Backing entrepreneurs with
high conviction
Hico
Ventures

Gina Moon

Hico Ventures is an early-stage VC fund investing in AI and the digital asset space. We aspire to be the first institutional check in a startup's journey. Although our office is located in Silicon Valley, we believe that great founders and ideas can be found anywhere, which is why we are geography-agnostic investors. Hico represents two values that we hold near and dear:
- High conviction: conviction is the greatest scarcity in venture capital. We overcome this hurdle by putting in the work to arrive at investment decisions based on our own due diligence. With this approach, we are able to form meaningful partnerships with a highly selective pool of companies.
- Highly collaborative: it takes a village to build a company and we believe that statement holds for VC funds as well. We are deliberate about forming relationships that extend far beyond business transactions with values-aligned partners. This allows us to punch above our weight in helping companies throughout their journeys - more on this below. HICO What is the ethos behind Hico? Can you share a little about Hico Ventures?
Our check sizes can range from $250k to $1m and we reserve capital for follow-on rounds.
HICO What is the average check size?
Does Hico lead rounds?
HICO Yes - we are more than happy to lead rounds, especially when a business is a category creator.
HICO The North Star for our fund is to advance AI to the extent that we achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI). This will not happen overnight and we do not think that the transformer architecture alone will be responsible for the creation of this new technology. Instead, we believe that AGI will materialize over iterative innovation by an ecosystem of venture-scale winners across infrastructure and middleware. At each technological inflection point, there will also be an ecosystem of venture-scale applications that integrate the latest AI to disrupt their respective industries.
HICO What guides your investment decisions in AI?
What guides your investment decisions in the digital asset space?
Blockchain technology can disrupt the modern financial system if it can either (1) integrate with the existing financial system or (2) provide an exit from the existing financial system. To this end, we are investing in companies (1) driving the maturation of digital assets into a regulatory-compliant asset class with institutional adoption or (2) empowering consumers and organizations in ways that existing financial systems cannot.
HICO Are there areas that Hico does not invest in?
Although it is important to approach venture investing with an open mind, we do not intend to invest in opportunities that are:
- Not purposed for sustainable value creation
- Blatantly incompatible with regulations
- Unfavorable for the risk/return profile of VC funds HICO How does Hico support its portfolio companies post-investment?
Our global investment platform provides support to portfolio companies across key corporate functions, including business development, marketing, fundraising, and talent. In addition, our collaboration-friendly approach to venture allows us to tap into the resources of:
- SK Networks: SK Networks is the inceptive unit of SK Group, a F500 conglomerate. As an anchor LP to our fund, SK Networks is committed to supporting our portfolio companies in efforts spanning fundraising, internationalization, and business plan execution.
- Bow Capital: a University of California ecosystem fund that invests in Series A startups. Our partnership with Bow Capital allows our portfolio companies to gain exclusive access to the University of California, sports and media, and Silicon Valley titans. HICO How can I get in touch with the team? Please feel free to reach out to us over HICO LinkedIn