Investor Profile: Fusion Fund — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

If you are seeking Fusion Fund funding for an early-stage technology company in the United States or Canada, the firm's test is unusually clear: does your startup have a genuine technical or data advantage? Fusion Fund funding goes to founders with experience and expertise in healthcare, enterprise artificial intelligence and industrial technology who are building the next industry game changer. How to get funding from Fusion Fund therefore starts with proving that advantage, not just describing a large market.

Thesis: technical founders, technical diligence

Fusion Fund is a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm founded in 2015. Its own summary is that it backs early-stage startups that leverage technical or data advantages, and it differentiates itself through deep technical due diligence and a network of corporate leaders. The partners are former technical operators who have built and exited companies, so they test a founding team's engineering claims closely before they invest, and they stay involved on product, customers and hiring afterwards.

Sectors, stages and cheque size

Fusion Fund invests in pre-seed, seed and Series A companies in the United States and Canada, across healthcare, enterprise AI and industrial technology, including connected industries such as robotics and mobility, network technologies such as connectivity and security, and digital health and medical devices. Its Fund IV was a $190 million fund, bringing its assets under management to over $500 million. A standard cheque size was not publicly disclosed on the firm's official site in the sources read for this profile, so founders should discuss round size directly with the team.

Notable portfolio

Fusion Fund portfolio companies featured on its site include Proscia, which raised a $50 million round led by Insight Partners for AI-driven pathology, and Somite AI, which raised an oversubscribed $47 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures for cell therapy. Others include Constructor, named Retail Company of the Year in the 2025 American Business Awards, Reality Defender, a 2025 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer in deepfake detection, Optimal Dynamics, EdgeQ, You.com, GrubMarket, Otter.ai and Loft Labs.

Partners and team

Fusion Fund is led by founder and managing partner Lu Zhang, an engineering PhD whose background shapes the firm's technical diligence. Its value-add network includes a CXO Network of 44 C-level executives from Global 1000 corporates and other major institutions, which the firm says generates customer connections and revenue for portfolio companies.

Programmes run

Fusion Fund does not run a public accelerator programme with open cohorts, and none was verified in the sources read for this profile. Its structured support is the Fusion Expert Network and the CXO Network, both of which are relationship-based rather than application-based programmes: founders gain access through the investment relationship, and through introductions to executives who can become customers, advisers or hires.

How to apply for funding from Fusion Fund

No open application form was stated on the firm's official site in the sources read for this profile, so founders should approach Fusion Fund through the contact route on its website at fusionfund.com, ideally with a warm introduction from a founder, executive or investor in its network. Lead with the technical advantage, the evidence for it, and the specific enterprise or healthcare customer who will pay first.