Plus 8 Equity

The firm is co-founded and managed by Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva, and Rishi Patel. Acquaviva serves as Managing Partner and leads the day-to-day investment process, combining his operational experience from building Beatport and Final Scratch with the firm's entertainment-industry network to evaluate early-stage technology deals.

Plus 8 Equity operates as a direct-investment vehicle targeting early-stage startups. The firm's publicly stated model involves meeting founders, providing strategic and operational guidance, and taking concentrated portfolio positions rather than acting as a fund-of-funds or committing capital to external venture managers.

Plus 8 Equity focuses on early-stage opportunities, spanning seed and startup rounds. The firm works with what it describes as innovative music-technology companies seeking growth expansion, originating its pipeline through a network of electronic-music industry leaders across North America and Europe.

Deal flow originates primarily from the network surrounding co-founders Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva. That network — built over a combined six decades of performing, label ownership, and technology development — includes relationships with festival operators, record labels, artist managers, and the community that grew around the Beatport platform Acquaviva co-founded.

The firm's founding capital traces to the wealth generated by its co-founders within the electronic-music industry. John Acquaviva co-founded Beatport, which was acquired by SFX Entertainment, and helped commercialize the Final Scratch DJ system. The partners have reinvested their own capital alongside what the firm describes as strategic partners from the global music community.

Plus 8 Equity is structured as a venture capital partnership, not a family office. While its co-founders allocate personal capital through the vehicle, the firm also works with external strategic partners and presents itself to the market as an early-stage venture manager specializing in the entertainment-technology crossover.

The firm invests across North America and Europe, sourcing and managing positions from its Miami headquarters and an additional office in Ibiza, Spain. Those two locations correspond to the commercial hubs of the global electronic-music industry, reflecting the partnership's conviction that proximity to cultural infrastructure drives sourcing advantage.