Collaborative Fund

About

Collaborative Fund is a venture capital firm founded in 2010 by Craig Shapiro in New York City ¹². The firm was started with what Shapiro describes as a “simple, but at the time contrarian premise” — that investing in businesses doing good will generate greater returns than purely profit-driven investing ³. The firm identifies and supports companies at the intersection of for-profit and for-good ¹.

As of 2026, Collaborative Fund manages over $1 billion in assets and has invested in over 300 companies ²⁴. The firm has achieved nearly 60 successful exits, including Kickstarter, Lyft, Blue Bottle Coffee, Reddit, and Sweetgreen, and has backed over 24 unicorns and IPOs ⁴⁴.

The firm has raised multiple flagship funds since its founding. Fund I was an $8 million vehicle with a 2011 vintage ⁵. The firm raised a $70 million third fund in 2015 ⁶, a $100 million fourth fund in 2018 ⁷, and a $125 million sixth flagship fund in 2024, which was completed in 90 days ⁴. In 2022, the firm launched Collab SOS, a $200 million fund investing at Series A and B in sustainable materials, ingredients, energy, and supply chains, anchored by fashion designer Stella McCartney ⁸⁹. In 2022, the firm also launched the Shared Future Fund, which provides $100,000 checks to early-stage climate startups, growing to a portfolio of nearly 130 climate companies by late 2023 ¹⁰¹¹.

In 2023, Collaborative Fund made a strategic investment in South Korea’s Sopoong Ventures, a social impact-focused VC, to expand deal-sourcing for climate tech and sustainability companies across Asia ¹². That same year, Collaborative Fund partnered with Harvard’s Wyss Institute to create a $15 million Laboratory for Sustainable Materials Research and Innovation ¹³.

The firm has approximately 25 full-time employees and maintains offices in New York ⁴.

Stated Thesis

Collaborative Fund publicly describes its mission as being “a leading platform for supporting entrepreneurs pushing the world forward” ². The firm invests at the intersection of for-profit and for-good, seeking companies in five thematic areas: climate, money, food and agriculture, kids, and health ³¹⁴.

Craig Shapiro has stated that “the notion of backing companies pushing the world forward is the connective tissue that links all of these branches together” ³. The firm applies what Shapiro calls a “Villain Test” to every potential investment, asking two questions: (1) Will massive success improve people’s lives? and (2) Would a self-interested person buy the product? ¹⁴. Shapiro has cited Tesla as an example — combining environmental benefits with performance and design appeal that attracts consumers regardless of their environmental views ¹⁴.

The firm frames its investment criterion for Collab SOS as: “Is your product or service better for the planet, without asking consumers to sacrifice?” ⁸.

Shapiro has also described Collaborative Fund’s consumer investing philosophy: “The moat we care most about is emotional, not transactional” ¹⁵. In an AlleyWatch interview, Shapiro said: “When you build a company upon values that resonate with your customers, you’re investing in your own brand — and that’s the type of company we like to partner with” ¹⁶.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 83 companies listed on Collaborative Fund’s current portfolio page ¹⁷, the firm’s actual investment behavior shows the following patterns:

Sector distribution: Based on the firm’s own portfolio categorization of 83 active companies: 26 energy/climate (31%), 21 consumer (25%), 14 health (17%), 11 money/fintech (13%), 11 AI (13%) ¹⁷. Climate and sustainability is the dominant sector by a significant margin, substantially exceeding the consumer focus the firm was initially known for.

Stage distribution: Fund I (2011 vintage) focused on pre-seed through Series A with check sizes averaging $100K from an $8M fund ⁵. The firm has since expanded upmarket: Collab SOS invests at Series A and B ⁸, and Sophie Bakalar leads later-stage investments ¹⁸. The sixth flagship fund at $125M suggests current seed and Series A check sizes in the $500K-$2M range, consistent with Morgan Housel’s reported $500K-$1M investment range ¹⁹.

Geographic concentration: Primarily US-based, with the firm headquartered in New York ¹. The 2023 strategic investment in Sopoong Ventures represents the first deliberate push into Asia ¹².

Thesis evolution: The firm started with a broad “for-profit and for-good” thesis covering consumer, kids, and money. Over time, climate and sustainability has become the dominant investment category — 31% of the active portfolio is in energy/climate, and the firm has launched two dedicated climate vehicles (Collab SOS at $200M and Shared Future Fund) plus a $15M research partnership with Harvard’s Wyss Institute ⁸¹⁰¹³. This represents a meaningful shift from the firm’s earlier consumer-brand-heavy portfolio.

Return concentration: Fund I data reveals extreme power-law dynamics. Eight companies drove nearly all returns: Upstart, Lyft, Scopely, Blue Bottle Coffee, Maker Studios, Gumroad, Reddit, and Kickstarter. The top 8 investments returned 45x on $0.8M invested, while the remaining 42 investments returned 0.3x on $7.2M invested. A single company accounted for 73% of all cash returned ⁵.

Co-investor patterns: The firm co-invests with impact-oriented and climate-focused investors including The Engine, Breakthrough Energy, and Lowercarbon Capital ¹⁴²⁰. The strategic relationship with Sopoong Ventures indicates a preference for partnership-based expansion over direct international offices ¹².

Notable gap: Despite listing “kids” as one of five thematic areas, only one company (Lovevery) in the current 83-company portfolio appears to be kids-focused ¹⁷. This theme appears to have been deprioritized in practice.

Portfolio

Note: This table represents approximately 44 of 300+ total investments. Many investments, particularly from earlier funds and the Shared Future Fund’s 130+ climate companies, are not individually listed here due to limited public sourcing on exact investment dates. Years marked with “~” are approximate, based on company founding dates or estimated investment timing.

In Their Own Words

“Investing in businesses doing good will generate greater returns than just regular old profit-driven investing.” — Craig Shapiro, Collaborative Fund blog ³

“The notion of backing companies pushing the world forward is the connective tissue that links all of these branches together.” — Craig Shapiro, Collaborative Fund blog ³

“When you don’t really know ‘how things are done’ you’re not afraid to do things differently. You just do what feels natural.” — Craig Shapiro, Collaborative Fund blog ³

“Having a beginner’s mind was an advantage all along.” — Craig Shapiro, Collaborative Fund blog ³

“It’s the anti-Ron Conway, in a sense — not in a mean-spirited way, but we’re sort of slow and deliberate and we don’t make that many investments.” — Craig Shapiro, AlleyWatch interview, February 2014 ¹⁶

“When you build a company upon values that resonate with your customers, you’re investing in your own brand — and that’s the type of company we like to partner with.” — Craig Shapiro, AlleyWatch interview, February 2014 ¹⁶

“The moat we care most about is emotional, not transactional.” — Craig Shapiro, Collaborative Fund Substack, November 2025 ¹⁵

“We’ve built out a really strategic LP and partnership base.” — Sophie Bakalar, ImpactAlpha interview, December 2022 ⁹

What Founders Say

“I consider myself incredibly fortunate that I had Craig and the team at Collaborative as partners/investors during my time at Neverware. When I reflect on my experience working with Collaborative, three attributes stand out. First, they were incredibly generous with their time and resources. In a world that everyone always seems too busy to respond, Craig always found time for a quick coffee or a call to work through whatever challenge we were facing. Second, they truly listened to what I was saying and devoted the energy to understanding our particular challenges in the marketplace. Their feedback was thoughtful and impactful, consistent with their commitment to our endeavor. Lastly, they imparted a rare mix of optimism and pragmatism that I found necessary while trying to steer an early stage technology company forward.” — Neverware founder, via LinkedIn ²¹

“With the support of these partners, we’re powering our next phase of growth, including new products, expansion of our retail footprint and doubling down on the GGS world.” — Good Girl Snacks founder, on follow-on investment from Collaborative Fund ⁴

“Our investors including Collaborative Fund, Third Sphere, Brainstorm Ventures, Dangerous Ventures, Cool Climate Collective, Momentum Capital, CLAI Ventures, and the many strategic angels across energy, hospitality, and hardware who believed in our vision and joined Focal Island when we barely had a prototype.” — Focal Island founders, acknowledging early-stage support ⁴

Sources