A Different Approach to Venture Capital: Interview with the Partners of Vertex US
Vertex US is a venture capital firm known for its distinctive investment philosophy: get in early—often as the first investor—and make only a small number of investments per year to ensure deep, long-term partnership with each startup. The firm recently launched its second fund, Vertex US Fund II, with $150 million in committed capital, and is currently focused on enterprise technology. Notably, their Series A investment in Upsolver, valued at $13.3 million, was their first post-COVID-19 deal.
In this interview, Jonathan Heiliger and Sandeep Bhadra, partners at Vertex US, share insights into their strategy and vision.
You take a unique approach to startup investing. How did you decide this was the better path?
Heiliger:
Before starting Vertex, we had collectively made over 40 angel investments. We enjoyed the process of sourcing, selecting, and working hands-on with early-stage businesses. Initially, we believed “focus” was key. But if you visit our site now, you’ll see we’ve replaced that with “No B.S.”—meaning we’re fully committed to the companies we back and stay with the founders from day one.
The idea of doing fewer but deeper investments came from Sandeep, who suggested we allocate our time and energy to a select number of startups, ensuring we could be truly supportive partners.
Do you genuinely enjoy working with founders?
Heiliger:
Absolutely. Many investors claim to relate to founders or say they’ve been founders themselves—but in our case, all three of us have actually founded companies. That gives us real empathy and a clear understanding of the struggles involved in building a business.
Bhadra:
It also shapes how we manage our time. We’re deliberate about having a concentrated portfolio. We might do seven or eight Series A investments and a similar number of seed deals over time. Each of us adds just one or two new companies to our portfolio each year. For us, even a seed check is a serious commitment. We don’t treat investments as options—we put in real time with our founders.
Within enterprise tech, which areas excite you most right now?
Bhadra:
We’re still early in the adoption of cloud platforms, enterprise software, and automation. IT used to mean setting up and maintaining servers—until cloud computing changed the game. A few years ago, people feared AI would replace humans. Instead, we’ve found a middle ground: software that empowers people, not replaces them.
The pandemic accelerated this transformation. We’re in a surreal moment where the market is coming to us, and technology is moving faster than anyone expected.
Heiliger:
I’m particularly drawn to startups that help organizations scale and automate operations. Most enterprises can’t build these solutions themselves—they need to buy them. Think of how companies rely on services like AWS. That’s where we like to invest, and we believe the next wave of innovation will come from improved enterprise infrastructure.
Now that you’ve launched your second fund, what lessons from Fund I are you applying?
Heiliger:
There were many takeaways. From day one, we’ve believed in having a founder’s mindset. We constantly ask ourselves, where will this business be in 3 to 5 years? That kind of forward thinking is crucial.
You also have to stay curious, especially in this remote world. Be flexible. Use tools creatively. Fund I involved a lot of groundwork—setting up the firm and building our presence—so deal flow was slow at first. But Fund II, which closed in February 2019, kicked off rapidly. We’ve already made nine investments.
Some of your portfolio companies have exited. Was there one exit you looked forward to—but now have mixed feelings about?
Heiliger:
Definitely SpaceIQ, which merged with WeWork in 2019. We spent a lot of time with the founder and helped shape the vision—streamlining office planning so users could book rooms and design layouts in just a few clicks. The business grew fast.
Then WeWork approached with a merger offer. It got a lot of press, and we finalized the deal just a week before it went public. Initially, things looked promising—but looking back, we have regrets, as the merger didn’t pan out as hoped.
No comment