Threshold Ventures

About

Threshold Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California, founded in January 2019 when the early-stage investing team of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) spun out and rebranded ¹². The original DFJ was founded in 1985 by Tim Draper, with John Fisher joining in 1991 and Steve Jurvetson in 1994 ³. By 2019, none of the three founding partners remained at the firm, prompting the rebrand ¹².

The firm was co-founded by Emily Melton and Josh Stein, both of whom had worked at DFJ for over 15 years ². Melton rose from associate to partner at DFJ, also serving a stint as a partner at Mayfield Fund before returning to DFJ in 2014 ². Stein previously co-founded ViaFone, where he served as chief strategy officer ².

In 2019, Threshold filed to raise up to $250 million for its Fund III ². In 2022, the firm announced Threshold IV and Threshold Select, with combined committed capital exceeding $450 million ⁴⁵. The firm has generated more than $2 billion in gains for investors across its funds ⁴. Threshold typically writes checks of $5-10 million and takes board seats in most investments, often remaining on boards through IPO and beyond ⁶⁷.

Note: DFJ Growth is a separate, independent affiliate fund focused on later-stage deals that retained the DFJ name ¹. This profile covers the early-stage Threshold Ventures entity only.

Stated Thesis

Threshold publicly describes itself as “an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on a high-conviction investment strategy” that partners with entrepreneurs to build innovative consumer, enterprise, and healthcare technology companies ⁸.

Co-founders Emily Melton and Josh Stein describe their approach as “relationship-driven investing” focused on supporting “true agents of change, bold thinkers who are driven to build new businesses with purpose” ⁵.

The firm states it focuses on “the convergence of healthcare and technology,” “edge computing and artificial intelligence,” and “advanced data models to forge new as-a-service applications” ⁶.

Emily Melton has emphasized founder motivation as central to their evaluation process, stating that healthcare innovation is a moral imperative: “With an aging population, we will not be able to pay for healthcare services unless we figure out how to leverage healthcare and technology” ⁹. Josh Stein has stated the firm consists of “huge believers in the potential for technology to bring dramatic improvement to this massive market,” referring to healthcare, where they have made more than a dozen investments ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 47 verified portfolio companies from the Threshold era (post-2019 rebrand, including legacy DFJ Venture investments that carried over):

Sector breakdown: - Enterprise SaaS / B2B Software: 19 of 47 (40%) — Rippling, LaunchDarkly, Front, Talkdesk, CloudZero, Databook, Spellbook, BetterUp, Sisense, CircleCI, Forward Networks, Yellowbrick Data, Diamanti, ChangeEngine, Polarr, ODAIA, Motion, Parspec, BentoBox - Healthcare / HealthTech: 15 of 47 (32%) — Doximity, Livongo, Wellframe, Tia, Viz.ai, Elation Health, Salvo Health, Attuned, Vital, Verge Genomics, Lexent Bio, OODA Health, Lumity, Xealth, Imagen Technologies - Deep Tech / AI / Robotics: 6 of 47 (13%) — Mythic, Nervana Systems, Elementary Robotics, Imbue, Zoox, Freeform - Consumer / Marketplace: 5 of 47 (11%) — Redfin, Remitly, Shift, Divvy Homes, Loftium - Biotech / Food Tech: 2 of 47 (4%) — Upside Foods (Memphis Meats), Zymergen

Stage distribution: The firm primarily invests at Series A and Series B ⁷⁸. Based on verified rounds: LaunchDarkly (Series A, 2016) ¹⁰, Tia (Series A, 2020) ¹¹, ODAIA (Series B, 2023) ¹², CloudZero (Series B, 2023) ¹³, Spellbook (Series B, 2025) ¹⁴, Freeform (Series B, 2026) ¹⁵, with some seed participation (e.g., Rippling seed) ¹⁶.

Geographic concentration: Heavily US-focused, with the vast majority of 47 verified companies headquartered in the United States. Minor presence in Canada (Spellbook), France (Front’s origin), and Israel (Viz.ai) ¹⁷.

Typical check size: $5-10 million on average ⁶.

Notable patterns: - Strong healthcare emphasis (32%) that aligns closely with stated thesis — one of few firms where stated and actual behavior converge on healthcare - Enterprise SaaS is the largest single category at 40%, consistent with stated focus - Board-centric approach: the firm takes board seats in most investments and often remains through IPO ⁷ - Repeat founder backing: invested in Parker Conrad’s Rippling after knowing him for 12 years through his first company Wikinvest ¹⁶ - Portfolio includes 10 unicorns: Rippling, Front, Imbue, Upside Foods, and others ⁸ - Notable exits include 3 IPOs (Box/NYSE: BOX, Doximity/NYSE: DOCS, Redfin/NASDAQ: RDFN) and 16 acquisitions ⁸ - Co-investor patterns include Kleiner Perkins (Livongo, Tia), General Catalyst (Livongo), Viking Global (Talkdesk), and Founders Fund (Freeform) ¹⁵¹⁸¹⁹

Notable gap: Despite DFJ’s historical association with consumer tech (Hotmail, Skype under old DFJ), Threshold under current leadership has shifted heavily toward enterprise and healthcare, with minimal pure consumer investment.

Portfolio

This table represents 47 of an estimated 79 post-rebrand portfolio companies (59%), based on Tracxn data indicating 79 companies over the last 12 years ⁸. Many entries use founding year as a proxy for investment year where exact round dates could not be verified, marked with “~”.

In Their Own Words

Emily Melton on evaluating founders: “We ask not just what you do, but ‘the why,’ because ‘the what’ almost always evolves and changes over time, but ‘the why’ doesn’t.” — Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, October 2022 ²⁴

Emily Melton on long-term investing: “You want to have that long-term perspective, but you’ve got to be present to win.” — Fortune, October 2022 ²⁴

Emily Melton on healthcare investment: “With an aging population, we will not be able to pay for healthcare services unless we figure out how to leverage healthcare and technology.” — Emily Melton, on digital health investment as a moral imperative ⁹

Heidi Roizen on investment approach: “Find a thing that people need and build it better than anyone else.” — Lynx Collective interview ²⁵

Heidi Roizen on investment timelines: “On average our investment period is somewhere around 6-7 years. It’s longer than the average marriage in the United States. Take your VCs very carefully.” — Unicorn Nest interview ²⁶

Josh Stein on investing in Rippling and founder Parker Conrad: “Please, take my money.” — Stein’s response when Conrad described Rippling, reflecting a conviction formed by a decade of personal relationship ¹⁶

Emily Melton and Josh Stein on the firm’s mission: The co-founders describe their focus as supporting “true agents of change, bold thinkers who are driven to build new businesses with purpose.” — Threshold fund announcement, 2022 ⁵

What Founders Say

Portfolio founders have shared the following testimonials about working with Threshold:

One portfolio founder noted the team’s responsiveness and depth: “The Threshold team is my first call because I know they’ll answer immediately, think deeply about any topic, and work with the founder to come to what they both feel is the best possible solution. It feels like a true partnership.” — Portfolio founder testimonial ²⁷

Another founder praised the team’s relevant operational experience: “Josh, Emily, and team have been there, done that, and their advice is always very relevant to problems founders encounter as they are scaling.” — Portfolio founder testimonial ²⁷

A third founder highlighted Threshold’s distinctive combination of traits: “What distinguishes the Threshold team is their combination of humility and audacious thinking. Threshold can also think from the customer base’s perspective. I believe humble curiosity lets this happen.” — Portfolio founder testimonial ²⁷

Note: These testimonials were sourced from Threshold’s own website and affiliated channels. No independently sourced founder testimonials from third-party publications were found during this research.

Sources