Graduate Fund

Bruno Faviero serves as Founding Partner and is the sole named investment decision-maker. Faviero co-founded Synapse Technology, an AI-driven weapons detection company later acquired by Evolv Technology, and previously worked at First Round Capital.

The firm benefits from a direct pipeline through its affiliation with First Round Capital and Dorm Room Fund. Dorm Room Fund is a student-run venture program that surfaces early-stage technical founders from top US universities before they engage with traditional seed investors.

Graduate Fund is registered as an asset manager and operates as a venture capital firm, not a family office. It was launched as a pre-seed initiative by First Round Capital and is led by Bruno Faviero.

The firm appears to pursue direct equity investments exclusively, writing checks of $250K to $500K per company at the pre-seed stage. No public record indicates fund-of-funds or secondaries activity.

Graduate Fund focuses on pre-seed and seed-stage investments. The firm seeds companies before their first institutional round, often at the earliest point of product development.

The firm publicly defines a preference for enterprise software, AI/ML, fintech, climate tech, and digital health. It has not disclosed any sectors it explicitly avoids.

First Round Capital launched Graduate Fund as a pre-seed initiative in 2019. Bruno Faviero, a partner at First Round Capital, is the founding partner. The fund also maintains a relationship with Dorm Room Fund, a First Round Capital-affiliated student venture program.