' Investments by Geography
Watchfire Ventures has made most investments in United States (8), followed by Canada where it has made 2 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 8 |
Canada | 2 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Watchfire Ventures' recent investments
Watchfire Ventures has made 2 investments in 2026 so far - Confido and Scotch.Here are the most recent investments by Watchfire Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 22, 2026 | United States | Series B | 8173 | [+4] | |
Jun 04, 2026 | United States | Series A | 5387 | [+3] | |
Sep 30, 2025 | United States | Seed | 8109 | [+6] | |
Sep 23, 2025 | United Kingdom | Seed | 4035 | [+1] | |
Jun 30, 2025 | United States | Series A | 8606 | [+2] |
Acquired companies in Watchfire Ventures' Portfolio
1 company from Watchfire Ventures' portfolio has been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Black Buffalo in May 2026 by Imperial Brands for $*****.Here are Watchfire Ventures' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
May 27, 2026 | Aug 08, 2022 | Series A | 2992 |
Team profile of Watchfire Ventures
Watchfire Ventures has a team of 3 members including 3 Partners located in United States. Watchfire Ventures' team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Watchfire Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Santa Barbara | - | - | |
Partner | Santa Barbara | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - |
Co-investors of Watchfire Ventures
Over the past 4 years, 71 investors have co-invested in Watchfire Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Watchfire Ventures: Danilo Stern-Sapad, Kevin Weinnman and 16 others have invested in rounds before Watchfire Ventures. There is 1 company where Danilo Stern-Sapad has invested before Watchfire Ventures and 1 company where Kevin Weinnman has invested before Watchfire Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of Watchfire Ventures: 45 investors entered a company along with Watchfire Ventures. These include investors like Barrel Ventures (2 companies).
- Invested after Watchfire Ventures: A total of 8 investors have invested in Watchfire Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Centana Growth Partners (1 company), Thayer Ventures (1 company) and Derive Ventures (1 company).
Recent News related to Watchfire Ventures
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Hummus Producer Raises $8.5M, Plans to ‘Significantly’ ExpandFood Manufacturing•Nov 08, 2025•Santatera Capital, Watchfire Ventures, Beliade, Little Sesame and 1 other
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CommanderAI Raises $5M in Seed FundingFinSMEs•Nov 05, 2025•CommanderAI, Watchfire Ventures, 11 Tribes Ventures
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CommanderAI raises $5 million to expand AI solutions in waste managementFusoes & Aquisicoes•Oct 16, 2025•CommanderAI, Watchfire Ventures, 11 Tribes Ventures, Barrel Ventures and 1 other
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CommanderAI Secures $5 Million Seed Round to Revolutionize Sales Intelligence for the Waste Management IndustryWasteadvantagemag•Sep 30, 2025•CommanderAI, Watchfire Ventures, 11 Tribes Ventures, Gaingels and 1 other
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Fintech 'Confido' Raises $20 Million in Series A Funding Specializing in Consumer Goods BrandsWowtale•Aug 14, 2025•Confido, Watchfire Ventures, Footwork, Y Combinator and 1 other
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Little Sesame Secures $8.5M Series A to Accelerate Growthintelligence360•Jul 31, 2025•Santatera Capital, Watchfire Ventures, Beliade, Little Sesame and 1 other
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Little Sesame Closes $8.5M Series A Funding to Fuel Rapid GrowthThe Joplin Globe•Jul 15, 2025•Little Sesame, InvestEco, Beliade, Santatera Capital and 1 other
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Little Sesame Closes $8.5M Series A Funding to Fuel Rapid GrowthBusiness Wire•Jul 15, 2025•Little Sesame, InvestEco, Watchfire Ventures, Santatera Capital and 1 other
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Stay Ai Raises $15.1M to Develop the Next Generation Subscription & Loyalty Platform for Shopify BrandsACCESSWIRE•Aug 01, 2023•Stay Ai, Vanterra Capital, BFG, RiverPark Ventures and 2 others
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Fynn Raises $36 Million to Help Combat America’s Skilled Labor ShortageRad AI•Mar 10, 2023•Fynn, Y Combinator, Susa Ventures, Village Global and 2 others
