Investor Profile: Liquid 2 Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Liquid 2 Ventures is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by NFL quarterback Joe Montana with operators Michael Ma and Michael Miller. The firm runs two vehicles side by side: an early-stage fund for pre-seed and seed founders, and a growth-stage fund that starts at Series B. Its pitch to founders is not just capital but one of the largest founder and co-investor networks in venture, built to help portfolio companies find customers and downstream capital.

What Liquid 2 invests in

Liquid 2 describes itself on its official FAQ as a generalist: it invests across all sectors of technology and invests globally. Its homepage highlights a portfolio spanning developer tools, fintech, health and AI, and says the firm has seeded 40+ unicorns representing more than $250B in enterprise value. Named portfolio companies shown on its site include GitLab, Rippling, Retool, Mercury, Applied Intuition, Anduril, Modern Treasury, Whatnot, Rappi and Airbyte. Most first investments are in the United States, with additional deals across Canada, Mexico, India, the UK and other markets.

Cheque size and deal pace

Liquid 2 is unusually transparent about cheque size. Its official FAQ states: for early-stage opportunities, the median check size is $250K–$500K, and for Series B or later opportunities it typically invests between $2M–$5M. On pace, Tracxn's investor profile counts 402 companies backed as of October 2026, with 36 new investments in the last 12 months, 50 investments in 2025, and an average of about 31 new investments a year over the last decade. That makes Liquid 2 one of the more active seed investors a founder can approach, though it generally writes collaborative checks alongside other investors rather than leading every round alone.

Notable exits

The firm's best-known exit is GitLab: Liquid 2 joined GitLab's seed round in July 2015, and GitLab listed on Nasdaq in October 2021 — an investment Wikipedia, citing CNBC, estimated at a roughly 420-fold return. Tracxn records 2 IPOs in the portfolio, GitLab and Momentus Space, and 50 acquisitions in total, with recent acquired names including Routable, Zuma and Vendr. The firm's first fund is reported to have produced 21 unicorns, underlining a specialty in spotting technical founders extremely early and staying with them.

How to apply for funding

Liquid 2 runs no named accelerator, fellowship or open application programme. Founders reach the firm through its website at liquid2.vc and, most effectively, through a warm introduction from its founder and co-investor network — the firm itself says relationships are its core strength. Because it moves quickly at pre-seed and seed, a concise deck and a credible intro from a co-investor such as Y Combinator or SV Angel, both frequent partners, is the realistic route in.