Wedbush Ventures

We're a community of students backing outlier startups in Southern California. With 20 partners spanning 12+ universities, we build relationships with SoCal's best founders and companies. As students, we connect with alumni and founders before they're founders. We run a syndicate, connecting SoCal's biggest dreamers with funding from our community of angels. SoCal has a gap between founders and capital.SoCal universities produce top technical talent but its founders have little access to early-stage venture capital. Deal flow from regional universities is opaque for institutional investors - meaning most miss out on the region's outlier returns. And we've bridged it once before. At California Crescent Fund, we invested 20+ portfolio companies to bridge SoCal's best talent with the capital they need. We've worked with our LPs to back outlier companies and make our impact - now, we're spinning out and ready to do it again through a new Syndicate. We're looking for founders who…Have SoCal in their DNA: 1+ founding member being a SoCal student, dropout, or alum. Hold an Unfair GTM Advantage: What makes you the right team to build and sell this product? Build & Test Quickly: Focused on building product, launching fast, and iterating. Chase a "Why Now?" Timing matters: how do you see the world around you right now?

Pinecone is a "venture studio" – a company dedicated to building impactful businesses by collaborating with driven founders. We focus on turning ambitious ideas into successful and meaningful ventures. STUDIO VS. INCUBATOR/ACCELERATOR – WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? Unlike incubators and accelerators, venture studios generate their own ideas, create startups from scratch, provide funding, recruit founders, and actively participate in operations without a fixed timeline. Studios also assume a significant portion of the responsibilities and risks associated with ideation, validation, and launch, making them more deeply involved in the long-term success of their startups compared to other startup support models. WHY CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE? Co-founding with Pinecone is akin to getting 10+ co-founders on your team, for the "price" of one. Through mentorship, network and access to capital, we greatly increase your chances – and speed – of success. WHO CAN CO-FOUND WITH PINECONE? We partner with people who are determined to create something big, something meaningful. You should possess an unfair advantage, whether industry insights, skills or network/distribution. We mainly base our decision on trust, a shared vision and ambition are must-haves. We also look for traits like: resilience, adaptability, resourcefulness, curiosity, humility, passion, and drive. Last, but not least, we consider the ability to rally people behind a vision, a rare, yet decisive, skill. CAN PINECONE INVEST IN MY STARTUP? While our main focus is to build companies from scratch, with or without a co-founder from the start, we occasionally will look at investment opportunities that align with our portfolio. Such strategic investments should bring value to our existing portfolio companies or vice versa. WHERE IS PINECONE LOCATED? Pinecone is based in Oslo, Norway. However, we operate globally with partners of several nationalities and locations, and we invest and build companies globally, too.

We’re EQT Ventures, a VC built by former founders and operators ready to support the next generation of global winners. Building a global tech company is challenging. We know because we’ve done it too. Without the right people around you, getting to great is almost impossible. That’s why we decided to create EQT Ventures, a new kind of VC, the VC we always wanted on our own startup journeys. A VC that is accessible, supportive and fully committed. A partner that knows what it takes to put everything on the line. A VC built to serve the founders it backs. From offices in Stockholm, London, Berlin, Paris and San Francisco, we invest in and support entrepreneurs building the next-generation of global winners. Entrepreneurs will always be at the core of everything we do. We’re entrepreneurs at heart and there’s nothing we thrive from more than working with founders. No matter where you are on your journey or the challenges you face, chances are we’ve been there too and can overcome them together.

Lumma is a global accelerator program designed to help founders and operators build, scale, and expand high-potential businesses into sustainable, internationally competitive companies. Founded with the vision of creating globally connected accelerator ecosystems, Lumma operates structured accelerator programs that combine execution-focused mentorship, market-driven strategy, and performance management. Our model enables local operators to run accelerators in their own markets while remaining aligned with a unified global framework. By connecting founders, investors, corporate partners, and regional ecosystems, Lumma accelerates growth, strengthens execution, and supports long-term value creation. Our approach balances global standards with local insight, allowing businesses to scale efficiently and responsibly across markets.

WE HELP SUPPORT TALENTED ENTREPRENEURS’ WILDEST DREAMS. WE PROVIDE THEM WITH AN ECOSYSTEM OF GLOBAL PARTNERS AND PURPOSE-DRIVEN THINKERS – ALL WITH SHARED VALUES FOR CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND POSITIVE IMPACT. THE IDC VENTURES TEAM UNDERSTANDS THE POWER OF FOUNDERS AND SHARING PLATFORMS TO BUILD FUTURE WINNERS. Our network is valuable. That’s how we’ve successfully helped investors provide value in deal flow, diligence, and market and industry expertise. As entrepreneurial experts, we’ve enabled partnerships and new opportunities for founders since 2019.

Lewis & Clark Ventures was founded by former founders and operators to support the tech ecosystem. We’ve built venture-backed companies and have navigated the terrain of going from idea to exit multiple times. We are excited to partner with dynamic founders them on their journey to build successful companies. What We Look For Stage | Sectors Late seed through Series A and are sector agnostic technology investors. Investment We typically invest between $2M - $3M in our initial investment, but have flexibility in either direction. Between The Coasts We seek to fund companies in geographies that are overlooked by coastal venture funds Market Large opportunity, with high growth potential. Founder | Team We look for founders that have a big vision, a bold idea, and a strong ability to build and lead a great team - an exceptional founding team with either previous startup experience, domain expertise, or are very close to the problem they’re solving. Role We prefer to lead investments, but this is not always a requirement. Market-Fit We look for rapidly accelerating growth metrics and lean toward a minimum of $500K - $1M in revenue. Customers Companies that are establishing strong product-market-fit through close customer relationships, and are beginning to demonstrate a consistent go-to-market process. Mission To partner with visionary founders to build iconic companies between the coasts. Our Ethos Empathy As former founders, we are rooted in understanding and supporting the founders’ journey. People who embark on this journey command our respect. Execute We take pride in doing great work and care about the details. Initiative is in our DNA and we always have a bias towards action. Navigate The path to success and significance is rarely a straight line and decisions are rarely black and white. We believe in navigating the complexity of startups with our experience to accelerate growth. Shoot Straight As partners for the long term, we believe an open, transparent and candid communication style, based on mutual respect and trust, is the best way to communicate and achieve the best results. Smart Growth We believe in smart growth, not growth at all costs. We work with founders to build sustainable, enduring companies, combining rapid growth built on a foundation of strong fundamentals. True Partners We believe that the people you surround yourself with make the difference in life. We work with people we respect, that challenge us to dream bigger, and that we enjoy spending time with. We support each other and win as a team.