Stage Venture Partners

All investment decisions were made by founder and managing partner Alex Rubalcava, who launched the firm in 2015 after starting his venture career at Anthem Venture Partners in 2002. Rubalcava personally served on the boards of multiple portfolio companies. As of the 2026 merger, he transitioned to a managing partner role at Amplify, and all new investment activity flows through that platform.

No. Stage Venture Partners ceased independent operations upon its merger with Amplify in January 2026. The firm's historical portfolio remains, but its managing partner now invests through Amplify. Institutional allocators evaluating the track record should treat the fund series as closed and Rubalcava's subsequent deal flow as part of the Amplify platform.

Stage Venture Partners invested at the pre-seed and seed stages, primarily as a first institutional check into B2B software companies. The firm emphasized start-ups with defined, creative technology rather than purely commercial plays, and maintained a concentrated portfolio approach rather than a high-volume spray model.

The firm concentrated on enterprise software, applied artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, digital health, and digital media infrastructure. Portfolio companies include Balto, Dyania Health, Gray Matter Robotics, and SPIDR Tech, spanning contact-center AI, clinical NLP, manufacturing robotics, and law-enforcement data platforms.

Alex Rubalcava sourced deals through his two-decade Los Angeles network, built from his time at Anthem Venture Partners and his civic board service at organizations including KIPP LA Schools and Thrive Scholars. The firm's geographic focus on Southern California gave it access to an under-covered seed market for enterprise founders outside the Bay Area.

The firm's public materials do not detail a formal co-investment program, but the small fund size and pre-seed/seed stage focus suggest a lead-investor posture on the rounds it participated in. As a single-GP fund, Stage likely syndicated with other seed-stage firms rather than operating a structured co-investment vehicle.

No separate philanthropic foundation or parallel vehicle is publicly disclosed. Alex Rubalcava's civic board service — at KIPP LA Schools, Thrive Scholars, and Los Angeles Animal Services — represents personal engagement rather than a firm-affiliated charitable structure. The merger into Amplify in 2026 effectively ended the Stage Venture Partners brand as an independent entity.