Felicis (felicis.com) is a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Aydin Senkut, the Turkish-born executive and Google's first product manager. Two decades later, Forbes describes it as a "nimble boutique VC": a compact team that competes on speed and founder trust rather than fund size, with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco and New York City.

Its thesis is unapologetically early. 94% of its investments are made at Seed or Series A, and it leads or co-leads more than 83% of them, going from first meeting to term sheet in as little as 24 hours. Felicis backs artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and defence, global resilience and energy, and health and bio, with early-stage founders from more than 40 countries. AI is the dominant theme: 70% of its active portfolio is now AI-native.

Capital has scaled with the track record. Felicis raised its largest vehicle in June 2025 — Fund X at $900 million — following Fund IX at $825 million in 2023 and a $600 million fund in 2021. Assets under management now exceed $3.8 billion. Felicis-backed startups have driven more than $300 billion in total market value; the firm counts over 50 unicorns backed and more than 125 exits, with 12% of its backed companies reaching unicorn status.

The portfolio spans two decades of technology. Felicis backed Shopify early — joining its $15 million Series A in 2010 and following through Series B and C ahead of the 2015 New York Stock Exchange listing — and led Canva's Series A in 2015 (Canva was valued at $42 billion in August 2025). It first invested in Adyen in autumn 2013 and joined its $250 million Series B that December. Seed investments in Plaid and Notion in 2013, backing for Twitch, Ring and Bonobos, and Seed-to-Series-B participation in Credit Karma ahead of Intuit's $7.1 billion acquisition in 2020 followed. Recent rounds include n8n's Series A (2021), Supabase's $80 million Series B (2022), Runway's $50 million Series C, and in 2025 the Series B and C of Mercor plus Verkada's $200 million Series E.

Senkut remains founder and managing partner, named to Forbes' Midas List for the 13th consecutive year in 2026 and to the New York Times' top 20 VCs in 2017. Dasha Maggio, co-chief operating officer, joined in 2013 when the team numbered fewer than five and built its Founder Success function. Peter Deng, former consumer vice president of OpenAI's ChatGPT team, joined the firm in 2025.

Felicis' distinction is its posture after the term sheet. In 2014 it began writing a clause into term sheets pledging never to vote its shares against a founder; in 2018 it launched the Founder Development Pledge, committing 1% in non-dilutive capital on top of every first cheque for leadership, coaching and CEO peer groups. More than 85% of its new founders arrive through network referrals.

Why it matters for founders

If you are raising a seed or Series A and want a lead who moves fast and stands with you in the room, Felicis deserves a place on the list. It leads or co-leads more than four-fifths of its deals, can go from first meeting to term sheet in 24 hours, and puts two founder commitments in writing: never voting against you, and adding 1% in non-dilutive capital on top of its first cheque for your own development. The caveat is access — 85% of new founders arrive via referrals, so a warm introduction matters more than a cold email. Come with one.