Fund profile / United States

A* Fund III

Geography: United States
Stage: Seed
Fund size: $450M
Focus: AI/ML, Cybersecurity, Digital Health and FinTech
Signals: Published

N°01 / About

About A* Fund III

A* Fund III is a $450M seed and early-stage fund from Eventbrite and Xoom co-founder Kevin Hartz and ex-Coatue partner Bennett Siegel. The fund writes $3M-$5M checks into roughly 30 companies with high-conviction ownership focus. Carnegie Mellon University is a named anchor LP. Portfolio includes Ramp and Mercor, with a thesis spanning AI applications, fintech, healthcare, and security. The fund represents a 43% step-up over the $315M Fund II.

N°02 / Thesis

Investment Focus

Location / RegionUnited States

Funding StageSeed

Industry Focus

AI/ML

Cybersecurity

Digital Health

FinTech

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Relentless founder, seed-stage, AI/fintech/health with breakout POW

AI-applications

fintech

healthcare

security

founder-centric

Bullish Signals

$450M, 43% step-up from Fund IIblog

Carnegie Mellon anchor LP, endowment qualityblog

Ramp and Mercor in portfolioblog

Philosophy: idea to IPO guidance modelwebsite

Conviction-led, founder-centric partnership focuswebsite

Shift from transactional to meaningful partnershipwebsite

Guiding outliers from idea to IPOexternal

Contrarian Signals

30-company cap, high concentration riskblog

$3-5M checks demand 10%+ ownershipblog

Founder Do's

Build AI, fintech, health, or security

Accept $3-5M check for 10%+ ownership

Show breakout potential from seed stage

Embrace conviction-led, relentless partnership model

Target 30-company concentrated portfolio fit

Founder Don'ts

Expect transactional capital relationship

Pitch without clear power-law potential

Raise $5M+ without anchoring institutional lead

19 signals on A* Fund III

7 bullish · 2 contrarian · 5 pitch do's · 3 don'ts · 2 GP profiles, each with its source. From €9/month, cancel anytime.

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Facts

Fund Overview

Fund Size$450M

Saves0

Website

People

Key People

Kevin Hartz, Bennett Siegel

Kevin HartzCo-Founder & General Partner

Bennett SiegelCo-Founder & General Partner

Backers

Known LPs

Carnegie Mellon University EndowmentFoundation / Endowment

N°04 / See also

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