Helping Extraordinary Entrepreneurs Build Exceptional Companies

Brightstone Venture Capital invests in the companies defining the New Economy, with a focus on value, growth and liquidity.

See the portfolio Our approach

Access and selection, in the markets that matter

Brightstone is a Minneapolis based venture firm investing in New Economy companies. We work to reach the cap tables few can reach, and to select with the discipline of more than thirty years of investing.

0Years of private market investing
0Current portfolio positions
0New Economy focus sectors
AI Processing
Semiconductors
AI Data Center
Hardware, software and services
AI Infrastructure
Energy and power
Applications
Agents, defense, cybersecurity
FinTech
Next generation

The New Economy is being built in private markets

Companies stay private longer, and create more of their value before they ever reach an exchange. Being on the right cap tables is what matters.

Why that changes everything

The portfolio

Positions across the companies building the infrastructure, intelligence and financial rails of the next economy.

SpaceX
Cerebras
Crusoe
Klarna
xAI
Groq
VAST Data
Chime
Lightmatter
PsiQuantum
Arctic Wolf
Scale AI
Shield AI
Glean

How we invest

Companies stay private longer, and more of their value is created before they ever reach public markets. Our approach is built for that reality.

Read our approach

Who we are

A consistent team with decades across venture investing, banking, research and fund operations, working with founders through the full life of a company.

Meet the team

Building something exceptional?

We would like to hear about it.

Get in touch

Approach

Access and select New Economy companies, with a focus on value, growth and liquidity.

Own the next generation of blue chip companies

The goal is to identify and build a portfolio of next generation blue chip companies: the businesses becoming category leaders while still private.

We work to hold positions in them directly, on the cap table, where the value is actually created.

The opportunity

01

Value is created before the IPO

Companies stay private for longer, and create more of their value before they ever list. The gains that once accrued in public markets now accrue on private cap tables, before most investors can participate.

02

The secondary market has matured

The market for private shares has become an active, liquid channel, with real price discovery and real routes to exit. Private no longer means illiquid.

Together, these shifts reward one thing above all: access to the cap table, and the judgment to know which cap tables matter.

How we are different

Two advantages, compounding over three decades.

Unique access

A proprietary deal origination network built on decades of relationships with companies, venture firms and brokers, giving us access to private company diligence, financials and allocations.

Disciplined selection

More than thirty years of private investing, and the experience to know which opportunities deserve capital and which do not.

What we look for

Four tests, applied to every opportunity.

01
A path to liquidityA visible route to an IPO or strategic sale.
02
Proven revenue growthDemonstrated demand, not projected demand.
03
Active secondary tradingLiquid markets for price discovery, and the ability to exit if needed.
04
Disciplined entryValuations supported by the underlying business.

Where we focus

AI Processing

Semiconductors

The silicon the New Economy runs on, from wafer scale compute to inference.

AI Data Center

Hardware, software and services

The systems and platforms behind the buildout of AI capacity.

AI Infrastructure

Energy and power

The energy and physical infrastructure that makes intelligence scale.

Applications

Agents, defense, cybersecurity

Where AI becomes product, from autonomy to security operations.

FinTech

Next generation

Consumer finance rebuilt for how people actually bank and pay.

Portfolio

Positions across the companies defining the New Economy.

Current positions

SpaceSpaceX
SpaceX
Space systems, launch and Starlink.
AI ProcessingCerebras
Cerebras
Wafer scale systems for AI compute.
AI InfrastructureCrusoe
Crusoe
Energy first AI infrastructure at scale.
FinTechKlarna
Klarna
Payments and shopping for the next generation.
AI ProcessingxAI
xAI
Frontier models and the systems behind them.
AI ProcessingGroq
Groq
Purpose built silicon for AI inference.
AI Data CenterVAST Data
VAST Data
The data platform underneath modern AI.
FinTechChime
Chime
Banking built around the customer.
AI Data CenterLightmatter
Lightmatter
Photonic computing and interconnect.
AI ProcessingPsiQuantum
PsiQuantum
Utility scale quantum computing.
ApplicationsArctic Wolf
Arctic Wolf
Security operations for the enterprise.
AI Data CenterScale AI
Scale AI
Data and evaluation for frontier AI.
ApplicationsShield AI
Shield AI
Autonomy for defense.
ApplicationsGlean
Glean
AI search across the enterprise.

Selected exits

$321M
BiteSquad
sale to WAITR Holdings
$91M
FlipGrid
sale to Microsoft
$40M
HomeSpotter
sale to Lone Wolf Technologies
$40M
CodeStream
sale to New Relic

Prior fund companies

VRChatWasabiGravieFlyr LabsCREXiCelcuityStemoniXMiromatrixCryosaMosaicVersus GameLifeLensVori HealthAfriexXploreIntact

Team

Experienced and consistent, across the full life of a company.

David Dalvey

David Dalvey

Thirty years as a venture capital partner, with forty cumulative years as a board director across eight public boards, thirty five IPO companies and two hundred private deals, including more than ten nine figure exits.

Jeff Cowan

Jeff Cowan

Thirty years in finance and venture investment, ten cumulative years as a board director, and a founder of multiple fintech businesses with two nine figure exits.

Joseph Sullivan

Joseph Sullivan

Twenty five years in investment banking and equity research, spanning Oak Ridge Financial capital markets, Dougherty and Co corporate finance, and research at Craig-Hallum.

Kellie Bauer

Kellie Bauer

Twenty five years as a fund CFO and thirty as a CPA, including fifteen years as a private equity fund partner and investment committee member, leading BVC accounting and fund administration.

Built on operating experience

Across the partnership: decades of venture investing, public and private board work, investment banking and equity research, and hands on fund operations. The same team, working together, fund after fund.

Contact

Minneapolis based, investing nationally.

Say hello

Brightstone Venture Capital

601 Carlson Parkway, Suite 1050Minneapolis, MN 55305
info@brightstonevc.comWe read everything founders send.