Nazare Ventures

Nazare Ventures invests in the 'agent-first' computing paradigm, arguing that AI agents are the new users. The firm backs companies building the infrastructure and applications natively for this machine-native world, a thesis its founder describes as finding the systems layer before the application layer is obvious. This extends the founder's previous pattern of investing in foundational technology, from IP to crypto infrastructure at Pantera Capital.

The firm was founded by an unnamed principal with a 30-year career spanning academia, operations, and investing. He earned a PhD in machine learning from Cambridge, worked at NASA Ames, co-founded RPX Corporation (IPO'd 2011), and was a Managing Director at Fortress. As a partner at Pantera Capital, he led the Series A for Circle in 2013, and later co-founded Orchid Labs, which he grew from a $30 million FDV seed to a $1 billion peak valuation.

Sourcing likely leverages the founder's deep network from Fabric Ventures, Pantera Capital, and the broader crypto and deep tech ecosystems. The firm is based in Zurich, a growing hub for blockchain and decentralized technology, which also informs its geographic vantage point. The founder's career pivot points — Cambridge, NASA, RPX, Fortress, Pantera — suggest a long-tail network of technical founders and early-stage investors in infrastructure software.

The firm's public materials indicate a focus on early-stage companies, stating that most of the defining companies in the agent-first paradigm are 'still being founded' and that Nazare exists to back them early. Given the founder's history of seed-stage involvement, such as leading Circle's Series A and co-founding Orchid Labs from seed, the firm is expected to concentrate on first institutional rounds and seed-stage investments.

Nazare Ventures operates as a traditional venture capital asset manager, not a family office. Its structure and public presence are consistent with a fund manager raising external capital and deploying it into a portfolio of private companies, distinct from a single-family office managing one source of private wealth.