What IF Ventures

General contacts
Investor type

PE / VC

Founded

January, 2020

AUM

$100 M

Location

New York, New York, United States

Investment Ticket

$10-50 m

Investment Stage

Pre-seed Seed Series A Series B Late Stage (Series C+)

Region of investment

North America
Investor profile last updated: 13 August, 2026

Profile

What IF Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on mental health and disruptive healthcare startups, based in New York. Founded by Stephen Hays in January 2020, the firm emphasizes combining personal recovery experiences with investing knowledge to bring transformative healthcare solutions to market. Stephen's background includes leading venture capital efforts for a family office and a Wall Street career in investment banking focused on healthcare, aerospace, and defense. The firm boasts a syndicate of over 4,100 investors and has invested in 86 startups.

What IF Ventures invests in various sectors including mental health, healthcare, aerospace, and defense, with a special interest in radical technologies that improve human experiences. The firm maintains a stage-agnostic approach with flexible check sizes, and altogether they have invested over $100 million. Notable investments include companies such as Alto Neuroscience - psychiatric drugs, Atai Life Sciences - mental health treatments, Firehawk - defense systems, and Umbra - intelligence data service.

The firm has seen successful exits, including 3 companies via IPO and 1 through acquisition. They focus on startups that have disruptive potential across health and defense technologies, actively engaging with founders and hosting AMAs to support this vision.

Industry

Consumer Products Biotechnology Defense HealthTech AI SaaS Aerospace Healthcare Services Fintech Industrial Life Sciences Energy

Contacts

Name
Title
Email
Social Networks
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Stephen Hays Founder & MANAGING PARTNER
Founder & MANAGING PARTNER
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FAQs about What IF Ventures

What IF Ventures is a venture capital and private equity firm. It backs companies at Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B and Late Stage (Series C+), writing tickets of $10-50 m.
What IF Ventures is located in New York, New York, United States.
What IF Ventures was founded in 2020.
What IF Ventures invests in companies and startups in Consumer Products, Biotechnology, Defense, HealthTech, AI, SaaS, Aerospace, Healthcare Services, Fintech, Industrial, Life Sciences, Energy.
What IF Ventures invests in companies and startups in North America.
What IF Ventures invests in companies and startups at Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Late Stage (Series C+).
What IF Ventures usually invests $10-50 m on average.
What IF Ventures has around $100m assets under management.
What IF Ventures can be reached through its website whatif.vc, its LinkedIn page and its X account. Its general enquiries address is [email protected]. Cold-mailing a general inbox rarely reaches a partner, so Private Equity List also lists the investment-team contacts for What IF Ventures — names, roles, verified work emails and LinkedIn profiles — available on a Pro plan from $129/month (see pricing). Contacts are sourced from the firm's website and LinkedIn and re-verified on a rolling cycle. Spot a stale contact, or none at all? Report it — we re-run that firm within 48h and get back to you.
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Private Equity List re-verifies investor profiles on a rolling cycle, pulling from the firm's own website and LinkedIn rather than a one-off import. This profile was last updated on 13 August, 2026. Something out of date here? Report it — we re-run that firm within 48h and get back to you.