Vermilion Cliffs Ventures announced Wednesday the closing of its $25 million Fund II. The company was founded in 2023 by executive-turned-investor Ashley Smith, who runs the company as one of the few solo female GPs in venture capital. In an interview with TechCrunch, Smith said the fund continues the company's philosophy of supporting technology founders, especially those building AI infrastructure, security, and development tools.
It took about four months to raise a new fund this year, with much of the money coming from existing investors, she said. Fund II's average check size is between $500,000 and $1 million, and it hopes to invest in at least 25 companies over the next two-and-a-half years, and has already backed six. The company previously raised $13 million in debut funding that backed 35 companies, including cybersecurity startup Keycard and AI infrastructure company CopilotKit.
Smith said he works with many early-stage companies to help founders raise their next round of funding, and with his experience working in marketing at Twilio, Facebook, GitHub, and GitLab, he wants to help founders with go-to-market strategies that help them reap the benefits. “Sales to developers and security teams is a discipline in itself, and most founders learn it the long and expensive way,” she says. “I try to help them avoid mistakes that I’ve made or that I’ve seen other founders make.”