Wavemaker Genesis Partners

Wavemaker Genesis Partners operates two primary fund franchises: Wavemaker Partners, which targets US-based seed and early-stage companies, chiefly in California and New York, and Wavemaker Pacific, which invests in B2B and deep tech startups across Southeast Asia. Each fund maintains its own capital pool, LP base, and local investment committee, but they share common managing partners and a unified brand. This separation has been in place since the firm's inception in 2012.

Investment decisions are led by the firm's four managing partners: Eric Manlunas and David Siemer handle US fund strategy from Los Angeles, while Paul Santos and Quentin Clark oversee Southeast Asia operations from Singapore. The partners share a common investment committee that approves allocations across both fund franchises. Manlunas, who founded an earlier venture firm in 2004, is the longest-tenured principal.

The firm targets pre-seed, seed, and early-stage startups, occasionally participating in Series A rounds. Initial check sizes range from $250,000 to $2 million, with reserves set aside for follow-on investments across subsequent rounds. Wavemaker Genesis Partners does not operate a growth-stage or late-stage fund; its mandate remains focused on first-in institutional capital for early-stage technology companies.

Wavemaker Genesis Partners is a venture capital firm, not a single family office. It manages pooled capital from institutional and individual limited partners across multiple fund vintages. The firm earns management fees and carried interest on its funds, operating under a standard GP/LP structure with no single-family wealth backing the vehicle.

Deal flow is sourced through the managing partners' long-standing networks in two distinct ecosystems: Eric Manlunas's ties to the Tech Coast Angels syndicate and Southern California's venture community provide US inflow, while Paul Santos's operating experience across Southeast Asia feeds the Singapore-based pipeline. The firm also runs a scout program and maintains relationships with Asian sovereign-linked fund managers for cross-border co-investments.

Wavemaker Genesis Partners makes direct equity investments into operating startups. It does not act as a fund-of-funds and does not commit capital into other venture firms' funds. All capital is deployed as direct seed and early-stage checks into companies, though the firm does co-invest alongside other venture funds and institutional investors on individual deals.

The firm has publicly stated it avoids capital-intensive sectors such as hardware manufacturing, clean energy infrastructure, and traditional real estate. Its investment mandates are explicitly limited to asset-light, scalable technology businesses — predominantly enterprise software, fintech, digital health, and B2B marketplaces. Consumer hardware and biotech also sit outside its active investment scope.