Cherubic Ventures

This venture capital fund describes its range as running from angel rounds to companies close to going public, and its site calls its investors angels and long-term partners at once. The firm is based in Silicon Valley and Greater China, and it focuses on early-stage companies.

Starting before anyone else

A central part of the firm's story is being first. It tells how it wrote the opening cheque for a direct-to-consumer telehealth company months before any other outside investor joined the cap table, and how that company went on to list publicly in January 2021 after being founded in 2017. The firm presents the relationship as personal as well as financial, built over years of conversation, and uses the phrase friend first, investor second.

The companies it points to

The home page groups its portfolio by what each company is known for. It lists a telehealth platform, a meditation and sleep app described as number one in its category, a global trade platform pitched as the operating system of world trade, and a leading buy now pay later platform in Japan. It also names the first home-grown software-as-a-service unicorn in Taiwan, and a provider of digital creative content solutions for enterprises. Together they show a spread across healthcare, wellness, logistics, payments and software, with businesses based in the United States, Japan and Taiwan.

Founder market fit

The fund writes about the power of founder market fit, the idea that the right founder for a particular market matters as much as the idea. It says it looks for founders who see markets and trends from a worldwide perspective, and it points to its record of investing in leading companies on both sides of the Pacific, in the United States and in China, as the way it helps founders bridge regions.

What founders get

Beyond capital, the fund presents itself as a hands-on partner. The firm frames the offer simply: early belief in an idea, a global outlook that spans the United States and China, and a team that stays involved as the company grows.

Cherubic Ventures is a venture capital fund that backs founders across a wide span of company stages, from the earliest angel round to the run-up to a public listing. Its portfolio spans healthcare, wellness, trade and software, with companies in the United States, Japan and Taiwan.

Products and services

• Early-stage funding: Cherubic writes first cheques for founders who are still at the idea stage.
• Later-stage funding: the fund also backs companies on the path to an IPO.
• Founder support: founders describe the team as a hands-on partner who helps in many ways beyond capital.
• Cross-border perspective: portfolio founders say the lead investor has backed companies in both the US and China and can link founders across regions.

Who it works with

The fund works with ambitious founders building consumer health, meditation, global trade, payments, cloud software and digital content businesses. Named portfolio companies include Hims & Hers, Calm, Flexport, Paidy, 91APP and Tezign.

Key facts

• Investment stages: angel to pre-IPO
• Early bet: first outside investor in Hims & Hers, before the company had launched
• Regions seen in portfolio: United States, Japan, Taiwan and China