Visible Hands
VisibleHands.vcVisible Hands is a pre-seed VC firm that funds and empowers underrepresented founders launching high-growth, tech and tech-enabled startups. They invest in startups with post-money valuations under $10M, targeting 5-10% ownership, specifically with teams founded by BIPOC, women, and overlooked founders.
Check Size
$5K+
Focus Areas
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See If You're a MatchInvestment Thesis
Visible Hands invests in visionary founders before the crowd recognizes their potential, with a specific focus on underrepresented populations including women, people of color, and other overlooked founders. They believe that founders who have faced institutional barriers possess unique entrepreneurial resilience and learning that translates to exceptional returns. Their approach is explicitly equity-focused, designed to prevent founder over-dilution in future rounds and to recognize that diverse teams and resilient founders drive superior performance.
What Sets Them Apart
- Bespoke backing approach - they diagnose exactly what founders need (branding, sales coaching, childcare, etc.) rather than applying one-size-fits-all curriculum
- Reputation for seeing exceptional founders early - sourced through competitive grant partnerships (Meta, AWS), Google summits (2,000 applications for 20 spots), and 10,000+ network of repeat builders
- Equitable investment structure by design to prevent founder over-dilution in future rounds
- Focus on earliest stages where institutional funding is most lacking for underrepresented founders
- Long-term founder support through Visionaries Alumni Network providing stage-responsive support beyond program graduation
- Non-dilutive grant funding ($5K-$10K) combined with potential follow-on investments
Portfolio Highlights
Parfait
Beauty
Hearth Display
Consumer Products
Plot
Enterprise Software
Swella
Beauty
Hire Henry
Enterprise Software
Levl
Healthcare
SignSpeak
Enterprise Software
WriteSea
Creator Tools
+ 39 more companies in their portfolio
Investment Team
6 Partners at Visible Hands
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