“I used to hear Will Smith say ‘I’ll die on a treadmill,'” Mike Palank tells me.
It’s striking for two reasons. First, any time Will Smith comes up, my Miami-born brain is hard-wired to remember. The second is far more relevant: Palank, a former talent agent who’d worked at the Men In Black star’s Overbrook Entertainment, is articulating a view that’s clearly shared by his MaC Venture Capital cofounders, Marlon Nichols and Adrian Fenty. Case in point: Fenty—who served as mayor of Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2011—described his approach to deal flow with fervor. He’s not sure any VC worth their weight in LP money “ever relaxes.”
“You kind of stay maniacal about having the best deal flow, and you have to stay maniacal about not missing deals,” said Fenty.
Fenty, Palank, and Nichols—an investor in MongoDB, Thrive Market, and Gimlet Media, and previously Intel Capital investment director—came together in 2019 to found MaC. The name is a homage to the two firms that came together to create MaC, Fenty’s M Ventures, and Nichols’ Cross Culture Ventures. Seed stage-focused MaC announced its first inaugural fund in 2021.
MaC has now closed its third fund at $150 million, Fortune has exclusively learned. The firm currently has about $600 million in assets under management, and its initial check size is now between $2 million and $3 million, up from $1.5 million in 2023. To date, MaC’s notable investments include Pipe, Stoke Space, Chef Robotics, and Wonder Dynamics, acquired by Autodesk this summer—a 5.4x exit for MaC.
MaC coming together wasn’t a given at all. In the beginning, Fenty, Palank, and Charles King —entrepreneur and Oscar-winning producer, and now-MaC general partner—didn’t think there was a chance that Nichols would be interested in teaming up.
“I wanted to build this large, multi-generational entity that was just going to survive forever,” Nichols told Fortune. “In order to do that, I realized I needed some real thought partners that were going to be in the trenches with me, day in and day out.”
It almost sounds like the beginning of a bit, right? “A mayor, a talent agent, and a CVC walk into a VC firm.” However, the interdisciplinary qualities MaC brings to the table have been part of what’s seriously drawn founders to the firm. Fortune spoke to three MaC-backed founders, who all expressed that the partners’ multifaceted backgrounds have been vital to the firm’s success.
Andy Lapsa, Stoke Space CEO and cofounder said MaC “tends to think from first principles. They think independently, and they were able to come in and lead our round when there wasn’t a lot of activity elsewhere in venture.” (Stoke, which makes reusable rockets, was founded in 2020 and has since raised $175 million, including from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.)
Then there’s that very particular and decidedly intimate relationship that founders and seed stage investors share. Shekel Mobility CEO and cofounder Sanmi Olukanmi, introduced to MaC by another investor after going through Y Combinator, describes his relationship with MaC as “running a business with a brother.” It’s a sentiment that Wonder Dynamics CEO and cofounder Nikola Todorovic echoes—though Todorovic couldn’t say much about the now-closed Autodesk acquisition, he found MaC’s advice vital: “They really are the kind of folks that I can text at 1 AM.”
MaC also invests internationally, including in Africa. (Shekel, for example, is Nigeria-based.)
“I think you have to be deliberate about finding talent outside of your hometown or state,” Nichols said.
To me, one of the most persistent underlying questions in venture capital is: What background best serves a VC? To this end, I asked Fenty if he sees parallels between running Washington, D.C. and VC.
“I used to tell my cabinet, if we’re not upsetting somebody, then we’re probably not doing anything important or doing anything that’s really going to change things,” he said. “In other words, we were very disruptive.”
But in the end, it’s Will Smith’s adage about staying on the treadmill. And when I hopped on the Zoom with Palank, Nichols, and Fenty, they were naturally discussing a deal.
“I’ll text or email them on Saturday and Sunday, we’ll take calls late into the evening, and many of our calls start at 8 AM,” said Fenty. “It’s very unique to have people in the exact same position—and for that position to be one where we’re really hungry to make a great name for ourselves.”
Join us…You’re invited to Fortune Global Forum in NYC from Nov. 11-12. Speakers include seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady (we will not be reenacting Netflix’s roast of the NFL legend) and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Wynton Marsalis. More information here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- Armis, a San Francisco-based cyber exposure management and security company, raised $200 million in Series D funding. General Catalyst and Alkeon Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors Brookfield Growth and Georgian.
- Kivu Bioscience, a San Francisco-based antibody-drug conjugates biotech developer, raised $92 million in Series A funding. Novo Holdings led the round and was joined by Gimv, Red Tree Venture Capital, HealthCap, and existing investors BioGeneration Ventures, M Ventures, and Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij.
- Blacklane, a Berlin-based global chauffeur services provider, raised €60 million ($64.9 million) in Series G funding. TASARU led the round and was joined by existing investors.
- Zenity, a Tel Aviv-based enterprise copilots and low-code development security platform, raised $38 million in Series B funding. Third Point Ventures and DTCP led the round and were joined by Intel Capital, Vertex Ventures, and M12.
- Filigran, a Paris-based cyber threat management solutions provider, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Accel and Moonfire.
- Merlin Solar, a San Jose-based solar renewable energy technology developer, raised $31 million in Series B funding. Fifth Wall and Saint Gobain led the round and were joined by Ayala.
- Browserbase, a San Francisco-based web browser automation company, raised $21 million in Series A funding. CRV and Kleiner Perkins led the round and were joined by Okta Ventures and Reed McGinley-Stempel.
- Beyond Aero, a Toulouse, France-based hydrogen-propelled electric aviation developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Giant Ventures and Bpifrance led the round and were joined by Initialized Capital, Nate Blecharczyk, Arash Ferdowsi, and others.
- Brightwave, a New York City-based AI-powered investment research platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Decibel Partners led the round and was joined by OMERS Ventures.
- Cruisebound, a New York City-based cruise booking digital assistant, raised $13 million in funding. Thayer Ventures led the round and was joined by Link Ventures, Jeff Boyd, PAR Capital Ventures, and others.
- Speckle, a London-based data hub provider for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Addition led the round and was joined by Tristan Handy and existing investors Foundamental, Frontline Ventures, Matrix Partners, and Foreword.
- Voze, a Salt Lake City-based industrial sales solution platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Mercury Fund and Origin Ventures led the round and were joined by existing investors Album VC and Pipeline Capital Partners.
- Casap, a New York City-based disputes automation and fraud prevention platform, raised $8.5 million in funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Primary Venture Partners, Commerce Ventures, Curql, Alloy Labs, and others.
- Caldera + Lab, an Austin-based men’s skincare brand, raised $6 million in Series A funding from HIPstr.
- RiPSIM Technologies, an Ashburn, Va.-based eSIM-aaS management platform developer, raised $5 million in seed funding. Ten Eleven Ventures led the round and was joined by others.
- Moondream, a Seattle-based open-source vision-language model developer, raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by the M12 GitHub Fund and Ascend.
- ARTAH Nutrition, a London-based supplements and nutrition programs provider, raised £2.85 million ($3.7 million) in funding. Five Seasons Ventures led the round and was joined by Active Partners and angel investors.
- Finfra, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based lending infrastructure provider, raised $2.5 million in funding. Cento Ventures led the round and was joined by Accion Venture Lab, Z Venture Capital, Matiss Ansviesulis, and existing investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Godspeed Capital Management acquired Concordia Technologies, a Huntsville, Ala.-based defense technology developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- J.C. Flowers agreed to acquire a majority stake in Consulbrokers, a Milan-based insurance broker. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- OceanSound Partners acquired Antenna Research Associates, a Laurel, Md.-based integrated radio frequency and advanced communications products provider to the aerospace and defense end-markets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- SV Labs Corporation, a portfolio company of San Francisco Equity Partners, acquired Sigan Industries, a Brampton, Candana-based contract development and manufacturing organization for beauty and personal care brands. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Simpro Group acquired a majority stake in BigChange, a Leeds, England-based field service management software developer for the service and transport sectors, from Great Hill Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
- 500 Global, a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm, promoted Mareme Dieng to partner.