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Zero Prime Ventures
Zero Prime Ventures, founded by Pete Soderling in 2023, backs day-zero engineer-founders building AI infrastructure from San Francisco.
Zero Prime Ventures
Zero Prime Ventures launched in 2023 in San Francisco, founded by Pete Soderling with an explicit mandate to back deeply technical teams at the earliest stages of company formation. The firm describes its partners as engineers turned investors, a posture meant to signal fluency in the infrastructure and data systems that underpin modern AI. Zero Prime targets what it calls "day zero" founders—engineers building critical tooling they themselves rely on. The firm concentrates on the infrastructure, platforms, and applications stack behind artificial intelligence. Its portfolio spans data orchestration, vector search, multimodal databases, and AI-native development environments. Confirmed positions include CuspAI, which raised over $100 million in Series A funding to apply AI to materials discovery, and Modal, an AI-native infrastructure company that closed an $87 million Series B. Zero Prime also backed Higgsfield, a generative video startup that secured a $50 million Series A. The firm operates primarily in the United States, centered on San Francisco's AI ecosystem, and has hosted community events drawing over 1,500 participants, including the AI Council conference series. Team size and total capital deployed are not publicly disclosed. The firm's public footprint revolves around a portfolio of dozens of companies operating in the production AI stack and a community-building strategy that includes founder spotlights, technical content, and an annual conference. In May 2026, Zero Prime will convene AI Council 2026 in San Francisco, a conference positioned for technical builders shipping AI products. Zero Prime's structure is distinguished by its exclusive focus on engineer-founders at inception—pre-seed and seed stages—within a narrow technical band. Unlike generalist early-stage funds, it does not diversify across sectors or business models, but bets on the enabling layer that other AI applications depend on. This conviction-driven, infrastructure-only mandate, combined with community-led sourcing, defines its architecture as a specialist venture firm rather than a broad platform.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
2023
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
San Francisco
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Pete Soderling
Founding Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Zero Prime Ventures?
Pete Soderling, the Founding Partner, leads investment decisions. The firm presents itself as a team of engineers turned investors, implying technical evaluation is central to its decision-making process. Details on additional investment committee members are not publicly disclosed.
What investment stages does Zero Prime Ventures typically target?
Zero Prime invests at the earliest stages, which it describes as "day zero" and seed. The firm seeks to partner with deeply technical founders at the inception of their companies, often before a formal product launch. Its strategy is built around being the first institutional capital into infrastructure-focused AI startups.
How does Zero Prime source proprietary deal flow?
Zero Prime grounds its sourcing in community and technical networks. The firm has hosted events with over 1,500 participants and runs an annual AI Council conference for builders. Its partners' backgrounds as engineers provide access to technical talent pools that traditional generalist investors may not reach as early.
Does Zero Prime participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
All publicly available information indicates Zero Prime makes direct venture investments into operating companies. There is no disclosure of fund-of-fund commitments or participation in other managers' vehicles.
Which sectors does Zero Prime explicitly avoid?
Zero Prime's mandate is narrowly focused on AI infrastructure, platforms, and applications. While the firm has not published an explicit exclusion list, its portfolio and public commentary do not extend to sectors such as consumer goods, biotech, or traditional industrials. The firm's concentration suggests it avoids opportunities outside the AI stack.
How is Zero Prime Ventures structurally different from a generalist seed fund?
Zero Prime operates with a single-sector, single-stage concentration on AI infrastructure. Unlike diversified seed funds that spread bets across consumer, enterprise, fintech, and health, Zero Prime's entire portfolio targets the picks-and-shovels layer beneath AI applications. Its founding premise is that its investment team's engineering background gives it an edge in evaluating deeply technical founder-projects at inception.
What is Zero Prime's known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Zero Prime has not publicly detailed its co-investment approach. Its portfolio includes companies that have raised subsequent rounds from other firms, but the extent to which Zero Prime participates in or leads co-investment syndicates at the seed stage is not disclosed in available materials.
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