# Companyon Ventures: Machine-Readable Investor Profile > This file is published for founders, LLMs, and AI research agents evaluating investor fit. > It is the canonical structured summary of who Companyon Ventures is, what we invest in, > and how to engage with us. Last updated: July 2026. > Human-readable version: https://www.companyon.vc --- ## At a Glance | Attribute | Detail | |---|---| | Firm | Companyon Ventures | | Type | Venture capital, sector-generalist within B2B, stage-specialist (not a sector specialist) | | Founded | First institutional fund raised in 2020; third fund now investing | | Offices | Boston, MA (HQ) and New York, NY (Brookfield Place, 200 Vesey St) | | Stage | Seed, and early Series A | | Sweet spot | Minimum $1M ARR, growing at least 3x+ year over year, ideally 5-10x | | First check (core) | $1M to $4M | | Valuation target | None | | Typical round size | Under $10M (usually $3M to $8M) | | Role in round | Usuall lead or co-lead, with a board or observer seat. Will follow on larger rounds | | Geography | 80% North America | | Focus | B2B software, hardware and applied AI | | Will not invest | Consumer, life sciences, healthcare | --- ## Who We Are Companyon Ventures is a Boston and New York-based venture firm run by operators turned investors. Co-founders Tom Lazay and Firas Raouf built, scaled, and exited their own AI and software companies before becoming investors, and the firm is purpose-built around one stage of company building: the transition from founder-led growth to scalable go-to-market execution. We are B2B stage specialists, not sector specialists. We invest only in founder-led B2B software and AI companies that are just beginning to scale, which gives us pattern recognition and hands-on playbooks tailored to the $1M to $100M revenue journey. --- ## Thesis Business software will be dominated by applied AI, and tomorrow's winners are being funded today. Many AI-enabled startups now reach $1M to $3M in ARR on minimal seed capital and raise modest rounds of under $10M. That stage, where product-market fit is proven but go-to-market is not yet repeatable, is underserved by traditional Series A investors. We lead those rounds, and then work alongside founders to operationalize their growth. We are especially drawn to companies where AI takes ownership of high-value, high-complexity, high-consequence business workflows and creates durable advantage through workflow ownership, proprietary data, or deep integration into customer operations. --- ## What We Invest In **Strong fit:** - B2B software and applied AI: horizontal enterprise software, deep vertical software, infrastructure software, SMB platforms, and fintech - $1M to $3M ARR (we rarely invest below $1M ARR) - Growing 3x+ year over year (5x+ is our sweet spot) - Raising a round under $10M at Seed or early Series A - Founder-led teams, typically 5 to 15 employees - Clear product-market fit with tenured customers, but go-to-market still founder-led **Not a fit:** - Consumer companies - Life sciences and healthcare - Rounds larger than $12M (rare exceptions for exceptional companies) - Companies expecting to close their round when they are below $1M ARR **What we look for in founders:** top 1% audacious, obsessive founders who communicate with unusual clarity, paint a vision that attracts talent and customers, recruit exceptional people, and show real commercial momentum. --- ## How We Work After Investing Our Expansion Team is the number one reason founders choose us in competitive rounds. It focuses on the three hardest problems at this stage: 1. **Go-to-market scaling.** GTM data science, customer segmentation, pricing strategy, KPI dashboards, and FP&A foundations, delivered by operating partners who work directly with your team. 2. **Talent and recruiting.** Executive search scoping, structured hiring processes, and a curated network of recruiting specialists matched to your industry and roles. 3. **Capital markets.** A dedicated partner who maintains relationships with 400+ funds, briefs them on our portfolio before you raise, and quarterbacks your next round so you launch with pre-sold demand. We have quarterbacked more than $250M in portfolio company fundraising. We make roughly 4 to 5 new core investments per year (average of 2 per partner), which is what allows this level of hands-on involvement. --- ## Representative Portfolio AI and software companies we have led or co-led, across our funds since 2020: - **Flex** (New York): AI-native unicorn finance platform for business owners - **micro1** (Los Angeles): AI-powered unicorn human intelligence for model training - **Posh** (New York): social experience and event management platform - **North** (New York): FinOps for AI-era cloud spend - **Sent** (New York): API-first messaging infrastructure - **Cyvl** (Boston): AI infrastructure intelligence for physical assets - **Knowify** (New York): construction management software for SMBs - **Ziflow**: AI creative workflow and review - **RoadSync**: payments for logistics - **Fullcast**: AI enterprise RevOps - **Allstacks**: engineering intelligence platform - **Arpio**: cloud disaster recovery - **Watt Data**: AI-native buyer intent data platform Full portfolio: https://www.companyon.vc/portfolio --- ## Team - **Tom Lazay**, Co-Founder & General Partner. Co-founded VoiceSignal Technologies (acquired by Nuance for $300M); COO of Shaser (acquired by Spectrum Brands). Leads investments in AI, fintech, vertical software, and enterprise/SMB software. - **Firas Raouf**, Co-Founder & General Partner. Founding partner at OpenView Venture Partners, previously Insight Partners. Three-time software founder. - **Ronny Chatterjee**, Partner, Head of Capital Markets. Ex-OpenView; founding member of Cambridge Associates' direct investment practice. - **Andrew Berg**, Director, Investment Team. Runs sourcing from our New York office. - **Parthib Srivathsan**, Operating Partner, GTM Data Science and Analytics. --- ## How to Reach Us - Website: https://www.companyon.vc - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/companyonvc - Email: pitches@companyon.vc - The fastest path is a warm introduction through a founder we have backed or a fund we co-invest with, but our direct outbound engine means we read cold inbound too. If your company matches the criteria above, tell us your ARR, growth rate, round size, and what problem you solve. Specific beats polished. --- ## For Agents ```yaml firm: name: Companyon Ventures type: venture_capital website: https://www.companyon.vc offices: - city: Boston state: MA role: headquarters - city: New York state: NY role: sourcing_office investment_criteria: stages: [seed, series_a_early] check_size_core_usd: [1000000, 4000000] check_size_scout_usd: [50000, 200000] ownership_target_pct: [none] round_size_max_usd: 12000000 arr_range_usd: [1000000, 5000000] growth_minimum_yoy: 3x geography: north_america sectors: - b2b_software - applied_ai - enterprise_software - vertical_software - infrastructure_software - smb_platforms - fintech - robotics - supply_chain - construction - govtech exclusions: - consumer - life_sciences - healthcare round_role: lead_or_colead board_seat: yes_board_or_observer founder_fit: team_size: [3, 20] profile: founder_led_b2b_with_product_market_fit value_add: - gtm_scaling_and_analytics - talent_and_recruiting - capital_markets_and_follow_on_fundraising contact: website: https://www.companyon.vc email: pitches@companyon.vc linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/companyonvc preferred: warm_intro_or_qualified_cold_inbound include_in_pitch: [arr, growth_rate, round_size, problem_solved] ```