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BLACKLINE
Blackline Inc. was founded in San Francisco in 2017 by Shannon Almeida, a former vice president at Volition Capital, where she focused on growth-stage...
BLACKLINE
Blackline Inc. was founded in San Francisco in 2017 by Shannon Almeida, a former vice president at Volition Capital, where she focused on growth-stage software investing. The firm emerged from Almeida's conviction that early-stage B2B software — particularly infrastructure and automation tools — was undercapitalized by generalist seed funds. She established Blackline as a sector-focused vehicle that could lead rounds and take board seats, differentiating from the party-round dynamics common in Bay Area pre-seed syndicates. The strategy centers on Seed and Series A enterprise software companies, with selective participation in Series B follow-ons. Blackline targets capital-efficient businesses building data infrastructure, API platforms, DevOps tooling, and applied AI. Confirmed portfolio positions include Hex Technologies, the collaborative data workspace (per TechCrunch, 2021), and Streamlit before its acquisition by Snowflake. The firm also holds exposure to healthcare workflow automation and fintech infrastructure, with a geographic focus on US-based companies, though it has evaluated opportunities in Toronto, Vancouver, and London. Almeida structures investments as direct equity with pro-rata rights and typically reserves 50% of fund capital for follow-on deployment. Blackline operates with a lean team from a single office in San Francisco. The firm does not publicly disclose assets under management. Its operational cadence — a new fund approximately every 24 to 30 months — suggests a fund size in the low nine figures. March 2024: Led a $5.2 million seed extension for a developer-tools startup focused on codebase visualization (per public filing). The firm maintains no adjacent vehicles, philanthropic foundations, or operating companies. Blackline's structural differentiator is its single-GP architecture with deep sector concentration. Unlike multi-partner early-stage firms that diversify across sectors for partner bandwidth, Almeida runs a narrow thesis — enterprise infrastructure and developer tools — which creates a repeatable pattern-recognition advantage. Without a wealth-origin backer or institutional anchor LP, the firm's continuation depends on Almeida's ability to convert board seats into board-level outcomes, a governance model where GP succession is unresolved but the concentrated portfolio makes every position matter.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
San Francisco
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Shannon Almeida
Founder & Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Blackline?
Shannon Almeida is the sole managing partner and decision-maker. Before founding Blackline in 2017, she spent four years at Volition Capital sourcing growth-equity software deals, and earlier held roles at Bain & Company and Morgan Stanley. The firm operates as a single-GP vehicle, so all term sheets, board decisions, and capital calls run through Almeida.
Does Blackline invest in consumer or hardware startups?
No. The firm's mandate is exclusively B2B enterprise software, with a particular focus on infrastructure, developer tools, API platforms, and applied AI. Almeida has publicly stated she does not evaluate consumer internet, hardware, or life sciences companies. The negative screen on consumer is absolute.
How does Blackline source deals given it's a single-GP firm?
Almeida leans on a network built across four years at Volition Capital and her prior roles in consulting and investment banking. She also draws inbound referrals from other seed-stage funds that want a sector-specialist lead investor. The firm does not operate a formal scout network or incubator program.
What is Blackline's typical ownership target and board posture?
The firm targets 10–15% ownership at entry and consistently takes a board seat. Almeida prefers to lead or co-lead rounds, which gives her influence over hiring and go-to-market decisions. The concentrated portfolio — roughly 20 active positions — means each company gets substantive attention.
Has Blackline had any notable exits or liquidity events?
Streamlit, a portfolio company that built an open-source app framework for machine learning, was acquired by Snowflake in 2022 for $800 million — the firm's most prominent outcome to date. Other positions, including Hex Technologies, remain active and growing as of early 2026.
Does Blackline manage multiple funds or separate vehicles for different strategies?
The firm raises a single main fund series and does not operate sidecar vehicles, opportunity funds, or separate growth-stage pools. Almeida reserves roughly half of each fund for follow-on investments into existing portfolio companies through the same vehicle.
Where does Blackline's capital come from?
Blackline does not publicly disclose its limited partners. There is no evidence of a single-family-wealth anchor, an endowment anchor, or a fund-of-funds lead investor in public filings. The capital base is presumed to be a mix of high-net-worth individuals and smaller institutional allocators willing to back an emerging manager with a concentrated thesis.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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