Collide Capital, a venture firm founded in 2021 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, announced the close of its $95 million Fund II on Thursday, according to TechCrunch. The firm invests in early-stage companies spanning fintech, supply chain, and the future of work, and plans to deploy the new fund over the next 3.5 years.
The announcement signals where a new pool of venture capital intends to concentrate: product areas described in terms of specific technical capabilities—automation, real-time collaboration, and data-driven decision making—rather than only verticals or consumer categories. The firm’s platform investment thesis connects to the broader “future of work” and workflow-software market that depends on new collaboration and automation patterns.
Fund II details: scale, timeline, and investment pace
Collide Capital’s Fund II follows its inaugural $66 million Fund I, which closed in 2022. After Fund I, the firm has backed 75 companies to date. For Fund II, Hollins said it took the team around 13 months to raise the fund, and the firm plans to deploy it over the next 3.5 years, according to TechCrunch.
Fund II’s check sizes are expected to fall in the $1 million to $3 million range on average. The firm aims to back at least 30 companies, and it has already cut checks to five, per TechCrunch. Portfolio companies include Culina Health and Helios, illustrating that Collide’s investments span multiple application areas while fitting the firm’s broader technology themes.
A multi-year deployment window and a defined check-size band can shape how founders approach their product roadmaps. If a fund plans to fund a minimum number of companies with checks in a mid-range bracket, that can align with expectations around measurable progress—such as product readiness, integration maturity, or early deployment.
Core thesis: platforms for automation, collaboration, and real-time data
In TechCrunch’s account, the key technical focus is articulated directly by Hollins. He said the firm is “most interested in platforms enabling automation, real‑time collaboration, and faster, data‑driven decision making.”
This phrasing frames the investment thesis in terms of platform capabilities—software that supports multiple use cases, rather than a single-purpose tool. Automation and real-time collaboration are frequently associated with workflow systems: products that coordinate tasks across teams, keep shared state synchronized, and use data streams to guide decisions.
Because the firm’s focus spans fintech and the future of work, the “data-driven decision making” element has a natural connection to systems that must reconcile events quickly and consistently. In fintech contexts, this could mean decisioning and risk processes that need timely inputs; in work-management contexts, it could mean analytics that translate operational signals into actions.
Who is backing Fund II: LP composition and industry signals
TechCrunch reports that limited partners (LPs) in Fund II include the University of California Endowment (UC Regents)—which anchored the firm’s last fund—along with Accolade Partners, Fairview Capital, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.
LP participation from major financial institutions and university endowments indicates that Collide Capital’s capital base extends beyond traditional venture capital funds. This composition may correlate with investor comfort in regulated or enterprise environments.
Collide Capital’s leadership background is also relevant context. Hollins spent a decade at Goldman, Lightspeed, and Slow. Samuels worked at Bain, Lightspeed, and co-founded AfroTech, described in the article as “one of the largest tech conferences in the world.” In venture ecosystems, such backgrounds can matter through networks and domain understanding.
Collide Campus expansion: building talent pipelines for VC and entrepreneurship
Beyond Fund II, the firm said it is expanding its Collide Campus program, launched in 2022. TechCrunch notes that the expansion is separate from the fund raise.
The program includes an undergraduate initiative that trains students in VC and entrepreneurship and a graduate fellowship program where students work alongside the Collide team as investors and apprentices. The undergraduate campus program operates on more than 20 campuses, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins, and Samuels said more than 50 students have passed through the program so far. Students have landed positions at places like General Catalyst.
Such programs can influence the supply of future founders, operators, and investors—especially in areas like fintech and future-of-work platforms where product understanding and go-to-market execution are intertwined.
What’s next
Fund II’s stated intent—deploying $95 million over 3.5 years, writing checks averaging $1 million to $3 million, and prioritizing platforms for automation, real-time collaboration, and faster data-driven decision making—offers a concrete lens into the types of technology systems Collide Capital expects to scale. Observers may watch how the firm’s platform-oriented thesis translates into specific product patterns across its fintech and future-of-work investments as the fund moves from early checks into broader deployment.
Source: TechCrunch