Story Ventures

Investment decisions are made by General Partners Jake Yormak and Brian Yormak. Jake focuses on data usability and the regulatory environment, while Brian concentrates on hardware-software integration and mobility. There is no public disclosure of an investment committee beyond the two GPs.

Story uses a top-down thematic map of the modern data stack — sensory systems, data processing middleware, and machine intelligence applications — to identify gaps and then proactively seeds companies within those gaps. The firm publicly emphasizes its role as an early convener, often meeting founders before they have formally raised a round.

Story invests primarily at the pre-seed and seed stages and states a preference for writing the very first institutional check. The firm’s website implies it often leads or co-leads these early rounds, though specific check sizes are not publicly disclosed.

Story does not publish a formal exclusion list. However, its thesis is tightly constrained to the data automation stack, which naturally excludes sectors where proprietary data capture, aggregation, and AI-driven decision-making are not central to the business model.

Story Ventures is structured as a venture capital firm. While both General Partners share the same surname and work from a single New York office, the firm presents itself as an institutional asset manager raising external capital, not as a family office.

Story’s portfolio architecture mirrors a technical data stack — it simultaneously invests in hardware sensors that capture novel data, middleware that structures it, and AI applications that consume it. This vertical-layering approach differs from generalist AI funds that may invest across a horizontal application set without requiring the underlying data-infrastructure fit.

All publicly available information indicates Story exclusively makes direct venture investments in startup equity. There is no mention of fund-of-funds commitments, secondaries, or co-investment vehicles alongside external GPs.