Penny Jar Capital is an early-stage venture fund founded by Bryant Barr and Rich Scudellari. As complementary capital, Penny Jar invests in the category-leading companies of the future, across multiple industries.
While playing basketball for Davidson College, Bryant and his teammate Stephen Curry were united by a relentless drive to learn, grow and win – a goal their coach visualized with an empty jar. When the team performed well, each player received a penny for the jar, showing how success is achieved by the consistent contributions of many over time. The result was a historic trip to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament for the underrated team – and a penny jar filled to the rim.
Bryant and Rich met while attending The Stanford Graduate School of Business. As collegiate athletes and entrepreneurs, they quickly discovered their shared philosophies on leadership and teamwork focused on three core tenets – imagination, curiosity, and determination.
They believe the leaders who imagine “what if”, and pursue their vision with a deep curiosity to learn and a steadfast determination to execute, ultimately build the category-leading companies of tomorrow.
These leaders value inclusion, and continually model the importance of accountability and humility as they grow and scale their teams.
This shared philosophy became the bedrock of Bryant and Rich’s investment partnership at SC30 Inc., the business entity of two-time NBA MVP and four-time NBA Champion, Stephen Curry. They created the entity’s investment strategy and developed a rigorous framework to identify exceptional founders building transformational businesses. Together, the two ultimately curated a blue-chip investment portfolio across multiple industries.
Building on their early success, Bryant and Rich founded Penny Jar in 2021 with Stephen Curry as the fund’s anchor investor and special advisor. Leveraging their collective networks and entrepreneurial expertise, Penny Jar works with founders and their teams to fill their own respective penny jars.
OUR INVESTMENT STRATEGY
EARLY STAGE
- We invest in Seed and Series A rounds, backing founders with the imagination, curiosity and determination to build category leading companies.
INDUSTRY AGNOSTIC
- We invest across a range of industries and in both consumer and B2B companies, focusing on the small details that make a founder and company uniquely suited to tackle a problem.
COMPLEMENTARY CAPITAL
- We complement lead investors as a strategic partner, focused on building long lasting relationships and leveraging our deeply experienced partner base to support founders at every turn.