Early-stage venture firm A* announced its $450 million Fund III on Tuesday. The company takes a generalist approach, supporting companies across a variety of categories, including AI applications, fintech, healthcare, and security.
The fund’s average check size will be between $3 million and $5 million, with the goal of supporting at least 30 startups. The capital will be deployed over the next two to three years, similar to the company’s previous funds. Limited partners include non-profit organizations, foundations, and endowments. Carnegie Mellon University is one of the publicly named sponsors.
Founded in 2020 and run by Kevin Hartz and Bennet Siegel, A* previously raised $315 million Fund II in 2024 and $300 million Fund I in 2021. Hartz is a serial entrepreneur best known for co-founding Xoom, an international money transfer service that was later acquired by PayPal for $1.1 billion in 2015, and Eventbrite, an event ticketing platform that went public in 2018.
The company has also been noted for being unusually supportive of young founders, although the practice has become more common since then. Hartz told TechCrunch last fall that nearly 20% of the company’s current portfolio involves teenage entrepreneurs. Among its other investments, it has backed fintech company Ramp and AI company Mercor.
This story has been updated to clarify the company name.
