515 Ventures
Seed / early-stage venture firm founded by Frederic Kerrest (co-founder & Vice Chairman of Okta) that pairs investment capital with hands-on operating advice for founders.
Profile
- Stage: Seed to early-stage venture; firm’s own framing is first-money-in / operating advice. Third-party trackers also record later-stage participation (Series A/B/C) via follow-ons. ^[Crunchbase lists “Early Stage Venture, Late Stage Venture, Post-IPO, Seed”]
- Focus: B2B SaaS / enterprise software, with portfolio also spanning HealthTech and consumer; technical-founder companies; heavy emphasis on GTM strategy, sales hiring, fundraising support, and investor/customer introductions.
- Fund size / AUM: Not disclosed.
- Location: Oakland, California (San Francisco Bay Area).
- Founder / key partner: Frederic Kerrest — Founder & Managing Partner. Sole listed team member per CBInsights/Tracxn. He is also co-founder & Vice Chairman of Okta and author of “Zero to IPO.”
- Founded: 2017 ^[ambiguous: 515ventures.com/about and Crunchbase state 2017; CBInsights and Tracxn list 2016]
- Approach (firm’s own words): “built to mentor and support the next generation of hard-working, visionary entrepreneurs by offering operating advice alongside investment capital.”
Portfolio (selected, multi-sourced)
- Craft — investing since 2019, multiple rounds.
- Modern Health
- Kadence — participated in Series A.
(Full portfolio list at the firm’s Portfolio Companies page.)
Fundraise Relationship (init.inc)
- init.inc’s contact at 515 Ventures is Frederic Kerrest. 515 Ventures is on the init.inc fundraise pipeline through him; he was suggested as a connection by Karun.
- Status: On pipeline, not yet reached.
- See Frederic Kerrest for the connection details and conversation log — those facts live on his page, not here.
Related
- Frederic Kerrest — Founder & Managing Partner; init.inc’s contact at the firm.
- Okta — Kerrest’s operator company (co-founder & Vice Chairman).
- Karun — suggested the connection to Kerrest.