Acequia Capital

About

Acequia Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2010 by Hank Vigil, a former Senior Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships at Microsoft who spent 25 years at the company ¹². The firm has invested in more than 350 technology companies and reports more than a decade of consistent, top-quartile returns ². Acequia Capital manages approximately $56 million in assets under management ³.

The firm is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with additional presence in Paris, France through European Partner Marc Jalabert ⁴⁵. The team consists of 18 people, including 7 partners and 9 venture partners ⁶. Acequia Capital also operates K50 Ventures, a pre-seed fund investing in technology to serve SMBs and middle-class consumers, as a related vehicle under Vigil’s leadership ⁷.

The partnership has deep roots in Microsoft’s corporate strategy organization. Founder Hank Vigil managed strategic acquisitions and investments at Microsoft, including the early investment in Facebook and the Nokia acquisition, as well as strategic partnerships with Yahoo, Time Warner, Sony, and Samsung ². Sr. Venture Partner Charlie Songhurst served as Head of Corporate Strategy at Microsoft, where he led over 80 acquisitions ⁸. European Partner Marc Jalabert was formerly General Manager of Western Europe at Microsoft and established Microsoft’s inaugural global startup program ¹.

Stated Thesis

Acequia Capital publicly describes itself as “a leading early-stage investment platform” positioned “at the center of a global ecosystem that attracts and fuels technical founders and product teams building the next wave of global businesses” ².

The firm states that it provides “more than initial risk capital,” characterizing its partners as “deeply experienced industry operators who offer trusted advice on product roadmap & technology strategy” as well as “business model & GTM execution” ². The firm describes its approach as a “full stack platform approach” that has navigated multiple technology cycles and investment vintages, enabling it to identify “platform threats and insurgent opportunities” ².

A significant element of the firm’s stated thesis centers on what it calls “New Industrials” — companies at the intersection of technology and reindustrialization. In a September 2023 blog post, the firm argued that the global economy is transitioning from the Information Age into a “Reindustrial Age” where technology convergence transforms legacy industries ⁹. The firm identifies six transformation sectors: energy, mobility, food systems/agriculture, circularity, computation/AI+ML, and health ⁹. The firm describes New Industrial companies as operating “at the intersection of decreasing technological risk and increasing commerciality” ⁹.

The firm also emphasizes its founder network, which it calls the “Acecap Network,” as a mechanism for detecting early signals and qualifying global deal flow ².

Inferred Thesis

Based on 60 verified investments across public sources, Acequia Capital’s actual portfolio reveals a broad, diversified approach across multiple technology sectors with a strong seed-stage focus and notable international reach.

Stage distribution: The firm’s investments skew heavily toward seed stage. Based on data from F4 Fund: 89 seed investments, 17 Series A investments, and 4 Series B investments (81% seed, 15% Series A, 4% Series B out of 110 staged investments) ⁶. This confirms Acequia Capital is predominantly a seed-stage investor.

Sector breakdown (based on 60 verified portfolio companies): - AI & Machine Learning: 10 of 60 (17%) — Supernormal, Tractable, deepset, Griptape, Hyperscience, Picsellia - Gaming & Expression: 12 of 60 (20%) — Rec Room, Windup Minds, GameJolt, Sloyd, Red Rover Interactive, Hathora, Portal One, Mtion, LootLocker, Scriptic, Uthana - New Industrials / Hardware: 10 of 60 (17%) — Atomic Industries, Ethos Space, Harbinger Motors, Formlabs, Stoke Space, Radiant Nuclear, Insempra, Dirac, Provectus Algae, Groq - Logistics: 6 of 60 (10%) — EasyPost, 7bridges, Cargomatic, Flexe, Flexport, Pandas - Life Sciences: 8 of 60 (13%) — Lab Genius, SFA Therapeutics, Arctoris, Apoha, Zafrens, Nostos Genomics, Spaero Bio, Mytos - Commerce / Consumer: 4 of 60 (7%) — Block (Square), ClassPass, Wish, OpenCare - Infrastructure: 6 of 60 (10%) — Blockstream, Corintis, Antaris Space, Swave Photonics, AnySignal, Groq - Other (media, consumer): 4 of 60 (7%) — Pinterest, Rec Room

Geographic patterns: The portfolio spans the US, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and 20+ countries ⁴⁶. The European presence is substantial, driven by Marc Jalabert’s role as European Partner and Leif Danielsen’s cross-border investing ¹⁵.

Check size: $100K to $5M range, with a sweet spot of $1.5M at seed stage ⁴⁶.

Founder profile patterns: The firm explicitly targets “technical founders and product teams” ². The New Industrials thesis describes an emerging class of founders including “mechanical engineers, molecular biologists, physicists, rocket scientists, experienced investors and operators, military and intelligence veterans” ⁹. Several venture partners reflect this — Kevin O’Connell brings defense/intelligence background, Dr. David Kilcullen brings military/security expertise, and Gregory Bernstein brings policy experience ¹.

Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Scribble Ventures, Catapult Capital, Moxxie Ventures, and Two Small Fish Ventures ⁴. The firm has also co-invested with larger firms like Tiger Global, Greycroft, and GV on follow-on rounds ¹⁰¹¹.

Notable gaps from stated thesis: The firm’s New Industrials thesis is relatively recent (2023), while the bulk of the portfolio reflects the firm’s longer history in software, consumer internet, and gaming. The reindustrialization framing may represent a strategic pivot rather than the firm’s historical core.

Portfolio

The firm’s website states the portfolio “consists of over 350 companies” ¹². The table below represents a verified subset.

Note: This table represents approximately 13% of the firm’s claimed 350+ investments. Years marked with ~ are approximate, based on company founding dates or earliest known funding rounds. Fritz Lanman began angel investing in 2010 with Square as his first investment ¹³; he and Hank Vigil led the initial seed financings of Pinterest, Square, Wish, and Flexport ¹³.

In Their Own Words

Acequia Capital has described its approach to investing in the context of reindustrialization:

The firm has stated that venture capital’s focus narrowed dramatically toward software solutions, with “software-as-a-service” dominating private markets while foundational R&D funding declined, creating situations where “billions of dollars chasing increasingly marginal utility for consumers and businesses” became normalized ⁹.

On their platform model, the firm states: “We provide more than initial risk capital: We are deeply experienced industry operators who offer trusted advice on product roadmap & technology strategy” ².

The firm has described its investment approach as “agile, diversified, and market-tested” ².

On founder support, the firm states that General Partner Leif Danielsen has “proven that Acequia is ‘founder centric’ as a first principle, often as the one voice highlighting issues and risks that other venture investors avoid or miss” ¹.

On the New Industrials thesis, the firm wrote: “Cycles are driven by major technological advancement, both disruptive and non-obvious in its time” and positioned the current era as “a new class of mission-driven entrepreneurs building ‘New Industrials’ — companies integrating software, hardware, biology, and physical infrastructure to solve systemic challenges” ⁹.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. The firm’s website and public materials do not feature third-party founder quotes about their experience working with Acequia Capital.

Sources