Susa Ventures
The first thing you notice about Susa Ventures is the calm confidence. Not the loud kind that floods a room with buzzwords, but the quiet math of pattern recognition. Since 2013, Susa has partnered with 100+ startups at the earliest moments of their lives. 10% of those companies grew into unicorns. In venture capital, that kind of signal makes people lean forward in their chairs.
The firm was founded by Eva Ho, Chad Byers, Leo Polovets, and Seth Berman with a simple obsession: data. Early coverage of Susa described a thesis around companies with a maniacal focus on data inside industries that usually run on spreadsheets and gut instinct. Finance. Healthcare. Education. The bet was that software plus data would compound into durable advantage. A decade later that idea reads less like a theory and more like a scorecard.
Today Chad Byers continues to shape the firm alongside partners Derick En’Wezoh, M.D., Misha Gordon-Rowe, and Pratyush Buddiga, with investor Shaheer Sandhu helping source the next wave of builders. Leo Polovets and Seth Berman remain part of the firm’s story as founder emeritus, with Courtney Buie Lipkin serving as venture partner. No CEO titles, no corporate theater. Just investors whose job is to recognize momentum early and move when the signal is clear.
Susa invests exclusively at pre seed and seed, writing checks up to $5M. The firm also operates opportunity funds that double down when early bets start turning into category leaders. But the real tell sits in the governance philosophy. Susa does not take board seats. The firm openly states founders should never be removed. Instead of directives, founders get frameworks, experience, and access to customers, talent, and community.
The portfolio reads like a map of where software eats the hard problems. Casetext brought AI into the legal stack before most lawyers believed it. Palo Alto Networks acquired Expanse for $800M after its cybersecurity platform proved the edge of AI in attack surface management. Thomson Reuters acquired Casetext for $650M. Flexport digitized freight. Human Interest rebuilt the 401(k) for small business. Robinhood changed how a generation thinks about investing.
Look closer and the pattern sharpens. Healthcare infrastructure with Medallion, Stedi, Viz, and Regard. Financial rails through Ascend, Nelo, and Newfront Insurance, which WTW acquired for $1.3B. AI platforms like Together AI and Henry AI working inside professional workflows. Each company sits where data compounds and the product becomes harder to replace with every new customer.
That is the Susa rhythm. Enter early. Back conviction. Let founders run. Then stay close as the signal grows louder. If you are building in AI, fintech, healthcare, supply chain, or B2B software, study this firm. If you are an operator, their portfolio companies are hiring right now. Explore the roles on the Susa Ventures job board.
Follow this firm. Study their founders. Track their plays.