Masha Bucher, Day One Ventures: Investing in The Biggest Ideas Possible

$150M Solo GP Fund III, $450M AUM

Aug 01, 2024

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Today we have Masha Bucher, Founder & GP at Day One Ventures, a solo GP fund that recently announced their $150M Fund III to continue backing early-stage founders with a customer-obsession DNA, accelerating the mass adoption of technologies. Masha is a legend.

Day One Ventures focuses on AI, climate, enterprise software, fintech / crypto, and deep tech. For Fund III, Day One is introducing a new category called “The Future of Human” as one of the key investment targets, aiming to redefine humans’ future as species through each bet they make.. Backing some of the biggest ideas they’ve seen to date. Yes, this involves freezing bodies.

“If we speak about the numbers, five years ago, we were as small as $11 million under management. Right now, we're $450 million under management. I want to be at least $1 billion under management by this time next year.”

We discuss her track record, PR & media strategy, why she’s an ‘El Segundo’ bull, downfall of GenAI + shortage of qualified talent, role of intuition in early stage investing, POV on the loneliness epidemic & that “people love running from themselves”..and an even juicer conversation on her 2030 prediction for relationships, parenting, and sex.

Masha Bucher, a 3x entrepreneur, investor, and art collector, founded Day One Ventures in 2018 when there were only two female general partners out of 157 new funds started in the US.

Track record

Masha’s an early investor of 8 unicorns, with 23 exits including 1 IPO. Portfolio companies value $115B+ in aggregate with $2B+ raised.
- Fund I: Closed & returned to investors in less than 3 years.
- Fund II: 4 unicorns to date
Their current fund’s net IRR is 48%, which is 6x higher than the median net IRR for their vintage (2020) <$250M funds in North America, according to data from Pitchbook.
Fund Returner: Truebill - invested in 2018, acquired in 2021 for $1.3B by Rocket Companies.

Masha dives deep into

Day One Ventures strategic PR & media advantage
El Segundo + American Dynamism, AI, Future of Human
- An El Segundo Bull for “one of the most hardworking” areas in the entire world
Expanding support with policymakers & regulators
Prediction on relationships, POV on loneliness
Decision-making process: intuition & psychoanalysis

Highlighted Portfolio Companies

El Segundo / American Dynamism

Rainmaker, Cloud seeding founded by Augustus Doricko

AI

you.com, AI productivity engine. Founded by ex-Salesforce Chief Scientist Richard Socher
Symbolica, Foundational model company building AI that can reason. Founded by George Morgan
Moonhub, AI recruiter. Founded by Nancy Xu
Superhuman, AI productivity & email inbox. Founded by Rahul Vohra
Puzzle, AI accounting. Founded by Sasha Orloff

Future of Human

Cradle, Reversible cryogenic, freezes the human body over time. Founded by Laura Deming
- One of the biggest ideas Masha has ever backed
Orchid, Whole genome sequencing for embryos, helps prospective parents detect genetic diseases before a baby is born. Founded by Noor Siddiqui
Mindstate, Biotech company that uses AI to design altered states of consciousness for psychedelic therapeutics to treat mental health disorders - first time a psychedelics company has done research and is working with AI/LLMs. Founded by Dillan DiNardo

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