Horizon (horizon.vc)
Pre-seed / seed-stage venture firm, founded 2022 by Sandy Kory. Concentrated portfolio, conviction-led. Sister to Horizon Partners (horizonpartners.com) — a boutique tech-M&A advisory Sandy also founded (2010), run by co-GP Mike Firmage.
⚠️ Do NOT confuse with: Horizon Ventures (Hong Kong / Li Ka-shing) — completely different firm. Or Horizon Capital (Eastern Europe PE). Always specify
horizon.vc.
Firm Profile
- Stage: pre-seed / seed.
- Style: concentrated, conviction-driven; relationship-led with founders.
- Sister entity: Horizon Partners (M&A advisory for product-driven tech founders) — separate legal entity, shared people.
Partners
- Sandy Kory — Founder & General Partner. 15+ yr VC. Stanford BA (Psych) + MS (Management Science & Engineering).
- Mike Firmage — General Partner. Runs legal/finance at Horizon + the Horizon Partners M&A practice.
- Shivali Halabe — Associate. Sourcing + founder support. Ex-SIG quant trader; Cornell CS.
Track record (Sandy Kory + Horizon)
Early investor in Palantir, Canva, BillionToOne, Flutterwave, Sendbird — plus other unicorns (exhaustive Horizon-only portfolio not fully public; Pass 2 work pending).
Fundraise Relationship (init.inc)
- Status: new warm intro at raise launch. Pre-seed/seed VC at init’s exact stage. His portfolio has a pattern of breakout consumer + enterprise companies.
- Conversation log (newest first):
- 2026-05-26 — Akshay intro’d (likely Akshay Choudhry from Ribbit per CRM context — to confirm). Sazzad iMessaged Sandy ~4:48pm. Sandy proposed: Wed 5/27 9:30/10am ET or Thu 5/28 9/11:30am ET. Sandy is east-coast; Sazzad in SF — Sazzad to pick a time.
- Mutual connections / warm path: Akshay (intro source).
- Personal & rapport notes (firm-level): Stanford ecosystem. Public voice on Mixergy + Venture with Grace podcast suggests direct/founder-empathetic style. Concentrated-fund philosophy = he commits hard or not at all.
- Live stage: new contact, scheduling first meeting.
Best data channels for this firm
horizon.vc/team— sparse but accurate; primary team source.- Mixergy interview (“The Man Who Sells Tech Companies”), Venture with Grace podcast — Sandy’s public voice.
- Crunchbase / PitchBook — portfolio data (incomplete; many checks are early/unannounced).
- Avoid: Horizon Ventures (HK) confusion; Horizon Capital (PE) confusion.