Founders Inc

Profile

Founders Inc is a unique organization based in San Francisco that provides early-stage support to ambitious company builders. Instead of being a traditional VC or accelerator, Founders Inc offers a long-term home for founders, complete with a broad range of resources such as desks, media resources, and community events. The community is centered around a 42,000 sq ft campus at Fort Mason, and includes access to experts, daily lunches, and office hours. Founders Inc is focused on backing founders with vision and grit, investing up to $250,000 per project and taking a minimal equity stake. Founded by visionary builders, the team is passionate about providing not just capital, but the full support needed for emerging tech innovators to thrive.

Founders Inc primarily invests in the emerging tech space, focusing on sectors including AI/ML, AR/VR, Gaming, Hardware, Web3, DevTools, and Consumer products. They write checks mostly up to $250,000 and take equity between 4-7%. They emphasize the community and additional resources over traditional funding relationships, acting less like a traditional VC and more as a long-term partner. Prospective founders can benefit from critical resources and community involvement with a low equity ask.

Notable supported companies include LiveKit, an open-source real-time communication platform, Rork, a no-code mobile app builder with AI integration, Paraform, a platform for recruiter matching, and Inference, an AI model training and hosting platform. Other companies like Sync Labs specialize in API for real-time lip sync, while Trass Games focuses on VR gaming.