Investment firm A* announced the closing of its third fund, totaling $450 million, further strengthening its position in the ecosystem of venture capital firms investing in tech startups.
A* follows a generalist investment strategy, deploying capital across various sectors, such as artificial intelligence applications, fintech, healthcare, and cybersecurity. According to the firm, the average check size from the new fund will range between $3 million and $5 million, with the goal of funding at least 30 startups over the next two to three years.
The fund’s limited partners include nonprofits, foundations, and endowments, while Carnegie Mellon University is among the publicly disclosed investors.
A* was founded in 2020 by Kevin Hartz and Bennett Siegel. It had previously raised a $300 million fund in 2021 and a second $315 million fund in 2024.
Kevin Hartz is well-known in the tech space as the co-founder of Xoom, which was acquired by PayPal for $1.1 billion in 2015, as well as Eventbrite, which went public in 2018. On his part, Bennett Siegel comes from Boston Consulting Group and Altamont Capital Partners, and he served as a partner at Coatue Management for four years.
A* has also drawn market attention for its strategy of investing in particularly young founders. Hartz had previously told TechCrunch that nearly 20% of the firm’s existing portfolio consists of teenage entrepreneurs.
Among A*’s most well-known investments are the fintech startup Ramp and the AI company Mercor.