Canvas Ventures Raises $300M Fund to Invest in Software & Services Startups
Investors behind MuleSoft, Lending Club, Houzz, and Dropcam Continue to Focus on Early-Stage
Tech Companies
Portola Valley, California. September 26, 2016 -- Canvas Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based
venture capital firm, today announced that it has closed a new $300M fund called "Canvas
Ventures 2.” The firm’s previous fund was capitalized at $175M in August 2013.
The four investing partners for the new fund are: Rebecca Lynn, Gary Little, Paul Hsiao, and
Ben Narasin.
Gary Little appeared on the annual Forbes Midas List of top-100 venture investors in 2008 and
2009, and Rebecca Lynn appeared on the Forbes Midas List in 2015 and 2016. Rebecca was also
named a “Top-20 VC” by the New York Times in March 2016.
The new fund will focus on:
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Software & services startups
Primarily Series A & B rounds
Investment size of $5-20M per company over the life of the company; Canvas’s initial
investment into a company could range from $250,000 to $10M
Startups in the US, with a concentration on Silicon Valley
Thesis areas: artificial intelligence, network marketplaces, fintech, digital health, and
‘new enterprise’.
Canvas Ventures 2 was closed in June 2016. The firm listed $250M as its target fundraising
amount on their PPM (private placement memorandum). The fund was oversubscribed, closing
at its hard cap of $300M.
Over the course of their venture-capital careers, which includes serving as partners at New
Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Morgenthaler Ventures, the four partners made early-stage
investments in Lending Club (largest US tech IPO of 2014), Dropcam (acquired by Google),
TellApart (acquired by Twitter), Check (acquired by Intuit), Gaikai (acquired by Sony), MuleSoft,
Houzz, Doximity, Evernote, Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk), Zenefits, Kabbage, and more.
Their publicly announced investments while serving as partners at Canvas Ventures include:
FutureAdvisor (acquired by BlackRock), CrowdFlower, Eden, Everwise, HealthLoop, Totango,
Transfix, Viewics, and Zola.
When asked what differentiated their firm, the four Canvas partners said the following:
Gary Little: “Canvas is a team of passionate investors who have all been successful
entrepreneurs or operators. Paul and Ben each founded startups and guided their companies
through their respective M&A and IPO. Rebecca and I have run and scaled marketing and sales
operations at pioneering tech companies. Each partner at our firm has had P&L responsibilities
or started technology companies from scratch, and therefore has a high level of commitment
and empathy for our startup founders.”
Rebecca Lynn: “We are focused, ‘thesis investors.’ That is, we find a theme or space that we
think will produce outsize venture returns, become experts in that area, and invest in the
startups that we think will dominate. We are not so rigid as to not look at investment
opportunities outside of our thesis areas. Clearly some of the biggest technology disruptors in
history didn’t neatly fit in an existing category; because they created that category. At Canvas,
we believe thesis areas will cycle with technology and market shifts. Today, we concentrate on
artificial intelligence, network marketplaces, fintech, digital health, and ‘new enterprise.’”
Paul Hsiao: “We are primarily Series A and B investors. And we go deep in our areas of focus. As
a result, we are knowledgeable and can have in-depth conversations with our entrepreneurs
about their strategic product roadmap, executive team building, and strong follow-on
financing. We work together as a ‘Navy Seal’ team to help our entrepreneurs build
transformational companies — scaling from $1M to $1B in revenue. We believe that progress
happens when we bring together entrepreneurs, flagship customers, academic researchers, and
investors who have the creativity to dream, drive to build, courage to try, and the influence to
make positive change.”
Ben Narasin: “We invest more than capital. We invest time and attention. I was an
entrepreneur for 25 years and suffered plenty of pain that I’d like to help founders avoid. I also
learned a lot from starting a single-person company, then growing it and taking the company
public. All the partners have successful track records of helping startups go from Series A to a
valuable exit. And our startups tell us they value the boutique focus and community provided
by Canvas. We regularly network our portfolio companies through annual CEO Dinners and
intimate events for functional heads, and we like to roll up our sleeves and help companies with
their marketing/PR, and make bespoke introductions to senior-tier players at major
corporations.”
About Canvas Ventures
Named a "Top VC Firm to Watch" by the 2015 Forbes Midas List, Canvas is an early-stage
venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. Canvas portfolio companies include: FutureAdvisor
(acquired by BlackRock), CrowdFlower, Eden, Everwise, HealthLoop, Totango, Transfix, Viewics,
and Zola. The partners are also known for investments they made prior to Canvas, which
include: Lending Club, MuleSoft, Houzz, Evernote, NexTag, Check, Doximity, Upwork, Zenefits,
Dropcam, Kabbage, and more. Rebecca Lynn, Gary Little, Paul Hsiao, and Ben Narasin serve as
the firm's investing partners. Visit www.canvas.vc to learn more.
Press Contact:
Ching Wu, Partner of Marketing & IR
[email protected]
650-388-7620