Collide Capital Closes $95M Fund II to Back Overlooked Fintech and Supply Chain Founders With Fortune 500 Pipeline
TL;DR
Collide Capital has closed a $95 million Fund II to continue backing pre-seed and Series A companies across fintech, supply chain, and future-of-work verticals. Co-founded by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels in 2021, the New York-based firm raised a $66M Fund I two years ago and has now pushed total AUM past $170 million. Fund II writes $1M to $3M checks, up from an average of $750K in Fund I, and targets at least 30 companies over 3.5 years. The University of California Endowment re-upped from Fund I, and the firm's Fortune 500 procurement pipeline and Collide Campus talent program give it a differentiated value-add stack that most emerging managers cannot match.
Key Takeaways
A 44% step-up from Fund I to Fund II is strong for any emerging manager, exceptional for a diverse-led firm. Going from $66M to $95M in a market where diverse-led funds still face a well-documented LP allocation gap is a meaningful signal. The UC Endowment re-up is the strongest possible institutional validation, because endowments only come back when Fund I cash-on-cash and markup performance passes their internal thresholds.
The Fortune 500 procurement channel is the real moat. Collide's portfolio companies get direct warm introductions to procurement and revenue teams at large corporates. For pre-seed and Series A companies, collapsing the enterprise sales cycle from 12 months to 3 months is worth more than the check itself. This is the kind of value-add that actually shows up in revenue growth, not just LinkedIn posts.
80%+ diverse founders in the portfolio is a feature, not a concession. This is not affirmative action investing. Collide's thesis is that overlooked founder networks in fintech, supply chain, and workforce tech contain mispriced talent. If Fund I returns validate that thesis, this becomes one of the clearest cases for structural alpha from diverse sourcing.
Compute credits from Anthropic, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet are a serious accelerant. For early-stage AI-enabled fintech and supply chain startups, cloud and model costs are the largest variable expense. Providing those credits at the fund level compresses burn and extends runway, which directly improves portfolio survival rates.
Fund Overview
Fund Name: Collide Capital Fund II
Fund Size: $95 million (closed)
Stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Check Size: $1M to $3M
Geography: United States, with selective international
Focus: Fintech, supply chain technology, and future of work
Key LPs: University of California Endowment (re-up from Fund I), plus additional institutional and family office investors
Why This Fund Matters
Collide sits at the intersection of three macro currents that are reshaping early-stage venture: the ongoing digitization of financial services infrastructure, the AI-driven transformation of supply chains, and the wholesale rethinking of how work gets organized and compensated. Each of these verticals is generating a new crop of founders who do not fit the traditional Sand Hill profile but who have deep domain expertise from operating inside the systems they are now rebuilding.
The firm's signature move is its Fortune 500 procurement access. Most early-stage VCs promise corporate introductions. Collide actually delivers them at the procurement and revenue team level, which is a fundamentally different proposition. For a Series A fintech company, getting in front of a Fortune 500 CFO's purchasing team within the first quarter of a VC relationship can be the difference between hitting the next fundraise milestone and running out of runway. This is not a warm email. It is a structured pipeline that compresses the enterprise sales cycle in a way that directly impacts revenue trajectory.
The $95M Fund II close also matters as a data point for the broader LP ecosystem. Diverse-led emerging managers still raise less, at lower valuations, and with longer timelines than comparable non-diverse peers. Collide's ability to step up 44% and retain institutional LPs like the UC Endowment is evidence that the performance argument is beginning to overcome structural allocation bias. That said, $95M is still well below the $150M to $250M range that a comparably performing non-diverse Fund II would likely command. The gap is narrowing but it has not closed.
Collide Campus is the other differentiator worth highlighting. The training program has put 50 undergrad engineering and MBA students through real deal sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support work since 2022. This is a pipeline play for future investors and also a way to build deep relationships with emerging talent at schools where most VCs do not recruit. If even a few Campus alumni start companies in Collide's verticals, the sourcing flywheel becomes self-reinforcing.
The Team
Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels co-founded Collide Capital in 2021. Both bring operating backgrounds rather than traditional finance pedigrees, which is central to the fund's sourcing thesis: they invest in networks and communities that institutional venture often overlooks. Since founding, the pair has backed 75 companies across Fund I and early Fund II deployments, building a portfolio that skews heavily toward underrepresented founders. The team has scaled to support a $170M AUM platform while maintaining a concentrated, high-conviction approach to early-stage investing.
Early Portfolio
Collide has backed 75 companies to date across Fund I and early Fund II. Specific portfolio company names were not disclosed in the Fund II announcement, but the firm focuses on companies at the pre-seed to Series A stage in fintech, supply chain, and future of work. Portfolio companies receive compute credits from Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Anthropic, along with direct introductions to Fortune 500 procurement and revenue teams.
What This Means for Founders
If you are building in fintech infrastructure, supply chain optimization, or workforce technology, and especially if you are a founder from an underrepresented background, Collide should be one of your first conversations. The combination of $1M to $3M checks, structured corporate procurement access, and compute credits is a genuinely differentiated value-add stack at the early stage. Very few funds at this AUM level can offer all three.
The caveat: Collide's value-add is most powerful for companies selling into large enterprises. If your go-to-market is PLG or consumer-first, the Fortune 500 pipeline may not move the needle. Founders should assess whether their sales motion aligns with Collide's corporate network before leading with that as a reason to take the check.
Fund Momentum Take
Collide Capital is doing something genuinely hard well: building an institutional-grade venture firm from a standing start in four years, with a thesis that the market structurally undervalues, while delivering the kind of LP returns that bring back endowments for Fund II. The step-up from $66M to $95M is solid but not yet a breakout. Fund III will be the real proof point. If Fund I portfolios start generating meaningful markups or exits in the next 18 months, Collide could easily raise a $150M to $200M Fund III and join the ranks of established multi-fund platforms.
The risk is concentration. Fintech, supply chain, and future of work are broad enough to generate deal flow, but narrow enough that a downturn in any one vertical could pressure portfolio performance. The other risk is the tension between diversity-led sourcing and the reality that most LPs still evaluate funds primarily on TVPI and DPI, not founder demographics. Collide's long-term viability depends on delivering returns that make the diversity angle a bonus rather than the headline. The UC Endowment re-up suggests they are on track.
Our bet: Collide closes Fund III at $150M or more within 24 months of first deployment from Fund II, with at least one breakout exit or significant markup from Fund I that validates the thesis at scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Collide Capital?
Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels co-founded Collide Capital in 2021. Both bring operating backgrounds and have built a portfolio of 75 companies to date.
How big is Collide Capital Fund II?
$95 million, a 44% step-up from the $66 million Fund I. Total AUM across both funds now exceeds $170 million.
What does Collide invest in?
Pre-seed to Series A companies in fintech, supply chain technology, and future of work, with check sizes of $1M to $3M. At least 30 companies are targeted over a 3.5-year deployment period.
What makes Collide different from other early-stage VCs?
Three differentiators: direct procurement introductions to Fortune 500 revenue teams, compute credits from Anthropic, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet, and Collide Campus, a hands-on training program for undergrad and MBA students in venture investing.
Who are the LPs in Fund II?
The University of California Endowment re-upped from Fund I. Additional institutional investors participated but specific names beyond UC have not been disclosed.
Have a fund closing to announce? Submit your fund here.
Need help raising capital? Check out our Fundraising Advisory services.