Unlock Venture Partners has raised a $60 million fund to make early stage investments in Seattle and Los Angeles startups.
The fund, called Fund 2, has already invested in 16 companies. Andy Liu, co-founder and partner at Unlock, said the venture capital firm generally targets startups in financial technology, insurance, e-commerce and software-as-a-service. With Fund 2, the firm is particularly interested in the metaverse and gaming space.
"There's just great, world-class entrepreneurs coming out of the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and so forth, and it doesn't match the amount of capital that exists in (Seattle and Los Angeles)," Liu said. "At the earliest stages, the large funds are not coming in."
Unlock generally makes first investments of between $750,000 and $1.5 million, according to Liu, with reserves for follow-on investments. The firm is targeting roughly 25 to 30 total companies with Fund 2.
Sanjay Reddy, co-founder and partner at Unlock, said sometimes the firm will make an even smaller investment in early stage companies just to make inroads and work with the company, with the goal of making a more significant investment later.
Liu is based in Seattle and Reddy is based in Los Angeles. The firm's third co-founder and partner, Raazi Imam, is based in the Bay Area, which Liu said helps Unlock gain exposure. Unlock launched in 2017, and Liu said its first fund was $22.2 million.
Unlock's Fund 2 investments include the Los Angeles-based digital fashion startup Dressx, the Seattle-based gaming startup Irreverent Labs and the Seattle-based in-home fitness company Katalyst.
Liu said the firm meets compelling founders through Unlock events that bring people together in the tech and startup communities. He added that Unlock likes to make relationships early.
"We do try to reach out to folks who are execs at the Amazons of the world and connect with them on a regular basis to discuss ideas," Liu said, adding that these people "may not be ready to jump ship yet, but they're considering it."
