Matter

Matter operates as both an early-stage venture investor and a structured startup accelerator focused on media technology. It has historically run cohort-based programs providing seed capital, mentorship, and workspace to founders. Simultaneously, the firm runs the Sulzberger Fellowship program, which embeds technologists inside legacy newsrooms — an operational model distinct from pure venture investing.

The firm's public-facing website shifted language in 2022, posting a 'Thank you, Matter' notice that indicated a change in operational mode. As of mid-2026, the site does not promote an open accelerator application cycle, and available evidence suggests the direct venture program may be paused or concluded. Matter continues to run the Sulzberger Fellowship, which remains active with a 2025 cohort.

The Sulzberger Fellowship places product-minded technologists inside major newsrooms, funded by Matter in partnership with Columbia Journalism School and supported by Google News Initiative scholarships. The program serves as a talent pipeline and relationship layer, giving Matter proximity to the exact enterprise customers that its portfolio companies target, and directly shaping the technological modernization of media institutions.

Matter's headquarters is in San Francisco and its known accelerator cohorts and university partnerships — including Open Matter events at UC Berkeley, the University of Georgia, and the University of Missouri — are all US-based. No publicly disclosed international investment activity is evident, though the portfolio companies it backed serve global audiences.

Known portfolio companies from Matter's accelerator include Motherly, a lifestyle and parenting media brand founded by Jill Koziol, and Hearken, an audience-engagement platform for newsrooms founded by Jennifer Brandel. Both founders have appeared on Matter's in-house podcast The Drunken Walk, which serves as a public record of the firm's network.