VectoIQ

Investment decisions are led by Stephen Girsky, the firm's founder, who serves as Managing Partner and CEO. He operates alongside Mary Chan, Managing Partner and COO, a veteran telecom and connected-car executive. The team is small and relies on the partners' direct experience in automotive boardrooms and technology operations, with no publicly identified external investment committee.

Sourcing runs through the deep industrial networks of its founders. Stephen Girsky's roles at General Motors — including vice chairman and lead independent director — and Mary Chan's leadership positions in telecom and connected vehicles provide direct lines to mobility startups. The firm also maintains an advisory relationship with the MIT Mobility Initiative, giving it visibility into academic-commercial research on autonomous and electric vehicle technology.

VectoIQ operates as an asset manager and investment platform, not a family office. Its structure is distinct from a conventional venture firm because the founder has directly assumed C-suite roles at portfolio companies — most notably when Stephen Girsky became CEO of Nikola Corporation in September 2023. This embedded-operator approach blends investment management with active corporate leadership.

VectoIQ's primary vehicle has been the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), having launched two — VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. (which merged with Nikola in 2020) and VectoIQ Acquisition Corp. II (2021) — backed by institutional anchor investors including BlackRock and Apollo Capital Management. The firm also engages in direct investments across venture and growth stages, particularly in complex situations and corporate carve-outs.

The firm targets early-stage startups, growth-stage companies, and complex situations — including corporate carve-outs — within the mobility and industrial technology sectors. The SPAC vehicles have focused on taking more mature private companies public, while the direct investment arm spans the venture lifecycle.

VectoIQ has not publicly disclosed sectors it explicitly avoids, but the firm's investment activity and its principals' backgrounds indicate a concentrated focus on transportation, electrification, autonomy, and industrial technology. It does not appear to invest in life sciences, consumer internet, or traditional enterprise SaaS outside the mobility vertical.

VectoIQ Acquisition Corp., the firm's first SPAC, merged with Nikola Corporation in June 2020, taking the electric-truck startup public. The relationship deepened in September 2023 when VectoIQ founder Stephen Girsky assumed the role of CEO at Nikola. VectoIQ remains a significant shareholder and its founder now leads the company operationally, making it a much tighter entanglement than a typical sponsor-portfolio company relationship.