Comma Capital — Investment Thesis & Preferences

Comma Capital Research

Investment Thesis

Comma Capital is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund founded in 2019 by Adarsh Bhatt and David Ongchoco, University of Pennsylvania alumni. The fund invests at the earliest phases of company formation and scaling, backing ambitious operators-turned-founders across SaaS, fintech, digital health, edtech, AI, and developer tools. Comma Capital emphasizes backing high-potential founders during their most vulnerable stages and has built a strong community of 1,000+ startup and tech operators across their portfolio sectors.

Investment Stage and Check Size

Comma Capital primarily focuses on Pre-Seed and Seed stage investments:

Pre-Seed checks: Typically $100K - $500K for prototype development and initial team formation
Seed checks: Typically $1M - $3M for companies with product-market signals and traction
Occasional Series A participation: For select portfolio companies showing exceptional momentum

The fund has deployed capital with an average check size around $1.5M - $2M at seed stage. They are willing to write multi-check round leads and have demonstrated follow-on investment capabilities.

Recent Activity and Fund Status

Comma Capital has been actively deploying from their second fund (Fund II), with consistent investment activity:

2026 YTD: 1 investment (Arbor, Feb 2026)
2025: 2 investments including Arbor and others
2024: 1 investment (Cassidy)
2023: 4 investments
2022: 8 investments

Total portfolio: 18 companies as of February 2026, with 2 portfolio acquisitions (MetaMap acquired by Incode in Jun 2024, Airplane acquired in Jan 2024). The fund is actively deploying and fundraising, having recently activated a new fund.

Portfolio and Investment Focus

Comma Capital's 18-company portfolio spans multiple sectors with strong concentration in:

Enterprise Applications (16 investments): Including internal automation, SaaS platforms, and B2B software
FinTech (5 investments): Including payment infrastructure, identity verification (MetaMap), and financial automation
Vertical SaaS (4 investments): Industry-specific software solutions
HealthTech (3 investments): Digital health solutions
Retail & E-Commerce (3 investments): Including retail media platforms

Notable Portfolio Companies

Top Investments by Recent Activity:

Topsort - AI-powered retail media and advertising platform (Series A, $43.2M total funding)
MetaMap - Identity verification and KYC/AML compliance (Acquired by Incode, $97.6M total funding)
Rilla - Sales team coaching and virtual ridealong software (Seed stage, $3.8M funding)
Flipturn - Fleet charging infrastructure for EV operators (Series A, $20.1M funding)
Cassidy - AI-powered automation platform for internal workflows (Series A, $13.7M funding)
Rutter - API for banking and payment data integration
Flexpa - Healthcare API for patient data
Nitra - (Fastest growing portfolio company, 10x+ growth YTD 2025, based in NY and Taiwan)
Quanta - AI-native accounting automation ($4.7M seed)
Arbor - Healthcare AI/ML company ($6.3M seed/pre-seed)

Unicorn Status: At least one portfolio company achieved unicorn valuation in 2025.

Team and Leadership

Core Team (10 members):

Adarsh Bhatt, Co-Founder & General Partner: University of Pennsylvania alum, 27 years old at time of Forbes 30U30 2024 feature, investor in 50+ startups
David Ongchoco, Co-Founder & General Partner: University of Pennsylvania alum, 28 years old, active on LinkedIn sharing portfolio updates and market insights
Brian Jiang, Partner: Located in New York City
Chris Hansen, Principal: Located in Portland

The team includes 2 additional team members and several fellows/interns who have progressed to founding their own companies or working at top-tier AI startups/labs.

Notable Outcomes from Team Programs:

Multiple fellows have founded companies (e.g., Pylon by Advith Chelikani after Samsara)
Several fellows now work at leading AI companies (Anthropic, Modal)
Strong track record of developing operator talent

Operating Model

Community and Network:

Comma Collective: 1,000+ operator network across SaaS, dev tools, fintech, digital health, and AI
Comma Capital hosts 60+ events annually (dinners, happy hours, board game nights, cohort programs)
Active across multiple geographies: NYC (primary), San Francisco, Toronto, London

Programs:

Comma Zero 2.0: First-check program for current students, dropouts, and new grads (5 checks planned Q1 2026)
Comma VC Fellowship: 5th cohort of 4-6 month program for operators learning venture capital
Comma Blueprint: Cohort-based educational program
Comma University Fellowship: Targeted at university students
Comma Maple: Canadian-focused program (4 investments resulting)

Decision Process:

Partnership-based decisions with active dialogue between cofounders
Fast decision-making process typical of seed-stage investors
Strong emphasis on founder fit and team assessment during earliest stages

Geographic Focus

Primary investment geographies:

United States (15 of 18 portfolio companies): Concentration in NYC and SF Bay Area
Canada (1 investment): Centro
International Expansion: Recent expansion to London with partner events and investments; Taiwan presence through Nitra investment

Sector Preferences and Thesis

Core Focus Areas:

SaaS and Enterprise Software: B2B platforms, vertical SaaS, internal automation
FinTech and Payments: Payment infrastructure, KYC/AML, financial data APIs
Developer Tools and Infrastructure: APIs, automation platforms, internal tools
AI and Machine Learning: Early-stage AI applications across verticals
Digital Health and HealthTech: Healthcare-specific software and solutions
EdTech: Education-focused software platforms

Founder Preferences:

Operators-turned-founders or technical founders with deep domain expertise
Teams from top companies (Samsara, Google, AWS, Stripe, Riot Games, Zynga, etc.)
University of Pennsylvania alumni receive special attention and support
Early-stage founders willing to move fast and build scrappy
Founders working on ambitious, generational problems

Lead Tendency

Comma Capital demonstrates a strong lead tendency:

Led 14 seed investments out of 18 total
Actively leads seed rounds ($1M-$3M ticket sizes typical for seed leads)
Willing to be first institutional investor
2 Series A investments show follow-on capability but not primary focus
Recent activity shows continued seed-stage lead participation

Co-Investors and Relationships

Frequent Co-Investors:

Andreessen Horowitz (3+ co-investments)
Accel Partners
CRV
FJ Labs
Craft Ventures
Crew Capital
Y Combinator (as pre-investor)
145+ total co-investors across portfolio

Cross-Border Collaboration:

Recently opened London operations with partner events
Working with Moso Capital on robotics, energy infrastructure, hardware
Expanding beyond US-centric networks

Decision Timeline

Based on portfolio activity patterns and fundraising infrastructure:

Fast decision-making: Typical 1-2 week response time for interested founders
Rolling applications: Comma Zero program has rolling applications
Seasonal patterns: High activity in spring/fall; fund-dependent deployment cycles

Warm Introductions

Comma Capital prefers warm introductions through:

Existing portfolio companies and founders
Operator network through Comma Collective
University of Pennsylvania connections
Previous fellowship/program participants
LinkedIn outreach from Adarsh Bhatt or David Ongchoco

Company Involvement

Comma Capital typically provides:

Board observer rights for seed investments
Active advising through operator network
Network introductions for customers, hiring, and partnerships
Operational support for growth-stage optimization
No board seats at pre-seed stage

Recent Highlights and Trends (2025-2026)

Hosted first Prax Healthcare x AI Summit (healthcare focus gaining momentum)
Portfolio company Nitra became fastest-growing portfolio company (10x+ growth 2025)
First portfolio company unicorn achieved in 2025
Expanded to London with UK-focused portfolio development
Increased focus on AI/ML infrastructure and applications
Strong emphasis on campus recruiting through Penn Venture Lab partnership
Fund II deployment completed; new fund activated for continued deployment

Market Positioning

Comma Capital is positioned as:

Operator-friendly: Founders with operational experience preferred
Network-rich: 1,000+ operator community provides significant value-add
Founders' first choice for seed: Known for moving fast and being founder-focused
Sector-agnostic within their thesis: Willing to invest across SaaS, fintech, healthcare, AI, dev tools if founder fit is strong
Active LP in founder outcomes: Many fellows and team members have gone on to success

Anti-Thesis

Comma Capital generally avoids:

Purely hardware-focused companies (though open to hardware+software)
Non-technical founders without strong domain expertise
Later-stage companies (Series B+) outside portfolio
Heavily regulated industries without operator expertise
Geographical markets without network presence