Rustic Canyon / Fontis Partners

Rustic Canyon / Fontis Partners

Rustic Canyon Partners was founded in 1999 by Tom Unterman, the former CFO of Times Mirror, alongside a partnership group that included John Babcock and Nate Redmond. The firm was explicitly formed to address a structural deficit in the Southern California technology ecosystem, where local startups lacked deep pools of institutional venture capital relative to Silicon Valley. The firm raised its debut fund with an anchor commitment from the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), a relationship that signaled institutional validation for the Los Angeles venture market. Rustic Canyon operates multiple investment strategies under one roof. Its core venture capital practice targets early-stage and growth-stage companies in enterprise software, digital media, financial technology, and digital health. The firm's credit arm, RC Credit, provides structured debt and minority equity to lower-middle-market businesses. One of the firm's most notable venture exits came in 2016 when Unilever acquired portfolio company Dollar Shave Club for a reported $1 billion in cash (per CNBC, 2016). Other portfolio companies have included Spokeo, the people-search platform, and H Code Media, a digital advertising network focused on the Hispanic market. The firm typically invests across North America, with a concentration in California and the broader western United States. Rustic Canyon maintains a collegial partnership structure anchored by Unterman and General Partner Dan Villanueva, a former television executive and entrepreneur. The firm has historically raised funds north of $200 million, with Fund IV closing at $256 million (per Venture Capital Journal, 2013). An adjacent vehicle, Fontis Partners, was launched with a specific mandate to invest in diverse-led businesses, a distinct but related effort that shares the Rustic Canyon platform infrastructure. Rustic Canyon's structural differentiator is its multi-product architecture — pairing early-stage venture with credit and a dedicated diverse-manager initiative — a configuration few venture firms outside of Silicon Valley replicate. The firm's governance is built around a long-tenured partnership, with a deliberate succession model that has elevated leaders like Nate Redmond to managing partner roles over two decades, creating continuity that helps anchor the broader Los Angeles venture ecosystem.