Investor Profile: Conversion Capital — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Conversion Capital is a New York City-based early-stage venture firm founded in 2015 by sole founder and general partner Christian Lawless, formerly in capital markets at Lehman Brothers and Nomura. The firm’s own site describes it as “a leading early stage Venture Capital firm based in New York City with over $250m in assets under management.” Its founding thesis: financial-services infrastructure would be unbundled as critical operating infrastructure moved to the cloud.

Thesis and specialty

Conversion’s specialty is the picks-and-shovels layer of finance: fintech companies leveraging cloud infrastructure, software and data technology. Its $122 million Fund III announcement says the fund “will focus entirely on seeding the next generation of breakthrough fintech companies leveraging cloud infrastructure, software, and data technology.” The firm deliberately avoids balance-sheet-risk lenders, backing the core technology instead. Its wider stated focus spans generative AI, financial technology, cloud infrastructure and national security.

Where it has funded

Conversion says it has made 60+ investments. Its Fund III release names it as a seed investor in Ramp, Blend, Qualia, Figure, Provenance, Dataminr, Vesta, Improbable, Wisetack and Boost, with the launch release adding Braid and Booster Fuels. The focus is US and UK-based companies. Across the portfolio, the firm reports $7 billion of follow-on capital raised and $35 billion of total market capitalisation created.

Cheque size and deal pace

This figure is firm-published, in the Fund III announcement: “Our initial check sizes will range from $500k-$5m,” for pre-seed through Series A companies with founder-led engineering teams. Fund III was planned to back 25 to 30 companies, reserving at least 30% for follow-ons. On deal pace: 60+ investments since founding in 2015 works out to roughly six new investments a year across the firm’s first decade — a selective, concentrated pace, not a spray-and-pray one.

Exits

Conversion’s Fund III launch release documents 17 portfolio company exits through acquisition or IPO across its first two funds. The release gives the count rather than an exit-by-exit list, so individual exit names beyond that firm-stated total are not claimed here.

How to apply for funding

Founders can reach Conversion directly via conversioncapital.com. The firm also runs the Conversion Capital Fellowship — a selective community for top engineers, designers, product minds and company builders, with applications held annually via its Fellowship page — and Conversion Labs, its venture-building arm. Neither is a direct funding application, but both are genuine, published routes into the firm’s network, which is where its seed deals originate.