Air Street Capital

Nathan Benaich is the founder and sole General Partner. He makes all investment decisions and leads the firm's research and sourcing efforts. Benaich previously built the AI investment practice at Playfair Capital and holds a PhD in computational biology from the University of Cambridge.

The firm's primary sourcing advantage is the State of AI report, published annually by Nathan Benaich and reviewed by thousands of researchers, founders, and investors globally. The report maps technical breakthroughs and emerging research labs, often identifying promising founders before they leave academia. The firm also runs the RAAIS conference in London, which brings together AI researchers and practitioners.

The firm invests at pre-seed and seed stage, with initial cheques typically ranging from $500,000 to $2 million. Air Street will occasionally participate in Series A rounds for existing portfolio companies, but lead investments are concentrated at the earliest formation stage.

The State of AI Report is an annual publication authored by Nathan Benaich and collaborators that analyzes research breakthroughs, industry trends, funding patterns, and AI policy developments. It functions as both a thought-leadership asset and a sourcing mechanism — the research process surfaces emerging talent and technical shifts that inform Air Street's investment thesis. The 2023 edition documented over $100 billion in global private AI investment (per the State of AI Report, October 2023).

No. The firm invests exclusively in AI-native companies — businesses where artificial intelligence is the core product, not a supplementary feature. Its portfolio spans applications in life sciences, robotics, enterprise automation, and climate analytics, but the common thread is that each company's competitive moat rests on AI capability.