Investor Ventures

Investor Ventures

Hurley established Investor Ventures in San Francisco in 1998, drawing on his background as a founder whose venture-backed startup was acquired by Intuit. The firm emerged as an early mover in internet-era financial services, a focus that deepened when Ryan Gilbert joined as Partner, bringing cross-border expertise from London and an operating history in payments and banking infrastructure. Investor Ventures concentrates on Seed and Series A rounds in FinTech verticals — payments, lending, wealth management, and insurance technology — alongside select enterprise software and real estate technology deployments. The firm has backed companies across multiple fund cycles including portfolio stakes in LendingClub, Prosper Marketplace, and Bill.com during their private stages. Gilbert, who relocated from the UK, has steered the firm toward transatlantic opportunities, sourcing payments and banking-as-a-service startups in Europe while maintaining a primary footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. The vehicle operates through traditional venture fund structures with direct equity positions rather than SPVs or fund-of-funds layers. Team size remains compact and partnership-led, with Hurley and Gilbert serving as the primary investment decision-makers. Investor Ventures has maintained a deliberately low profile, deploying out of fund vehicles that have not publicly disclosed total commitments. In April 2024, Gilbert spoke at a London FinTech summit on embedded finance infrastructure, signaling continued focus on European payment rails and banktech. Unlike multi-stage platforms, Investor Ventures competes for allocation through operator credibility — both principals have built or sold companies in the sectors they fund. That operating history functions as the firm's primary sourcing filter, giving founders a GP they view as having survived the same regulatory and scaling bottlenecks.