The "Meet a VC" member spotlight series, a platform dedicated to providing exclusive, candid conversations with the venture capitalists driving innovation across America, recently featured Kevin Colas, the Managing General Partner of Snatched Ventures. This series aims to delve into the stories, strategies, and future visions of leading VCs, offering invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of venture capital. Colas’s interview shed light on Snatched Ventures’ distinctive approach to deeptech investment, emphasizing a blend of groundbreaking technology, immediate applicability, and stringent financial discipline, positioning the firm as a critical player in the next era of sustainable operational transformation.
Snatched Ventures: Pioneering Sustainable Deeptech Investment
Snatched Ventures emerges as an institutional early-venture deeptech firm, currently targeting a $100 million fund to catalyze innovation. The firm’s core mission is to back companies poised to usher in a new era of sustainable operational transformation and efficiency. This strategic focus lies at the intersection of eight critical science-based technologies: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), materials science, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, optics, electronics, robotics, and blockchain. Unlike many deeptech investors who might target solutions with decades-long development cycles, Snatched Ventures explicitly seeks out innovations ready for deployment and scale now, rather than in ten years. This emphasis on near-term impact differentiates its investment thesis within the broader deeptech ecosystem.
The firm’s investment strategy is further refined by its concentration on six specific thematic areas where its partners possess deep expertise and a proven track record of successful investments, delivering top-decile performance since 2020. These thematics include transportation & logistics, energy & water, food & agriculture, fashion & beauty, precision medicine & aging, and retail & e-commerce. Each sector is ripe for disruption through the application of the firm’s targeted deep technologies, promising solutions to complex engineering challenges that carry significant environmental, economic, and social impact.
Crucially, Snatched Ventures employs a rigorous set of underwriting financial filters, dubbed the "4Fs," to guide its investment decisions. These filters mandate 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 designed to identify companies that not only offer technological breakthroughs but also demonstrate robust financial viability and the potential for rapid profitability. The firm primarily aims to lead Series A rounds, while opportunistically participating in Seed and Series B rounds, provided minimum ownership and the 4Fs underwriting requirements are met. This approach ensures investments are channeled into companies that embody both environmental and financial sustainability, capable of thriving across diverse economic cycles.
A Legacy of Performance: From Empire Angel Collective to Snatched Ventures
The foundation of Snatched Ventures is built upon a formidable track record established through prior investment platforms. Kevin Colas, as the founder of the Empire Angel Collective (EAC), effectively operated what is now considered Fund I for the current venture. Since 2020, EAC has strategically deployed approximately $10 million across more than 40 startups, exhibiting a strong bias towards deeptech solutions. This period provided invaluable experience and validated the investment approach that now underpins Snatched Ventures.
In parallel with Colas’s efforts, Alessandro, a co-General Partner, played a pivotal role in leading deeptech investments at Hyundai’s Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm. This dual experience, combining an angel collective’s agility with a corporate venture fund’s strategic insights, has culminated in Snatched Ventures’ impressive, top-decile metrics. The firm boasts a Total Value to Paid-In (TVPI) ratio of 4.4x, a Distributed to Paid-In (DPI) ratio of 151%, and an exceptionally low loss ratio of 1.6% across 24 transactions involving 22 companies. This outstanding performance includes the identification and nurturing of five unicorn companies, one successful exit via an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and three acquisitions, notably including one all-cash transaction. These metrics significantly outperform many industry benchmarks, particularly for early-stage funds, highlighting the efficacy of their focused deeptech strategy and diligent selection process.
The success of EAC continues to evolve, with new investments being deployed by vintage (four in 2024) exclusively within the deeptech sector. Advisors from Snatched Ventures are already committed to investing in Fund II, Snatched Ventures Alpha, LP, representing warehouse investments poised to roll into the new fund. This continuity and strong commitment from its network underscore the confidence in the firm’s strategy and the potential for continued high performance.
Navigating the Evolving Venture Capital Landscape: A Call for Return to Core Principles
Kevin Colas offers a critical perspective on the current state of the venture capital landscape, particularly within California, historically considered the epicenter of venture investment. Colas argues for a return to venture capital’s original DNA: financing innovation with a hands-on approach. He emphasizes that venture capitalists should not merely provide capital but actively support portfolio companies by facilitating client introductions, strategic partnerships, vetted vendors, and professional services. This extends to assisting with new hires through their networks, supporting strategy definition and refinement, guiding go-to-market rationales and execution, and instilling financial discipline.
Colas characterizes the period between 2019 and 2022 as a "terrible global pandemic never to forget and several years of excessive valuations," forming a genuine bubble in the venture asset class. He contends that the venture industry has since drifted away from its roots, moving towards a "competition of the bigger checks." This shift, he suggests, is driven by considerable fundraises by marquee funds over the past 5-10 years, concentrating dry powder in the hands of a few firms. While these firms may be mighty in size, Colas questions their performance, implying that size alone does not guarantee superior returns. This observation resonates with broader market analyses that have noted a slowdown in venture funding and a re-evaluation of valuations following the aggressive growth period of the early 2020s. According to PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor reports, global VC funding surged to unprecedented levels in 2021-2022, only to see a significant correction in 2023, validating Colas’s assessment of a recent market bubble.
Colas stresses that deep due diligence is paramount for the proper investment of public money, which he views as a fiduciary duty regardless of market cycles or the fear of missing out (FOMO) that often dictates the pace of deal closing. He advocates for investment managers to invest as if the Assets Under Management (AUM) were their own money. The role of VC managers, he asserts, is to provide ignition capital and support companies through challenging times and growth phases until an exit opportunity. However, he warns against fundraising and venture money becoming a condition of startup survival. Instead, VCs should push startups to build self-sustaining businesses that can quickly achieve profitability and "fly with their own wings," rather than relying on continuous large injections of public venture and growth capital until an IPO or M&A exit. This philosophy champions a return to fundamental business principles, fostering resilience and independence in portfolio companies.
Strategic Engagement and Future Vision: The NVCA Connection and Beyond
As an NVCA member, Kevin Colas highlights several strategic benefits essential for Snatched Ventures’ growth and impact. These include opportunities to connect with investor peers across various categories for deal syndication, leading or co-leading investments for Snatched Ventures, enhancing portfolio support, identifying exit opportunities, and fostering thematic development. Beyond direct business advantages, Colas expresses a strong desire to engage with NVCA’s activism and policy advisory groups/think tanks. This involvement reflects his commitment to influencing positive change and policy evolutions within the venture and deeptech sectors, contributing to an ecosystem that better supports innovation and responsible capital deployment.
Looking ahead, Snatched Ventures is actively engaged in fundraising for its $100 million fund, with an initial close targeted at $30 million. Colas envisions a value-added balance of financial, corporate, and family office strategic Limited Partners (LPs), with whom he is eager to collaborate deeply, invest for, and offer co-investing opportunities. The firm’s fundraising strategy is not merely about accumulating capital but about building a network of LPs who can contribute beyond financial means.
Snatched Ventures plans to deploy this capital wisely, emphasizing proactive sourcing through deep dives into specific investment spaces rather than relying solely on reactive deal flow from exchanges, conferences, accelerators, or incubators. This methodical approach is designed to identify the best early-stage companies at the intersection of their eight deep technologies and six thematics, where investment spaces have already been meticulously mapped. The ultimate goal is to fund teams and businesses that demonstrate both positive environmental and financial sustainability, aiming to produce outsized returns for LPs, founders, strategics, GPs, and the staff of Snatched Ventures.
Colas articulates a profound long-term vision: to build a lasting platform of thematic deeptech funds that fundamentally changes how we live and how businesses leverage innovation to boost efficiency. This vision is intrinsically linked to accelerating the transition towards truly sustainable models for the planet and its inhabitants. His concluding remark, "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," powerfully underscores the urgency and profound purpose driving Snatched Ventures’ mission. This statement not only highlights the environmental imperative but also critiques a certain strain of technological escapism, redirecting focus towards earth-bound, actionable solutions.
Deeptech’s Ascent: Why Snatched Ventures’ Focus Matters
The global push for sustainable development and technological advancement has positioned deeptech at the forefront of innovation. Deeptech, characterized by its scientific or engineering breakthroughs, often requires significant research and development, substantial capital, and longer development cycles compared to conventional tech startups. However, its potential for transformative impact on industries and society is immense. Snatched Ventures’ focus on specific deep technologies—AI/ML, materials science, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, optics, electronics, robotics, and blockchain—is strategically aligned with areas recognized globally as crucial for addressing grand challenges.
For instance, AI/ML can optimize supply chains in transportation & logistics, reducing carbon footprints and enhancing efficiency. Materials science and advanced manufacturing are critical for developing next-generation components for renewable energy systems and sustainable consumer products in fashion & beauty. Biotechnology holds the key to innovations in food & agriculture, precision medicine & aging, addressing global health and food security. Robotics and electronics are foundational for automation and smart infrastructure, while blockchain offers solutions for transparency and traceability across various sectors, including retail & e-commerce.
The "ready-to-deploy and scale now" criterion is particularly significant in the deeptech space. While many deeptech ventures focus on foundational research with long-term payoffs, Snatched Ventures seeks innovations that are closer to market readiness, capable of generating immediate impact and revenue. This approach helps mitigate some of the inherent risks associated with deeptech investments, making them more attractive to LPs seeking both financial returns and tangible impact. The firm’s "4Fs" financial filters further de-risk these investments, ensuring that technological prowess is matched by sound business models and pathways to profitability. This comprehensive strategy not only supports groundbreaking innovation but also ensures its practical application and commercial viability, driving real-world change and fostering a sustainable future.
Snatched Ventures, under the leadership of Kevin Colas, represents a compelling model for venture capital in the 21st century. By marrying a deep understanding of transformative technologies with rigorous financial discipline and a profound commitment to sustainability, the firm is poised to make a significant impact on both the innovation landscape and the global effort towards a more efficient and sustainable future. Its strategic vision and proven track record offer a blueprint for how venture capital can return to its core principles of fostering innovation while addressing some of humanity’s most pressing challenges.