Flybridge

Flybridge

Hazard and Bussgang launched Flybridge Capital Partners in 2002 after careers at opposite ends of the venture-founder spectrum: Hazard as a general partner at Greylock, Bussgang as president of Upromise (acquired by Sallie Mae) and an early executive at Open Market. From the start, the firm split its attention between New York and Boston, constructing a bi-coastal pipeline that draws on university research talent and the customer density of the Northeast corridor. General Partner Jesse Middleton joined the partnership in 2016, bringing operating credibility from an early WeWork leadership role and a personal angel portfolio that the firm reports achieved a 16x MOIC. Flybridge structures its deployment across three check-size bands. Pre-seed positions – up to $250,000 – flow through the Next Wave family of funds, each anchored by independent investment partners such as XFactor Ventures, which targets women-founded companies. Seed checks of $1 million to $3 million are led by the general partners who operate a high-conviction, non-unanimous decision model. Post-Series A follow-on investments can reach $10 million or more but are reserved for portfolio companies the firm backed at inception. The 2025 vintage, Flybridge 2025, is a dedicated $100 million seed vehicle. Named portfolio companies span three AI layers: enablement (MongoDB, where Hazard is the longest-serving non-founder board member), agentic business applications (BrightHire, Chief), and native-AI experiences (Remento). Geographic exposure concentrates on the US but the firm also holds positions in Latin America via funds and companies like Zubale. May 2024: the firm announced Flybridge 2025, its seventh seed fund and a $100 million vehicle dedicated entirely to AI-driven startups. The same announcement codified a three-layer investment thesis – AI infrastructure and developer platforms, agentic business applications, and native AI for human potential – that now organizes the entire portfolio. The team lists three general partners, two venture partners, and an associate supported by a CFO, finance manager, senior accountant, and an executive assistant. Its Boston office maintains proximity to Harvard Business School, where Bussgang teaches Launching Technology Ventures, while the New York headquarters hosts the Next Wave NYC pre-seed fund and a monthly community dinner series for first-time founders. Flybridge bridges institutional venture capital and a scouting-network model through Next Wave. Rather than relying on a single partnership to originate every opportunity, the firm recruits founders and operators as independent investment partners – XFactor Ventures for gender-diverse founding teams and Next Wave NYC for consumer AI and community-centric founders are two publicly named examples. That architecture gives Flybridge pre-seed exposure without diluting general-partner economics, while the core fund retains the right to lead priced seed rounds for the same companies. The dual structure is unusual among East Coast firms of similar vintage and explains how the portfolio has generated more than $10 billion in aggregate exit value, per the firm’s own tally, while staying small enough that each general partner can sit on boards from inception.