Clear Ventures

Clear Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm dedicated to supporting disruptive technology innovators in building impactful companies. Founded by veteran company builders and venture investors Chris Rust and Rajeev Madhavan, the firm provides early seed capital, strategic connections, and company-building insights to help startups succeed. With $335 million of capital from a world-class investor base, Clear Ventures has funded over 90 companies and facilitated 48 successful exits valued at $95 billion. The firm's investments span industries including artificial intelligence, enterprise software, semiconductors, information security, cloud computing, mobile applications, data analytics, cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare, e-commerce, consumer electronics, internet of things, blockchain, and robotics. Clear Ventures partners at the earliest stages of company creation, with first investments targeted between $100K and $5 million. While they are partial to companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have also been active in investments on the East Coast, Israel, Europe, and India. Their approach emphasizes a hands-on partnership, providing not just financial backing but also technical and operational guidance to help startups scale and succeed. Clear Ventures' ethos is encapsulated in the acronym CLEAR: Collaborative, Levelheaded, Engaged, Accessible, and Responsive. They prefer businesses that aim to be the best in the world at one narrowly defined and important thing, solving pressing unmet needs for customers. Their terms are straightforward, favoring priced rounds over notes and supporting strong stock grants to hire well. Post-investment, they focus on company learning rather than founder reporting, with thin board packages and short board meetings, always striving to be part of the solution when pivots are required. Their work style is result-oriented and team-focused, aiming to help startups create and leverage opportunities whenever possible, adding measurable value to their portfolio companies.