Field Notes, May 2024
There is one similarity between the emergency room (where I trained as a young doctor) and early-stage venture capital: it gives someone a shot, against the odds. This is what matters most to me. The purpose of Dia — which means day or light — is to empower the ‘outsider’ founder, whose audacious vision and potential are stacked against unfavorable odds. Dia 1 is focused on empowering the boldest immigrant founders with capital and customer access in the first 500 days.
Dia portfolio company raises $15M, earning ~5x markup
Founded by two immigrants, Co:Helm is building LLM-powered co-pilots for insurance claims. Imagine you were tasked with digesting someone’s 15 yrs of medical history and comparing it with the approval criteria for their treatment claim! Not fun, eh?
We were introduced to this company by a former portfolio operator. When we committed an investment a few months ago, and warehoused the deal in the fund, the CEO had yet to move to the US and did not have a single enterprise customer. We’re delighted that once both those milestones were achieved, a tier one VC committed to lead their $15M Ser A. This is an early testament to why Dia is needed.
Venky Harinarayan joins our mission as an LP!
Venky is the OG immigrant who’s built two companies. The first company, Junglee, he sold to Jeff Bezos (yes, the man himself) in the late 90s and his second company, Kosmix, later became Walmart dot com. Venky embodies the DNA that Dia champions.
Next stop, New York
I'll be in NYC the week of May 6th for the Zetwerk Board meeting. I am co-hosting an intimate dinner with Amrit Acharya (co-founder and CEO, Zetwerk) on 9th May in NYC. I’d love to see you at the dinner (RSVP here, spaces limited) or 1:1 if you’d be in town.
P.S.: I led Lightspeed’s investment in Zetwerk, a global manufacturing technology platform, today valued over $3B. The co-founders of Zetwerk are early LPs in Dia.
Expanding our tribe
We’re fundraising, building the team, and meeting founders in the trenches. Our belief is ever stronger that (1) the performance of the post-2022 fund vintage, especially early stage, would be among the best in recent years, (2) great new firms, which will be LP access constrained over time, will be born in this environment. It’s no accident that a16z, Founders Fund, Greenoaks, Thrive, and Ribbit were all started in years following the global financial crisis, and (3) our ‘focus’ — empowering the boldest immigrant founders with capital and customer access in the first 500 days — will drive a wedge in the market. If this mission may resonate with an LP you know, share this post with them.
Onwards!
Via this newsletter, we’ll keep sharing interesting updates and investment opportunities. Please write to us, or text us, we’d love to hear from you.
