# Lavrock Ventures

Lavrock Ventures is a Venture Capital based in McLean, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Venture Capital
- **Headquarters:** McLean, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** McLean, VA, United States
- **Founded:** 2015
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** lavrockvc.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/lavrock-ventures

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 285450
- **SEC file number:** 802-129839
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/285450

## About

Lavrock Ventures are early-stage investors at the intersection of national security and frontier technologies. They approach venture investing from the perspective of the national security ecosystem, with deep roots in the intelligence community. Their investments span frontier domains including advanced manufacturing, space, quantum technologies, and kinetic systems. They work closely with founders from the first institutional check through early scale.

## Sectors

- Enterprise Software
- Cybersecurity
- AI/ML
- Defense Tech
- Data & Analytics

## People

- Stephen Smoot — General Partner
- Daniel Hanks — General Partner

## Questions

### What is Lavrock Ventures' investment strategy?

Lavrock focuses on early-stage, primarily seed, investments in enterprise software, cybersecurity, applied AI, and data-infrastructure companies. The firm specifically targets dual-use startups—businesses whose products can serve both commercial enterprises and U.S. government agencies. The strategy emphasizes deep, high-conviction bets rather than a high-volume portfolio approach.

### Who makes investment decisions at Lavrock Ventures?

General Partners Stephen Smoot and Daniel Hanks lead all investment decisions. Smoot's background includes founding a data-analytics firm for the intelligence community. Hanks is a Palantir Technologies veteran. Their combined operational experience in the national-security technology sector directly informs the firm's sourcing and diligence process.

### How does Lavrock source its dual-use deal flow?

Deal flow is heavily referral-driven and anchored in the founders' networks within the defense, intelligence, and national-laboratories community. Because both GPs have direct operational experience selling software to the government, they receive a steady stream of founder introductions from former colleagues, mission-oriented technologists, and other D.C.-area seed funds familiar with their thesis.

### Does Lavrock help portfolio companies sell to the government?

Yes, government-sales enablement is a defining feature of the firm's value proposition. Lavrock's GPs guide founders through FedRAMP authorization, SBIR funding transitions, and the specific security-compliance architectures required by defense and intelligence agencies. This operational support distinguishes Lavrock from generalist seed funds that lack domain expertise in federal procurement.

### What types of companies does Lavrock specifically avoid?

Lavrock generally does not invest in pure consumer technology, life sciences, or hardware-heavy manufacturing businesses. The firm stays tightly within its lane of enterprise-software and data-centric companies. Even within enterprise software, Lavrock rarely backs companies that lack a credible pathway to U.S. government sales, reinforcing the dual-use mandate.

### How does the firm handle follow-on investments?

Lavrock reserves significant capital for follow-on rounds in existing portfolio companies, particularly those reaching commercial and government procurement milestones. The concentrated portfolio model demands this reserve strategy, so the GPs can maintain or increase ownership in top performers rather than being diluted by new lead investors at the Series A and B stages.

## Related profiles

- [Lavni Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/lavni-ventures)
- [Layer 7 Capital](https://altss.com/profile/layer-7-capital)

---

Last updated: 2026-08-11T15:07:19.634Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/lavrock-ventures

Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology