Pioneer Square Labs Ventures is the venture arm of Pioneer Square Labs, a Seattle-based startup studio and early-stage venture capital fund. Founded in 2015 by Greg Gottesman, Geoff Entress, Mike Galgon and Ben Gilbert, PSL exists to, in its own words, "build the next generation of world-changing companies, bringing together exceptional founders, big ideas, and investment capital."
The firm runs two tracks. PSL Studio develops ideas internally, validates or kills them, then recruits entrepreneurs to spin out the best ones. PSL Ventures, the separate venture arm, backs early-stage companies with no connection to the studio, and participates in financings of studio spinouts alongside other lead investors. The first venture fund, PSL Ventures I, allocates roughly half its capital to companies with no prior studio connection and half to studio spinouts. PSL deliberately does not lead the spinout rounds, a policy Managing Director Julie Sandler says minimises signalling risk for founders.
The investment thesis centres on early-stage technology in the Pacific Northwest, across three themes: machine learning and engineering innovations, the digital transformation of consumer habits, and shifting legacy verticals to the cloud. The firm engages extremely early: 70% of the PSL Ventures portfolio received investment within the first two months of incorporation. Initial cheques from the second fund run in the $1–$3 million range.
Fund size is publicly stated. PSL raised $80 million for its first venture fund in 2018 and $100 million for its second venture fund in 2021, planning to deploy the latter across more than 30 early-stage companies in the Pacific Northwest. The studio itself has raised $29 million to date, plus a $20 million third studio fund in 2023.
Notable portfolio companies and spinouts include Boundless, Recurrent and SingleFile, with the studio having spun out more than 35 companies in total. The firm's site also lists investments such as Arrived, Kami, Dropzone and Gumshoe. GeekWire has reported that one in three PSL companies is founded by a woman.
The team is led by Managing Directors Greg Gottesman (former Madrona Venture Group managing director), Julie Sandler (previously a partner at Madrona), Geoff Entress, Mike Galgon, T.A. McCann and Ben Gilbert, among a team of around two dozen investors and operators.
On programmes, PSL runs an AI co-investing partnership with Silicon Valley firm Mayfield: AI-focused PSL spinouts receive a minimum of $1.5 million in seed funding from PSL Ventures and Mayfield, with the Richard King Mellon Foundation also participating. Beyond this, PSL publishes no public perks or credits programme.
Why it matters for founders
PSL Ventures gives Pacific Northwest founders access to a venture arm that is comfortable writing cheques within the first two months of incorporation, with roughly half its capital reserved for companies that never touched its studio. AI-focused teams should note the Mayfield partnership, which guarantees a minimum $1.5 million seed round for qualifying spinouts — while independent early-stage companies can pitch the same venture arm that backs the studio's own spinouts.