Obvious Ventures raises $360M for fifth fund

Obvious Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by James Joaquin, Evan Williams, and Vishal Vasishth, has closed its fifth fund at $360,360,360. The firm has a history of using mathematically significant figures for its fund sizes. Its first fund was $123,456,789, followed by a second fund of $191,919,191, a third of $271,828,182, and a fourth fund of $355,111,553 announced in mid-2022. According to co-founder and managing director James Joaquin, the firm invests in the frontiers of math, science, and physics, and chooses to celebrate math in its fund numbers. The specific figure of $360,360,360 also serves as a metaphor for taking a full-circle view across the firm’s three core investment pillars: planetary health, human health, and economic health.

Securing a fifth fund represents a notable milestone in the current venture capital landscape. According to research from Sapphire Partners, only 17% of venture firms successfully raise more than three funds. “We made it to fund five, which is actually a big deal in the venture landscape,” said James Joaquin, co-founder and managing director of Obvious Ventures. To navigate this environment, the firm aims to keep its fund sizes small enough so that a single successful investment can return the entire fund if it becomes a durable public company.

The firm intends to make approximately 10 investments annually, with check sizes ranging from $5 million to $12 million for seed and Series A startups. Under its planetary health pillar, the firm recently backed Zanskar, a geothermal energy startup that announced a $115 million Series C—a specific stage of venture capital financing. For its human health strategy, Obvious Ventures has invested in Inceptive, an artificial intelligence platform for molecule development. In the economic health sector, the firm’s portfolio includes Dexterity Robotics, a company building humanoids for warehouse and factory tasks that was valued at $1.65 billion last year.

To demonstrate its long-term durability, Obvious Ventures points to several past portfolio companies. In 2015, the firm invested in satellite imagery company Planet Labs, which went public via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) in 2021 and is valued at approximately $8.5 billion. Its Series A investment in Recursion Pharmaceuticals maintains a market capitalization of over $2 billion, while HR and payroll platform Gusto was most recently valued at more than $9 billion in the private market. The firm has also navigated market volatility; portfolio company Beyond Meat reached a market capitalization of over $14 billion shortly after its 2019 initial public offering, but fell to below a billion by late 2022.

Why it matters

Obvious Ventures’ latest fundraise solidifies the firm as an established VC player in a venture capital environment where only 17% of firms successfully raise more than three funds.