Meet the breakout VC who goes deep to make a ‘360-degree’ behavioral map before investing in founders

But almost everyone pays lip service to how much they love working with founders — and honestly, that’s not interesting. What is interesting is what it actually takes to truly know someone. That’s a question Adam Zeplain, cofounder and managing partner of Austin-based Mark VC, has thought deeply about.

Here’s how his process starts, from my feature on Zeplain’s deeply psychological approach to venture capital published today:

When founder Jeff Cardenas took his first meeting with venture capitalist Adam Zeplain in 2023 he was expecting to answer questions about his robotics company’s revenue, margins, and market share.

Zeplain surprised him, opening with: “Tell me about your father.”

“I thought: Oh, he’s going there, let’s do this,” said Cardenas of their first meeting. 

Cardenas, the CEO and cofounder of humanoid startup Apptronik, wasn’t expecting a therapy session. But he talked openly, then provided Zeplain a list of everyone close to him—his wife, his coworkers, his childhood best friends. Zeplain called them all.

The deal got done at a $250 million post-money valuation, and as of February, Apptronik is valued at more than $5 billion. Zeplain says he can’t always predict which businesses succeed, but he’s gotten quite good at understanding which people will succeed. “This is not one-size-fits-all,” said Zeplain. “Sure, there are certain tenets you can repeat and reuse. But this is a tailored approach to who someone is.”

Zeplain—whose investments include CrowdStrike, Reddit, Ring, Capella Space, and Anduril—gets to know founders in a way that’s systematic and personalized. It’s very much worth considering in an environment where the venture dollars are many, but clarity is scarce. 

Read the whole story here.

See you Monday,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com

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VENTURE CAPITAL

– Cognito, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of therapies designed for neurodegenerative diseases, raised $105 million in Series C funding. Morningside Ventures, IAG Capital Partners, and Starbloom Capital led the round and was joined by New Vintage, Apollo Health Ventures, Benvolio Group, and others.

– Nominal, a Los Angeles, Calif. and Austin, Texas-based testing and operations platform for hardware engineering firms, raised $80 million in Series B-2 funding. Founders Fund led the round and was joined by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and others.

– ZyG, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based operating system designed for scaling ecommerce businesses, raised $58 million in seed funding. Bessemer Venture Partners, Viola Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and were joined by Disruptive AI, Emerge, Access Industries, Stardom Ventures, and Jibe Ventures.

– Cylake, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based cybersecurity company, raised $45 million in seed funding. Greylock Partners led the round and was joined by others.

– Lio, a New York City-based developer of agentic AI technology designed for enterprise procurement, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by SV Angel, Harry Stebbings, and Y Combinator.

– Validio, a Stockholm, Sweden-based agentic AI data management company, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Plural led the round and was joined by others. 

– Evervault, a New York City-based platform designed for encrypting and orchestrating sensitive data, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Ribbit Capital led the round and was joined by Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Operator Partners.

– ArmorCode, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based enterprise security risk and governance, raised $16 million in funding. Cheyenne Ventures led the round and was joined by Ballistic Ventures, Highland Capital, Sierra Ventures, NGP Capital, and others.

– Cheer Games, a Barcelona, Spain-based mobile puzzle studio, raised $4.5 million in pre-seed funding. Makers Fund led the round and was joined by Play Ventures and angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Ardurra Group, backed by Littlejohn Capital, acquired Remington & Vernick Engineers, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based engineering consulting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– The Visualize Group acquired BMM Testlabs, a Las Vegas, Nev.-based testing, inspection, compliance and certification services company for the regulated global gaming industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– Axiom Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $52 million for their first fund focused on AI companies.

PEOPLE

– Bain Capital Ventures, a Boston, Calif.-based venture capital firm, promoted Alysaa Co to partner and Amanda Huang to principal.