# Yes VC

Yes VC is a Private Equity based in San Francisco, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founded:** 2023
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** www.yes.vc
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/yesvc

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 298042
- **SEC file number:** 802-124913
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/298042

## About

Yes VC is a venture capital firm co-founded by Caterina Fake and Jyri Engeström. The firm's founders have experience in investing in companies such as Uber, Pillpack, and Unity. Yes VC's team members have backgrounds in companies like Flickr, Hunch, and True Ventures.

## Sectors

- AI/ML
- ClimateTech
- Aerospace & Defense
- FinTech
- Consumer
- Digital Health
- SpaceTech
- Energy Transition & Renewables
- Enterprise Software

## People

- Caterina Fake — Founder and Venture Investor
- Jyri Engeström — Team member
- Julie Liao — Team member
- Markus Räikkönen — Team member
- Beth Malin — Team member
- David Pickerell — Team member

## Questions

### Who makes investment decisions at Yes VC?

Caterina Fake is the founder and the central investment decision-maker. The firm’s website lists five other team members — Jyri Engeström, Julie Liao, Markus Räikkönen, Beth Malin, and David Pickerell — but does not specify their titles or formal investment committee roles. In practice, Yes VC operates with the concentrated authority typical of a founder-led venture firm, where Fake’s operator background and personal network drive sourcing and conviction.

### What investment stages does Yes VC target?

Yes VC invests exclusively at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. The firm explicitly states it backs 'category-defining companies' at the earliest point of formation, and its portfolio reflects this: companies such as Heirloom, Steady Energy, and Boom Supersonic were backed when their technologies were still in development, not at commercial scale.

### Does Yes VC invest in climate and hard-tech, or is it mostly software?

Yes VC maintains a deliberately broad mandate that spans software, consumer brands, and deep technology. The portfolio includes direct air capture developer Heirloom, small nuclear reactor company Steady Energy, supersonic aircraft manufacturer Boom Supersonic, and electric propulsion firm Tau, all of which require heavy capital-expenditure profiles uncommon in typical software-focused seed funds.

### How is Yes VC’s investment pace structured?

The firm invests in, on average, 10 companies per year, a figure it discloses on its portfolio page. This cadence has remained steady across multiple years and supports the thesis that Yes VC is not scaling aggressively: it is making fewer than one new investment per month, enabling diligence in technically complex categories such as aviation, nuclear energy, and synthetic biology.

### What is the relationship between Yes VC and Caterina Fake’s earlier ventures?

Caterina Fake co-founded Flickr and was a key figure in the early social web. Yes VC is her dedicated venture investment entity, separate from those operating companies. There is no public indication that the firm is capitalized by assets from the sale of Flickr or other prior ventures; its capital base is not disclosed.

## Related profiles

- [Yeo Valley Associates](https://altss.com/profile/yeo-valley-associates)
- [yet2](https://altss.com/profile/yet2ventures)

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Last updated: 2026-07-10T13:15:33.000Z

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