We are a venture capital firm formed by entrepreneurs dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs build category leading companies.
We are a venture capital firm formed by entrepreneurs dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs build category leading companies.
We are all entrepreneurs who have started successful companies to change the world for the better - in one case from zero to over a billion in revenues in less than a decade. We have a true long term view – our fund is an independent evergreen fund, with no end of fund life date, thereby avoiding many of the conflicts typical in the venture industry. Finally, we strive to have a life-long relationship with all our entrepreneurs.
We are all entrepreneurs who have started successful companies to change the world for the better—in one case from zero to over a billion in revenues in less than a decade. We have a true long term view—our fund is an independent evergreen fund, with no end of fund life date, thereby avoiding many of the conflicts typical in the venture industry. Finally, we strive to have a life-long relationship with all our entrepreneurs.
First and foremost, our primary goal is to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. While we can invest at any stage, from early to expansion to late growth, we’d much prefer to get to know you and your ambitions—and how we can help—early. We can invest as little as one million dollars to as much as ten million in a single company. Currently, we are interested in software companies that can drive disruptions in IoT, Big Data, and Security and establish market leadership.
Dan formed Envision Ventures to help entrepreneurs succeed in changing the world. His current areas of interest are software for IoT, Big Data, and Security. While interested in getting to know entrepreneurs at any stage, he'd prefer to get to know them early on in their journey to category leadership. During his venture career, he’s had the privilege of working with many successful entrepreneurs, sometimes as the founding VC. When you talk to Dan, he’ll extol their successes to you. Prior to Envision, he was a Managing Director at Voyager Capital, where he led the firm's Silicon Valley investment activity, and investments in Autogrid, ChargePoint, ClearCare, Wise.io and others — all in the very first venture round. Prior to Voyager, Dan was a Managing Director at Woodside Fund, where invested in or was the founding VC in numerous successful companies, all in the IT space, including Analogix Semiconductor and Berkeley Design Automation. Prior to Woodside, Dan was an entrepreneur, having co-founded and been the President of EndPoint Technologies, which was later successfully acquired by Applied Materials. In his spare time, he enjoys moonlighting from Silicon Valley by playing the violin in the Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco, and spending time with his family. Dan has an AB from Harvard College and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Thomas Englis enjoys learning about new technologies, companies and entrepreneurs. He supports research, new investments and portfolio company management at Envision Ventures. Prior to Envision Ventures, Thomas was with GE Ventures, where he worked with AI/ML, IoT and Cybersecurity related companies, across new opportunity sourcing, research, investments and portfolio management. Thomas has a BA from Vanderbilt University.
Ashish is a distinguished entrepreneur, investor, and technologist who enjoys helping entrepreneurs succeed. He advises Envision Ventures on all aspects of its business. Ashish is also the founder and managing partner of Helion Ventures, a leading India focused VC firm. Prior to Helion, he co-founded two successful technology companies—Tavant Technologies and Junglee (acquired by Amazon). In addition, Ashish previously worked at Woodside Fund, Amazon, Oracle, and IBM Research. Some of his past investments include Daksh (acquired by IBM), InfoEdge (acquired by Naukri.com), MakeMyTrip (IPO), MuSigma, Upwork, Redbus (acquired by MIH), and Azure Power (IPO).
Ashish holds a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where he graduated #1 in his class and was awarded the President’s Gold Medal. He has authored several patents, publications, and a book on data warehousing and processing published by The MIT Press.
Felix runs the international businesses of Envision Group, having co-formed the company from an idea in London to a leader in the renewable energy and technology space. He’s lived, worked and is at home in North America, Europe and Asia. His experiences prior to forming Envision Group include operating experience, investment banking at Morgan Stanley, capital markets at CIBC and investing as a partner at a hedge fund. He is passionate about technology start-ups, having invested in over twenty as an angel investor. When not investing in and helping start-up companies, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. Felix has an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics and sciences from the University of Wisconsin, and a master's degree from University of St. Thomas, and attended the AMP programs at Harvard Business School. (Felix and Lei are not related.)
“Business is the rationalization of positive social change.”
Lei is the founder and CEO of the Envision Group. He left the financial services world in Barclays in London, with a vision to start a company that would use technology to change the world for the better. Since then, he has led the growth of the Envision Group into a leading, global renewable energy and software technology company headquartered in Shanghai, which profitably grew to over a billion dollars in revenues in less than ten years. When not being recognized by Forbes as one of China’s top ten innovators and pioneering "The Energy Internet", he enjoys fine wines and dining. He has a master's degree from the London School of Economics. (Lei and Felix are not related.)
We have a diverse ecosystem of people and partners that can help. This might include partnering opportunities, customer opportunities, company scaling and team building advice, and strategy development. Please talk to us about how we can help you and your business grow.
With an independent, evergreen fund, we're unconcerned with structural issues that lead to entrepreneur-unfriendly activity at most venture firms today. Our "unconcerns" include timing out, the next fundraise, and arbitrary investment constraints, enabling us to be structurally aligned with our entrepreneurs' best interests.
Venture Today. Most funds operate on a 10-year timeframe, after which holdings in portfolio companies are liquidated and distributed to LPs. This means that when a fund is close to timing out, investors can push for a premature exit—even if that goes against an entrepreneurs' long-term vision.
How We’re Different. Our fund is an independent, evergreen fund with no end-of-fund-life.
Venture Today. Once an investment is made, the capital deployed is gone for good. This means that investors are under constant pressure to raise the next fund, which often leads to entrepreneur-unfriendly behavior that optimizes fundraising.
How We’re Different. We recycle most of our proceeds back into the fund, thereby eliminating the need to fundraise.
Venture Today. Constraints on fund strategy are usually set when VCs market their funds to LPs. These typically include limitations on stage (Seed / Series A only), arbitrary ownership targets (at least 20% ownership), and control (board seat required).
How We're Different. We're agnostic to investment stage, ownership targets, and board representation. We only care about partnering with category leaders.
Address:
3000 Sand Hill Road
Building 2, Suite 180
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Email:
info@envisionvc.com
