What we back
Five sectors, and how we read them.
Developer tools, games, creative software, applied AI, and commerce infrastructure. Here is what we mean by each, so you can work out whether to spend twenty minutes on an application.
- 01
Developer tools
The unglamorous layers everything else is built on: APIs, build systems, hosting, browser-native software — the things engineers reach for daily and complain about loudly.
- 02
Games and engines
Studios building something structurally new rather than one more title, and the runtimes, live-service plumbing and creation tools behind them.
- 03
Creative software
For people who make video, audio, images and writing — the production side of that work, and the distribution and payment rails that let them earn from it.
- 04
Applied AI
Not the models themselves, but the products built on top of them — where the hard part is the workflow, the interface, and being right often enough to be trusted.
- 05
Commerce infrastructure
Payments, storefronts, and the operational software that decides whether a small business survives its second year.
How we decide
Two questions, asked honestly.
Is the idea any good?
Not "is it big" or "is it hot" — is it a real problem, clearly understood, with an approach that could plausibly work? We would rather fund a modest idea thought through properly than an enormous one that falls apart in the second paragraph.
Could this team actually build it?
Potential, not pedigree. We are looking for evidence that you can make things and change your mind when the evidence says to. Shipped side projects count for more here than job titles.
And one preference we will admit to
We believe some companies are more necessary than others. When two applications are genuinely close, we back the one whose success makes things better rather than merely bigger — more sustainable, more useful, less extractive. We are not going to dress this up as a formal mandate or claim to measure it. It is a tie-breaker, and we would rather tell you it exists than apply it quietly.