The FM15
Emerging VC managers with fresh capital and a track record to back it up. Rankings based on LP Trust Signal, Early Track Record, Thesis Sharpness, and Founder Alignment. No AUM ranking. No estimated returns. No paid inclusion. Full methodology
- Edition
- H1 2026
- Funds
- 15
- Criteria
- 4
How we score
- 01LP Trust Signalmax 7Re-up rate and oversubscription as quality proxy
- 02Early Track Recordmax 7Exits, graduation rates, or marked returns
- 03Thesis Sharpnessmax 7How focused and differentiated is the investment thesis
- 04Founder Alignmentmax 6GP background, fund size ratio, LP network value
N°01Refactor CapitalRank #1 / Ex-Operator / San Francisco, US24/27
Zal Bilimoria100% LP re-up, solo GP, free mental health support for every founder team.Open fund profile
N°02Weekend Fund IVRank #2 / Ex-Founder / San Francisco, US23/27
Ryan Hoover
Vedika JainFirst early-stage fund accessible to US retail investors via USVC. 350+ operator LPs who actively help.Open fund profile
N°03Cleo VenturesRank #3 / Career VC · Ex-Operator / Paris, France22/27
Antoine Veret
Maxime Le Dantec40+ operator LPs hold carry via Trailblazers Club — the strongest LP alignment structure in EU VC.Open fund profile
N°04Convective CapitalRank #3 / Ex-Founder / San Francisco, US22/27
Bill ClericoWePay founder. 79% Series A graduation rate from Fund I. Kat from YC on the team.Open fund profile
N°05Mother VenturesRank #5 / Ex-Operator / New York, US21/27
Allison SternEx-Blackstone COO as anchor LP. $2.4T market. Maximum GP attention per founder.Open fund profile
N°06Restive VenturesRank #6 / Ex-Founder · Ex-Operator / San Francisco, US20/27
Ryan Falvey
Tyler GriffinTwo fintech founders turned investors. 6.3x Fund I mark. First Fund III company acquired by OpenAI.Open fund profile
N°07Top Down VenturesRank #7 / Ex-Founder · Ex-Operator / Vancouver, Canada19/27
Chris Day
Mark Scott
Joel AbramsonFirst institutional MSP Software fund. 5.3x exit already in the books from Fund I.Open fund profile
N°08Meridian VenturesRank #7 / Ex-Finance / Boston, US19/27
Devon Gethers
Karlton HaneyOversubscribed debut fund. Banks & Fortune 500 LPs. Built for MBA-deferred founders.Open fund profile
N°09Transition VenturesRank #7 / Ex-Founder / London, UK19/27
David Helgason
Ari Helgason
Kristian BranaesUnity co-founder. $300M AUM after two funds. AI meets the physical world.Open fund profile
N°10Kalos VenturesRank #10 / Career VC · Ex-Operator / New York, US18/27
N°11Loom VenturesRank #10 / Ex-Operator · Career CVC / Vienna, EU18/27
Ilja Aizenberg
Toba SpiegelEurope's first purely financial CVC. STRABAG network, no strategic mandate.Open fund profile
N°12Wisdom VenturesRank #10 / Ex-Operator / New York, US18/27
Bradley Horowitz
Cecily Mak8x fund size step-up. Reid Hoffman LP. Vivek Murthy as Senior Venture Partner.Open fund profile
N°13Factory CapitalRank #10 / Ex-Operator / Sydney, Australia18/27
Anna SamuelssonCategory-creation investing. Institute anchor. First institutional women's midlife health fund.Open fund profile
N°14Antler UK Fund IIRank #14 / Ex-Founder / London, UK17/27
Adam French
Hannah LeachBritish Business Bank cornerstone. Adam French built Scalable Capital to $1.4B. Backs founders before the company exists.Open fund profile
N°15SkyboundRank #15 / Career VC · Ex-Founder / Athens, Greece17/27
Thaleia Misailidou
George VarvarelisEIF anchor. First institutional deeptech fund in Greece. BCI startup as first bet.Open fund profile
How the FM15 is built
Fund Momentum tracks every new venture capital fund close globally. To be considered for the FM15, a fund must have raised or closed capital since September 2024. We review fund announcements, GP backgrounds, LP structures, and prior track records using publicly available information.
Scoring uses four dimensions. LP Trust Signal (7 points) measures re-up rates and oversubscription as proxies for LP confidence. Early Track Record (7 points) captures exits, graduation rates, or marked returns from previous funds — not estimated future returns. Thesis Sharpness (7 points) evaluates how focused and differentiated the investment thesis is. Founder Alignment (6 points) assesses GP background, fund size relative to check size, and the quality of the LP network for founder support.
The FM15 is an editorial product. Scores are our assessments based on publicly available information. We do not accept payment for inclusion. We do not publish scores we cannot support with documented evidence. The FM15 publishes every six months — next edition: H2 2026.