We look similar, but we're fundamentally different to other venture funds. We've built our own businesses. We're investing our own money. We're not limited in what we can do.
We invest in people, not ideas. We seek founders who are passionate about building generationally great companies.
We focus on fast growth tech companies
...but we’re infinitely inquisitive
Our depth of experience and lack of constraint are powerful when it comes to working with great founders.
Our experience lends itself to founders of technology start-ups who are building growing businesses and who value our capital and experience. We look for growth equity positions, where we’re all on the same side of the table. Because we've been there before, we’re interested in simple capital tables with aligned, participating shareholders. Our best experiences have been when we're the only shareholder, and when we invested at inception.
We don’t have a fund horizon or limitations. This lets us play the long-game for the truly outstanding companies. Our view is that it's your company and we'll do what we can to help you succeed. We're happy to buy founder or secondary shares where it makes sense.
Fundamentally, what matters to us is that we back high integrity founders to build world-class businesses.
Our Investment Focus
This is what we value and look for in our investments. But we’re infinitely inquisitive (that is, we break rules!).
So if your business doesn’t necessarily tick all these boxes and you are raising venture / growth capital or might in the future, please drop us a line (no, it doesn’t need to be a warm intro!)
Great people
Passionate entrepreneurs that we like and want to work with.
Complex domains
Companies that are solving significant problems.
Business software
Software that has the capacity to be mission critical over time.
Recurring revenue
Business models which are – or look like – recurring revenue.
Growing markets
Markets that are rapidly growing (though we often find the best SaaS businesses start with small TAMs).
Founders we can help
Companies and founders who have a deep ability to scale and learn and where we understand their domains.
Our portfolio companies
View the full Shearwater portfolio
Meet the Shearwater team
We have three founders as partners. We’ve all sat on your side of the table and built our own businesses. With Shearwater, we’re investing our own capital and experience to help you build a generationally great business.