Hanabi Capital

About

Hanabi Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2024 by Mike Volpi, Bryan Offutt, and Ishani Thakur, all formerly of Index Ventures ¹². The firm is headquartered at 524 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 201, Palo Alto, California ³. Hanabi invests primarily in artificial intelligence and software infrastructure companies ⁴.

The firm was established as part of a broader trend of prominent investors departing large venture firms. Volpi retired from his partnership at Index Ventures, where he had invested for nearly two decades, and recruited Offutt and Thakur to join him ¹². According to Bloomberg reporting, Hanabi invests Volpi’s personal money as well as funds from his friends and family, rather than managing outside institutional capital ².

Hanabi Capital Fund I, L.P. was filed with the SEC on January 17, 2025 ³. The fund size has not been publicly disclosed. The firm has made approximately 20 investments as of early 2026 ⁴.

Stated Thesis

Hanabi focuses on investing in companies enabling the next frontier in technology, with particular emphasis on AI, software infrastructure, and open-source technologies ⁵⁶. The firm’s website describes its approach as investing in teams building category-defining companies across these sectors ⁵.

Mike Volpi has described his investment framework using a surfing analogy: “There’s three things that you have to convince yourself that you have, right? A surfer needs a wave, a board, and he or she who surfs” — emphasizing market timing, product, and the founding team as the three critical components ⁷.

Bryan Offutt has stated he is “particularly drawn to startups that are reimagining how developers and data teams work — from real-time infrastructure to privacy tooling” ⁸.

Ishani Thakur has described her focus as investing in “companies enabling the next frontier in technology, working with people who are mission obsessed, and not dying from AGI” ⁶.

Inferred Thesis

Based on Hanabi’s publicly listed portfolio of 18 companies ⁹, the firm’s actual investment behavior reveals:

Sector breakdown: The portfolio is heavily concentrated in AI and infrastructure. Of 18 verified investments: AI/ML companies (Cerebras, Cognition, Cartesia, Flora, Simile, Netic, ArchiBoost AI — 7 companies, 39%); infrastructure and developer tools (ClickHouse, LiveKit, Traversal, Applied Compute, Arcade, Periodic Labs — 6 companies, 33%); robotics and hardware (Mind Robotics, Brinc Drones — 2 companies, 11%); other (Onodrim, Parahelp, Cursor — 3 companies, 17%). Sample size is small (18 companies) so percentages should be treated as directional.

Stage distribution: Based on disclosed round information, Hanabi participates across seed through Series B stages. The firm invested in LiveKit’s Series B round ¹⁰ and Cognition’s $400M+ round at $10.2B valuation ¹¹, suggesting it can participate in later rounds as well as early-stage deals.

Check size: Investment range of $100K to $2.0M, with a sweet spot around $1M ¹².

Founder profile: The firm appears to favor technically deep founding teams, consistent with the partners’ own backgrounds in engineering and AI research.

Co-investor patterns: Given the partners’ Index Ventures background, several portfolio companies (including ClickHouse, LiveKit, and Cerebras) overlap with Index Ventures investments, suggesting continued co-investment relationships.

Notable pattern: Hanabi’s portfolio includes several of the most prominent AI companies of the current generation (Cerebras, Cognition, Cursor), suggesting the firm leverages Volpi’s reputation and relationships to access competitive deals despite being a new, smaller fund.

Portfolio

Note: The firm’s portfolio page lists 18 companies ⁹. Some investment dates are approximate because specific round dates were not publicly disclosed. Applied Compute’s $20M seed round predated its later $80M round ¹³¹⁸. Brinc Drones’ round was reported as Series C based on prior funding history ¹⁴. Mike Volpi invested personally in Brinc; Hanabi is listed as an investor via the firm’s portfolio page ⁹¹⁴. For ArchiBoost AI and Cerebras, Hanabi’s specific round participation could not be independently confirmed; the firm is listed on the portfolio page ⁹ and on Tracxn ⁴. For Cursor, Hanabi is listed as a portfolio company but which specific round the firm participated in is not publicly disclosed ⁹²⁰.

In Their Own Words

Mike Volpi on his investment framework: “There’s three things that you have to convince yourself that you have, right? A surfer needs a wave, a board, and he or she who surfs. The wave is you kind of want to look at a landscape and see something that’s actually changing in your favor.” — The Logan Bartlett Show ⁷

Mike Volpi on self-awareness in investing: “My weakness as an investor is I fall in love with tech. Am I doing this because I love the tech, or am I doing this because we think we’re going to make money?” — The Logan Bartlett Show ⁷

Mike Volpi on the importance of founders: “The last one… is the surfer themselves… is ultimately probably the most important.” — The Logan Bartlett Show ⁷

Mike Volpi on company evolution: “Most companies… define themselves… in too narrow of a way. You gradually expand the sandbox.” — The Logan Bartlett Show ⁷

Hanabi’s website describes Mike Volpi as “a thoughtful sounding board and a steady presence through the highs and lows of startup life” ⁵.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Hanabi Capital is a recently established firm (2024) and independently sourced founder quotes about their experience with the firm are not yet publicly available.

Sources