Human Capital

Baris Akis, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, leads investment decisions at Human Capital. Akis previously worked at Foundation Capital before building Human Capital's dual venture-fund and talent-platform model. The firm operates with a lean partnership structure and has not publicly named additional general partners or investment committee members.

Human Capital maintains a proprietary database of software engineers and a network of scouts embedded in major technology companies. Engineers in the network surface early-stage deals, join founding teams, and direct capital toward startups they evaluate as having technical merit. This talent-placement flywheel generates proprietary deal flow that the firm argues is less crowded than traditional VC partner networks, since engineers see technical founders and products before institutional investors do.

Human Capital operates as a hybrid: a registered investment adviser that runs a venture capital fund alongside a talent-matching platform. The talent platform functions as both a sourcing engine for investments and a standalone operating business that places engineers at portfolio and non-portfolio companies. This dual structure means the firm competes with seed-stage VCs for deals while also competing with technical recruiting firms for engineering talent.

Human Capital invests directly into early-stage and seed-stage technology companies and does not publicly market a fund-of-funds program. The firm's primary vehicle makes direct equity investments, occasionally leading rounds as demonstrated by its Series A participation in Settle in 2022. There is no public record of the firm allocating capital to outside venture funds as a limited partner.

Human Capital focuses on technology sectors where engineering talent is a critical competitive differentiator. The firm has no public record of investing in consumer packaged goods, traditional retail, or biotech outside of digital health. Its portfolio concentration in enterprise software, fintech, AI, and hard-tech (robotics, mobility, climate tech) suggests a deliberate avoidance of non-tech and brick-and-mortar business models.