Investor Profile: Stage 2 Capital — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

For B2B founders, getting funding from Stage 2 Capital means getting something most seed cheques cannot buy: a thousand go-to-market operators in your corner. Stage 2 is a Boston-based venture fund that describes itself as the first venture fund led and backed by GTM experts — its limited partners are more than 1,000 go-to-market executives, the CROs, CMOs and CCOs behind companies like Databricks, Snowflake, Salesforce, Anthropic, Ramp, LinkedIn, Notion and OpenAI. The fund writes $200,000 to $5 million cheques into pre-seed to Series A B2B software and AI startups, pairing capital with hands-on revenue expertise.

Investment thesis: Stage 2 funding for B2B revenue engines

The thesis is simple and operator-led: most early-stage B2B companies die not from bad product but from broken go-to-market, so the firm exists to solve the revenue-scaling challenges that decide whether startups scale. Founded in 2018 by Mark Roberge — former chief revenue officer at HubSpot, Harvard Business School faculty member and author of The Sales Acceleration Formula — and Jay Po, a former investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, the firm runs a pod model with a GTM partner tied to every deal. Portfolio founders get tactical help on pipeline, sales hiring, pricing and AI-era tactics like pre-call prep and post-call coaching with LLMs.

Sectors, stages and cheque size

Stage 2 invests across B2B software and AI — fintech, enterprise and vertical software, data infrastructure, HR tech, collaboration and finance/legal operations — with no single-sector fixation and no geographic restrictions; its portfolio spans the US, UK, EU, Australia and South America. It invests from pre-seed through Series A, writing cheques of $200,000 to $5 million, and it can lead, co-lead or follow depending on the round. A board seat is common but not required. The firm launched its second fund, an $80 million vehicle targeting B2B software startups, in 2022; its total assets under management are not publicly disclosed.

Programs: Stage 2 Catalyst accelerator

Beyond the venture fund, Stage 2 runs Stage 2 Capital Catalyst, an 11-week go-to-market accelerator for early-stage B2B software companies. The Catalyst curriculum teaches the firm's Science of Scaling methodology for building a repeatable revenue engine, with roughly three to four hours a week of virtual sessions over Zoom, backed by more than 360 GTM executives. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and Catalyst is a separate programme and fund from the venture fund — founders do not need to take venture capital to participate.

Notable portfolio companies

Portfolio companies include Momentum (whose journey from early investment to acquisition by Salesforce the firm has chronicled), Opus, QuotaPath, Restoke, Champion, TrackFly, Upwell and DayZero.

How to apply for funding

Stage 2 makes applying deliberately easy. Founders can pitch through the firm's website or email [email protected] directly — the firm's own FAQ says it is never too early to reach out and have a conversation. For the Catalyst accelerator, applications roll year-round through the Catalyst page on the site. Come prepared to talk honestly about your go-to-market motion, because that is the lens every partner at the firm will evaluate you through.