Some of venture capital's best-performing early-stage portfolios are run by firms that never chase the spotlight. Maverick Ventures — the dedicated venture arm of Maverick Capital, the global investment firm founded by Tiger Cub Lee Ainslie — is exactly that kind of firm: a lean partnership in San Francisco investing at the earliest stages of healthcare and technology.
Launched as a dedicated venture fund in 2015, Maverick Ventures leads Seed through Series B rounds, backing only a select number of founders each year. In March 2025 it raised $240 million in fresh funding for its fourth fund, bringing total assets under management to over $1.4 billion for early-stage investments. Notably, 30% of the fund's capital is committed by Maverick partners and employees themselves — the largest single LP in the fund — which is about as strong an alignment signal as founders will find anywhere.
The portfolio is stacked with category leaders. Healthcare bets include Cityblock, Devoted Health, Hims & Hers ($HIMS), One Medical ($ONEM, acquired by Amazon), Medicare advisory startup Chapter and quantum company Infleqtion ($INFQ). On the technology side: Coupang ($CPNG), MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), io Products (acquired by OpenAI), BioCatch (acquired by Permira), influencer-commerce platform LTK, plus newer names like Nourish and Oula Health.
The firm's pitch rests on being part of a multi-stage platform: founders get the focus of a dedicated early-stage partner combined with resources more typical of a large institution — quant and data resources, deep AI networks and strategic LPs — plus a stated commitment to partner from inception through IPO and beyond. The investment team includes Lee Ainslie, Ambar Bhattacharyya, Lexi Henkel, Ryan Isono, Prateesh Maheshwari and David Singer.
For healthcare and deep-tech founders, Maverick's sector depth and its track record of holding positions from seed into the public markets make it a serious long-term partner rather than a mark-the-up-and-move-on investor.
Thematically, the firm concentrates on two lanes it knows deeply: healthcare — from tech-enabled primary care and Medicare Advantage to clinical AI and digital nutrition — and technology, with a strong recent tilt toward AI infrastructure, cybersecurity and fintech. The 'how we partner' playbook stresses early-stage focus, long-term capital across the platform's private and public strategies, and strategic resources including quant and data capabilities and deep AI networks. For founders, that translates into an investor that can underwrite technical risk and stay in the position as the company scales.
Why it matters for founders
If you're building in healthcare or technology at Seed through Series B, Maverick Ventures pairs early-stage partnership with the firepower of a $1.4bn platform. The 30% partner-and-employee commitment means your investors are genuinely in the boat with you — ask for them early, because they only back a few companies a year.