John Zeratsky and Jake Knapp, former design partners at internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s GV corporate venturing subsidiary, have co-founded a venture capital firm called Character with Eli Bee-Goldman.
Character will invest in seed-stage rounds using the design sprint methodology Knapp had originally developed and employed at GV, which consists of a five-day process to design, prototype and test ideas with customers.
The firm will deploy up to $1m per investment at seed-stage and has already raised $30m in commitments from limited partners including executives from technology companies including Alphabet.
Character’s focus will mainly be on technologies related to the workplace, healthcare, blockchain and web3, industrial systems, consumer and retail, financial technology, no-code software and the creator economy spaces.
The first portfolio companies for the firm include Phaidra, a developer of artificial intelligence-powered industrial control systems.
