Xfund

Xfund is the early-stage venture capital firm built to back entrepreneurs who think laterally and experiment across disciplines. The firm's foundational belief is that "technical talent is necessary — but not sufficient — to build the world's most durable companies." Rather than exclusively seeking founders with traditional computer science or engineering backgrounds, Xfund seeks out entrepreneurs with multidisciplinary abilities — what the firm calls the "hacker + humanist" — individuals who can draw connections across disciplines and bring diverse perspectives to problem-solving. Once Xfund finds those who share its commitment to a growth mindset, it welcomes them into a family of leading venture capital investors, university faculty, and industry advisors, which can mean helping to place a Nobel laureate on a founder's board, brokering a key strategic partnership, or simply tackling problems as a team. Born from the prestigious networks of Harvard and MIT, Xfund invests in transformative technology spun out of leading academic research and labs. The firm was founded in 2012 as a pioneering partnership between some of the country's most successful venture capital firms — New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, Breyer Capital, and Polaris Partners — and some of the world's best research universities in the United States and abroad. Anchored at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), it was established to make seed-stage investments in startups developed at Harvard and MIT, though the fund has been open to all founders regardless of university affiliation from the start. Approximately 25% of Xfund's investments have come from Harvard, 20% from MIT, 10% from Stanford, and 7% from UC Berkeley. Partnering with Harvard University and other preeminent universities, Xfund looks beyond stereotypical technical pedigrees to seek out extraordinary people who are being systemically ignored by traditional venture capital: technically-gifted liberal arts entrepreneurs. The firm believes it is its responsibility to help these unconventional, high-potential founders align their ambition and passion with opportunity, to build the sort of ground-breaking companies that can create a better tomorrow. Xfund operates with what its leadership describes as a "double bottom line" — pursuing financial returns while simultaneously advancing an educational mission to teach and support talented prospective founders, reflecting the firm's origins within the Harvard ecosystem. Xfund does not limit itself to traditional sector or industry lines, having invested across enterprise software, consumer, healthtech, fintech, AI/ML, deep tech, devtools, cybersecurity, and marketplaces. The firm is the first investor in most of its portfolio companies, and its unique structure and unparalleled network — spanning leading VC firms, world-class university faculty, and industry advisors — enable it to deliver value that few other firms can. Since 2012, the firm has raised more than $225 million across three funds, including a third oversubscribed $120 million fund in 2020.