Washington DC’s Venture Capital Community — All 90 of Them.

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If you?re in Silicon Valley, its not hard to find startup investors. You can readily take a ride down Sand Hill Road to find legendary firms, such as Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital and KPCB, lining it. With the industry?s ever growing popularity, venture capitalists are increasingly in the public eye, especially those in the Bay Area. VC deals are widely covered by media outlets, ranging from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal to tech news sites like VentureBeat, TechCrunch and PandoDaily. And, at many firms, partners have further enhanced their brand and status with best-selling books, influential blogs, social media and regular appearances on podcasts and various web and television shows. You can?t escape them.

Unfortunately, venture-stage investors can be a bit harder to locate in the DC Metro Area. K Street is the closest thing to a Sand Hill Road in Washington, but you?re not likely to find too many investors among the lobbyists and think tanks that are based there. Unlike their Californian counterparts, most DC area venture firms keep a relatively low profile and lack the clout characteristic of investors in the Valley. Though there are a few marquee firms, such as Revolution and Paladin Capital, they are more like local celebrities to the Valley?s international superstars. With the exception of Steve Case and Ted Leonsis, few VCs have the fame and following to rival John Doerr and Marc Andreesen types. As a result, it can be difficult to identify who?s who in the DC venture capital community.

A notable exception is long-time resident, New Enterprise Associates, which stands out by holding the top spot among the nation?s most active venture investors according to PwC/MoneyTree?s annual industry report. While its Chevy Chase office did not oversee all 120 deals closed in 2015, the firm remains a prominent local player that is impossible to overlook. QED Investors is another local firm that has emerged as significant player in venture capital industry. The Alexandria-based company has garnered some attention for its high volume of early-stage deals and frequently investing alongside the likes of Menlo Ventures, First Round, Founders Fund and other top tier firms.

With most DC firms flying under the radar though, and a listing of them not obviously available anywhere online, I decided to put one together. I hope this will serve as a useful guide for those seeking to familiarize themselves with sources of venture capital in the area. Importantly, I don?t claim this to be a comprehensive list (despite my title) and can?t promise that each group is actively investing. In fact, to my knowledge, the Carlyle Group has not raised a venture fund since closing its third (Carlyle Venture Partners III, L.P.) at $605 million in 2007. A deeper dive into each of these groups may come in the near future. For now, I encourage you to do some additional research before taking any action based on the list below.

Image for post This took forever to make. DC area VCs need to release logos with higher pixel aspect ratios.