Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Firgun Ventures:

Firgun Ventures has announced its first close at $70 million, with its official launch as the market’s first venture capital firm specialising in early growth-stage (Series A and B) quantum technology investments.

With a target fund size of $250 million and an anchor investment from the Qatar Investment Authority, Firgun aims to help exceptional quantum entrepreneurs scale their companies and transform industries across the globe. The management team is based in London but will invest globally.

Founded by Dr. Kris Naudts, former award-winning, academic psychiatrist-neuroscientist at King’s College London and founder of the multi-award-winning travel platform Culture Trip, together with Zeynep Koruturk, former Executive at Goldman-Sachs and Co-Founder of GS’s Tech Initiative. Both have been angel investing in quantum technology start-ups from as early as 2016.  Firgun unites deep scientific, entrepreneurial, and financial expertise, which is further enhanced by Mete Atature, Professor of Physics and Head of Cambridge University’s Cavendish Lab, who is advising Firgun with technical due diligence for possible portfolio companies.

With quantum technology moving from theory to real-world impact, Firgun Ventures will support entrepreneurs scaling companies focused on quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communications or cryptography, and with a longer-term view of developing solutions in healthcare, climate science, finance, cybersecurity, and the like. The firm will draw on a significant anchor investment from the Qatar Investment Authority, early backing by a number of family offices and by Ilyas Khan, Founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing (now Quantinuum) – currently the world’s most valuable private quantum company, in which Firgun’s Co-Founders have been investors since 2016.

Built on scientific expertise and commercial acumen, Firgun brings together an advisory council of leading minds from Cambridge and Oxford Universities, MIT, Google, the European Investment Bank and the Wellcome Trust. Together, they will provide quantum-specific due diligence and guidance for scaling companies in this frontier technology.

Anti Fund:

Anti Fund, co‑founded by Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo, has announced its over-subscribed $30 million Anti Fund I. With the close of Fund I, Anti Fund’s assets under management now exceed $65 million.

Anti Fund concentrates its investments in artificial intelligence and robotics. The firm’s focus spans pre-seed and seed-stage ventures, as well as select growth-stage industry leaders. Anti Fund’s portfolio includes OpenAI, Anduril, Ramp, Cognition, Polymarket, Flock Safety, and Physical Intelligence.

Institutional Limited Partners (LPs) include Aquarian Holdings and Autilus Partners; individual LPs include Marc Andreesseen and Chris Dixon.

Holly Ventures:

Holly Ventures has announced the launch of its $33 million debut fund, a solo-led cybersecurity vehicle built around a simple idea: for early-stage cyber start-ups, access and value matter more than capital.

Founded by John Brennan, formerly a Senior Partner at YL Ventures, Holly Ventures is designed as the counter-model to today’s outsized cyber platforms. Instead of competing on fund size or artificial intelligence messaging, Holly Ventures focuses on Day Zero: the stage where founders need direct engagement with the decision-maker and flexibility in how they structure their cap tables.

“Great early-stage security founders generally aren’t lacking for capital, but not all investor capital is created equal,” Brennan said. “Holly Ventures exists to work directly with teams as early as their ideation processes and is laser-focused on supporting founders at the earliest stages of company building.”

Backed by investors from Bessemer Venture Partners, Ballistic Ventures, CRV, Wing VC, IVP, TCV, Notable Capital, Team8, Brightmind, Ten Eleven Ventures, and others, as well as by larger institutions..

Fitz Gate Ventures:

Fitz Gate Ventures has announced that it has completed fundraising for its third venture capital fund, with Rice University’s Office of Innovation as one of its anchor investors. With the latest fund, total assets under management across Fitz Gate’s three funds is now approximately $70 million.

Fitz Gate Ventures III is an early-stage generalist fund with a sub-focus on deep tech.

The firm will write initial checks of $500,000 to $1 million, reserving for follow-ons and will lead rounds, co-invest or invest alone. Some of the best venture capital firms in the world have invested in Fitz Gate portfolio companies after Fitz Gate. The firm has invested in a broad range of different technologies, from chips and meta materials to quantum computing.

Fitz Gate has also backed start-ups that have licensed intellectual property from leading academic centers such as Princeton, Yale, University of California (UC) Los Angeles, UC Berkeley, Virginia Tech, Baylor College of Medicine, and Vanderbilt.

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