The "Meet a VC" member spotlight series, a platform dedicated to fostering exclusive and candid conversations with the venture capitalists driving innovation across America, recently featured Kevin Colas, the Managing General Partner of Snatched Ventures. This initiative provides a unique window into the stories, strategies, and future visions of the VCs shaping the entrepreneurial landscape, offering invaluable insights for founders, investors, and industry observers alike. Colas’s discussion illuminated Snatched Ventures’ distinctive approach to deep tech, its robust investment philosophy, and a compelling perspective on the evolving venture capital ecosystem, emphasizing a return to fundamental principles amidst a period of significant market recalibration.
Snatched Ventures: Pioneering Sustainable Deep Tech Transformation
Snatched Ventures distinguishes itself as an institutional early-venture deep tech firm, currently targeting a $100 million fund to catalyze the next era of sustainable operational transformation and efficiency. The firm’s investment thesis is sharply focused on the intersection of eight critical science-based technologies: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), materials science, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, optics, electronics, robotics, and blockchain. These technologies are not merely buzzwords for Snatched Ventures; they represent foundational pillars for solving complex engineering challenges that promise large-scale environmental, economic, and social impact. Critically, the firm prioritizes technologies that are "ready-to-deploy and scale now, not in ten years," signaling a strategic emphasis on near-term applicability and market readiness, a nuanced approach that sets it apart from more speculative long-horizon deep tech funds.
This technological focus is further refined into six thematic areas where Snatched Ventures possesses proven expertise and a track record of successful investments: transportation & logistics, energy & water, food & agriculture, fashion & beauty, precision medicine & aging, and retail & e-commerce. These sectors are not chosen arbitrarily but represent industries ripe for disruption through sustainable deep tech applications, offering significant opportunities for efficiency gains, resource optimization, and enhanced societal value. For instance, in transportation & logistics, deep tech can revolutionize supply chains through autonomous systems and AI-driven optimization, while in energy & water, advanced materials and biotech can lead to novel solutions for sustainable resource management. The firm’s deep engagement in these specific verticals allows for a more informed and impactful investment strategy, leveraging proprietary insights and networks.
A cornerstone of Snatched Ventures’ strategy is its rigorous financial underwriting filters, known as the "4Fs." These include a minimum early revenue of $1 million, a gross margin of 50%, a cash conversion score of 0.25x, and a revenue-to-capex ratio of 3x. These stringent criteria are applied to lead Series A rounds, with opportunistic investments in Seed and Series B stages when minimum ownership and the 4Fs are met. This disciplined approach underscores a commitment to backing companies that demonstrate a clear path to both environmental and financial sustainability and scalability, ensuring resilience across diverse economic cycles. In an era where venture capital has sometimes prioritized growth at all costs, Snatched Ventures’ emphasis on profitability metrics from an early stage reflects a pragmatic and responsible investment philosophy.
A Track Record of Top-Decile Performance and Strategic Growth
Snatched Ventures’ foundation is built upon a formidable investment legacy. Kevin Colas previously founded the Empire Angel Collective (EAC), which served as a de facto Fund I. Since 2020, EAC has deployed approximately $10 million across more than 40 startups, exhibiting a strong early exposure to deep tech. In parallel, Alessandro, Snatched Ventures’ co-General Partner, spearheaded deep tech investments at Hyundai’s Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm while collaborating with Colas. This dual experience—combining a founder-led angel collective with institutional CVC expertise—provides Snatched Ventures with a unique blend of agility, deep industry insight, and corporate strategic access.
The combined track record of Colas and Alessandro underpins Snatched Ventures’ impressive top-decile metrics. These include a Total Value to Paid-In Capital (TVPI) of 4.4x, a Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) of 151%, and an exceptionally low loss ratio of 1.6% across 24 transactions involving 22 companies. This performance includes significant successes such as five unicorns, one IPO exit, and three acquisitions, one of which was an all-cash transaction. Such metrics significantly outperform many industry benchmarks, especially for early-stage and deep tech investments, which are often characterized by higher risk and longer gestation periods. The 4.4x TVPI indicates substantial value creation for investors, while the 151% DPI highlights a strong return of capital, demonstrating not just theoretical gains but realized profits. The low loss ratio is particularly noteworthy, suggesting meticulous due diligence and effective portfolio management.
Looking forward, EAC continues to deploy new investments by vintage, with four deep tech companies funded in 2024. These investments are strategically structured as "warehouse investments," slated to roll into Snatched Ventures Alpha, LP (Fund II), with advisors of Snatched Ventures already committed to participating. This warehousing strategy allows the firm to identify and secure promising early-stage deep tech opportunities ahead of the main fund’s closing, providing a competitive edge and demonstrating immediate deal-making capacity.
Navigating the Evolving Venture Capital Landscape
Kevin Colas offers a candid assessment of the current venture capital landscape, particularly in California, historically the epicenter of venture investment. He posits that venture capital needs to "return to its initial real DNA," which he defines as financing innovation with a hands-on, supportive approach. This involves not only providing capital but also actively assisting portfolio companies with client acquisition, strategic partnerships, vetted vendors, professional services, new hires from their networks, strategy refinement, go-to-market execution, and robust financial discipline. This perspective harks back to the origins of venture capital, where VCs were often deeply involved operators and mentors, not just capital providers.
Colas critically observes that the period between 2019 and 2022 witnessed an "excessive valuations… bubble" in the venture asset class, fueled by considerable fundraises from marquee firms that concentrated dry powder in the hands of a few. This led to a "competition of the bigger checks," diverting the industry from its core principles. The consequence, he argues, is that while these firms grew mighty in size, their performance often did not keep pace. This observation aligns with broader industry analyses that noted a significant inflation of valuations, particularly in late-stage rounds, often decoupled from fundamental business performance, driven by a "fear of missing out" (FOMO) mentality among investors.
The global pandemic, followed by a market correction, has brought a necessary reckoning. Colas emphasizes the paramount importance of "deep due diligence" as a fiduciary duty, ensuring that public and institutional money is invested properly, irrespective of market cycles or the pace of deal closing. He advocates for investment managers to invest as if it were their own money, fostering a culture of accountability and prudence. This sentiment reflects a growing demand from Limited Partners (LPs) for greater transparency, risk management, and a focus on sustainable returns rather than speculative growth.
Moreover, Colas argues that the role of VCs is to provide "ignition capital" and support companies through their growth phase until a viable exit. However, he cautions against venture funding becoming a mere condition for startup survival. Instead, VCs should push startups to build businesses that are quickly profitable and self-sustaining, capable of "flying with their own wings." This contrasts sharply with the earlier trend where startups often raised successive, ever-larger rounds of capital without a clear path to profitability, perpetuating a reliance on external funding until an IPO or acquisition. The current market environment, with higher interest rates and a tighter capital supply, is forcing a return to this fundamental discipline, where capital efficiency and unit economics are prioritized.
The Strategic Value of NVCA Membership
Membership in the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) offers tangible benefits for firms like Snatched Ventures. Colas highlights the opportunity to connect with "more investor peers across the categories for deal syndication and leading/co-leading for Snatched, portfolio support, exit opportunities and thematic development." The NVCA serves as a crucial networking hub, facilitating co-investment opportunities, sharing best practices, and creating avenues for strategic partnerships that can significantly enhance a portfolio company’s growth trajectory and exit potential.
Beyond direct business development, Colas also expresses a desire to "get involved in the activism and policy advisory groups / think tanks of NVCA to at my humble scale try to influence positive change and policies evolutions for venture and deeptech." The NVCA plays a vital role in advocating for the venture capital industry on Capitol Hill, addressing issues ranging from tax policy and regulatory frameworks to intellectual property rights and talent mobility. For deep tech firms, this advocacy is particularly critical, as policy decisions can significantly impact research and development incentives, commercialization pathways, and access to specialized talent. By participating in these discussions, members like Colas can contribute to shaping an environment that is more conducive to fostering innovation and supporting the growth of disruptive technologies.
Snatched Ventures’ Ambitious Vision for the Future
Looking ahead, Snatched Ventures is actively engaged in fundraising for its $100 million fund, with an initial close targeted at $30 million. The firm is strategically seeking a "value-added balance of financial, corporate, family office strategic LPs," aiming to forge deep collaborations and offer co-investing opportunities. This approach underscores the understanding that LPs can bring more than just capital; they can provide strategic insights, industry connections, and potential commercial partnerships that are invaluable for early-stage deep tech companies.
The firm is committed to "deploying wisely doing deep dives to source pro-actively vs reactively sourcing with deal flow exchanges, conferences or accelerators and incubators." This proactive sourcing strategy, which involves mapping out investment spaces within their chosen deep tech intersections and thematics, allows Snatched Ventures to identify truly groundbreaking companies rather than merely reacting to inbound pitches. This is particularly crucial in the deep tech space, where proprietary technologies and scientific breakthroughs often emerge from academic institutions or specialized labs, requiring an active search and cultivation approach.
Ultimately, Snatched Ventures’ overarching goal is to back "fund teams and businesses having positive environmental and financial sustainability to produce outsized returns for LPs, founders, strategics, GPs and staff of Snatched." This dual focus on impact and profit is central to their mission. Kevin Colas articulates a grander vision: "To build a lasting platform of thematic deeptech funds changing the way we live and business use innovation to boost their efficiency while transitioning faster towards really sustainable models for the planet and people. For our kids, for us and to avoid having to one day flee on Mars with Mr. Musk because we ended up destroying this amazingly beautiful and well designed blue planet." This statement encapsulates the profound societal responsibility Snatched Ventures embraces, positioning itself not just as an investment firm but as a catalyst for a more sustainable and resilient future on Earth, grounded in responsible technological advancement. The firm’s commitment to combining rigorous financial discipline with a profound sense of purpose exemplifies a new paradigm in venture capital, one that seeks to generate not only wealth but also lasting, positive impact.
