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Mantis VC Closes $100M Fund III
Sourcery FAN FAVORITE, Mantis VC, founded by The Chainsmokers duo Alex Pall & Drew Taggart, alongside top investor-entrepreneurs Jeffrey Evans & Milan Koch, just announced the close of their $100 million Fund III!!! Doubling down on their position as one of the most connected & founder-centric investors in early-stage tech. It’s true. They are.
Since launching in 2019, Mantis has raised $225 million across three funds & backed 170+ companies, including breakout names like Kalshi, Chainguard, Underdog, Dandy, and early exits in Coinbase & Rupa Health. Their debut fund is reportedly performing in the top decile of its vintage.
Queue the Highlight Reel..
Sourcery Interviews w/ Mantis Portcos
How Whop Hit $1.2+ Billion GMV Run Rate with Just 20 Engineers
Saturn, The Viral Gen Z App backed by Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff & Dara Khosrowshahi | Acquired by Snap
shhhh.. one more being released next week
Sourcery’s Mantis Coverage
Profile: Social Capital & Superpowers
No, not Chamath. The Chainsmokers.
“But their likeness is not the only strength they have to attract founders and ability to win deals. I’ve heard consistently from numerous angels, founders, friends, LPs and GPs that the fund is the real deal. The investment team has traditional financial backgrounds, the GPs are creative serial entrepreneurs, and they have the operations to run it. They’re trusted partners, and startups are attracted to them by their resourcefulness, responsiveness and hustle - qualities you’d want in a mutual startup partnership. The fun factor is certainly an added bonus. Even so, I firmly believe that the energy you give typically attracts the same kind of energy back.”
#1 Host of LA Tech Week, 10 years running
“Shoutout to the incredible team at Mantis, with co-hosts Lightspeed, for throwing another incredible “Closer Out” (pun intended) party of the year, this time with special guest Ty Dolla $ign. Unbelievable! (..I see you Emlyn).”
A Fund Built for the Modern Founder
Fund III will write $500K–$2M checks into startups across AI, cybersecurity, frontier tech, data infrastructure, and healthtech. But capital is just one part of the story. Mantis' pitch to founders is about velocity, cultural reach, and showing up.
“Founders deserve investors who don’t just sit on cap tables but rather build with them, open doors, and move at founder speed. We’re raising the bar for what real partnership looks like in venture,” said GP Jeffrey Evans. “With Fund III, we have the capital, the platform, and the community to help the next generation of innovators win bigger & faster than ever before.”
Backing the fund are top-tier LPs like Allocate, Summit Peak, and TriplePoint Capital, alongside returning high-profile angels like Mark Cuban, David Blitzer, and Michael Rubin.
Operating Like a Startup
To scale support for portfolio companies, Mantis has expanded its team with deep domain experts:
Steve O’Brien, Head of Platform, recently led a partnership with Palantir to power internal data-driven operations.
Saveena Mandadi, Principal, who leads cybersecurity efforts, recently formed a CISO advisory committee to back security founders.
Gaurav Bhogale, Principal, AI & Infra
Caroline Menkes heads healthtech.
Founder Feedback: “They Show Up”
Chainguard CEO Dan Lorenc credits Mantis for going beyond check-writing: helping close hires, running GTM events, and activating demand-gen. Dom Wong of Pogo put it even more bluntly:
“Having Mantis on your cap table is a no-brainer… They uniquely leverage their influence as The Chainsmokers to make things happen.”
Whether it’s recording custom recruiting videos or cold DMing Fortune 500 execs, Mantis is actively rewriting the playbook on cultural capital in venture.
Plus, have you seen Alex’s linkedin game?
It’s so good he scored an interview with Linkedin CEO, Ryan Roslansky.
Other Notable Mentions:
The Chainsmokers’ Journey from DJs to VCs, Invest Like the Best
The Chainsmokers (Drew Taggart and Alex Pall) join Patrick O'Shaughnessy to discuss their evolution from DJs to global superstars to venture capitalists. They share insights on AI's impact on music creation, the creative process behind hits and how they built their early success through scrappy growth hacking tactics. The duo reveals their investment philosophy at Mantis, drawing parallels between artist development and startup building. They discuss the challenges of staying authentic while scaling, the importance of intentionality in art, and lessons learned from transitioning from music creators to investors.
Up next, Sourcery..
No pressure. (A lot of pressure)
Smart! ! next step: get these portfolio companies to talk to each other.