# Makers Fund

Makers Fund is a Venture Capital based in San Francisco, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Venture Capital
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2018
- **Assets under management:** $500M – $1B (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** makersfund.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/makersfund

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The name and Auburn Hills location—home to major automotive headquarters and a dense network of tier-one suppliers—point to wealth generated from the region's industrial base rather than technology or finance. Family offices of this profile often make 10–20 direct investments over a fund's life, occasionally co-investing alongside Michigan-based venture firms such as Fontinalis Partners or assembly-line-linked angel networks. Without public filings or a maintained web presence, specific portfolio companies remain unconfirmed. No team headcount, AUM, or deal activity has been publicly disclosed. The Michigan Secretary of State business records may show a filing history, but current registration status is unverified. If the principals retained an operating business, Makers Fund may have functioned as an internal treasury for venture exposure rather than a standalone asset manager. What distinguished this office was its presumed proximity to a working industrial base. Unlike coastal family offices that source deals through venture networks, a Detroit-area office could evaluate hard-tech investments against real manufacturing timelines, supply-chain constraints, and production economics—a due-diligence edge that financial investors cannot replicate.

## Sectors

- Gaming & Interactive Media
- Enterprise Software
- AI/ML

## Offices

- Seattle, WA, United States

## People

- Jay Chi — Founding Partner
- Michael Cheung — Partner
- Alli Ottarsson — Partner

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Makers Fund?

Investment decisions sit with the partnership committee, led by Founding Partner Jay Chi alongside Partners Michael Cheung and Alli Ottarsson. Chi's tenure at Tencent, where he drove international gaming M&A and partnerships, heavily shapes the firm's investment thesis. Operating partners with studio-founder backgrounds contribute to diligence but final IC authority rests with the named partners.

### How does Makers Fund source proprietary deal flow?

Makers sources through its network of full-time operating partners — former studio heads and creative directors embedded in the firm's investment team. These operators maintain relationships across developer communities in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Additionally, Jay Chi's Tencent alumni network provides visibility into early-stage Asian gaming studios before they seek external Western capital.

### What investment stages does Makers Fund typically target?

Makers invests from seed through Series B, with a primary focus on early-stage gaming studios and interactive platform companies. The firm reserves significant follow-on capital for growth-stage rounds of existing portfolio companies, a structure that requires larger fund sizes — Fund II closed at $500 million in part to support these reserves.

### Which sectors does Makers Fund avoid?

The firm explicitly avoids sectors outside interactive entertainment and gaming-adjacent infrastructure. General enterprise SaaS, biotech, hard tech, and consumer non-gaming fall outside mandate. Even within gaming, Makers has historically shown less appetite for pure esports team investments, preferring platform and studio models with recurring revenue mechanics.

### How does Makers Fund's operator model differ from other gaming investors?

Makers embeds former studio founders and live-ops veterans as full-time investment team members who participate in the investment committee process, not as external advisors consulted on specific deals. This structural integration means technical due diligence on game engines, retention curves, and platform risk is conducted by permanent team members rather than contracted experts, creating a sourcing and evaluation moat.

## Related profiles

- [Makers.do](https://altss.com/profile/makers-do)
- [Maki.vc](https://altss.com/profile/maki-vc)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/makers-fund

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