Maryanna Saenko

Background

Maryanna Saenko is an early-stage venture capitalist and co-founder of Future Ventures, a frontier technology venture firm she launched in late 2018 with Steve Jurvetson ^{1 2}. Born in Western Ukraine in the early 1990s, her family emigrated due to political instability during the Soviet Union’s dissolution, relocating through Poland, Sweden, and Canada before settling in Connecticut ³. She attended Hopkins School on a financial scholarship ³.

Saenko earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University ^{4 5}. She subsequently began a PhD program at MIT while simultaneously working at Ferro Solutions, an energy-harvesting startup, but left the program before completing it ^{3 6}.

Her early career included work as a research engineer at Cabot Corporation, where she grew frustrated with short-term shareholder focus in corporate R&D, and a consulting role at Lux Research advising Fortune 500 companies on startup disruption ^{3 5}. Her engineering background includes work on lunar rovers, Martian landers, driverless cars, and long-range low-frequency communication systems ^{4 5}.

Saenko transitioned into venture capital through a role at Airbus Ventures, where she led early-stage venture investments strategically aligned with Airbus’s future-of-aerospace initiatives ^{4 5}. She subsequently joined DFJ, where she formed a two-person unit with Steve Jurvetson focused on frontier technology investments ³. She then moved to Khosla Ventures as a principal before co-founding Future Ventures ^{3 5}.

Future Ventures has raised three consecutive $200M funds, with total assets under management of approximately $925M including special purpose vehicles as of April 2023 ^{7 8}. The firm operates a 15-year fund structure designed for patient capital in deep-tech investments ⁹. Saenko holds board seats at Ockam, Cambrian Biopharma, and Deep Genomics ¹⁰.

Stated Thesis

Saenko publicly describes Future Ventures’ focus as investing in frontier technologies that create positive impact. She has stated: “We look for novel technology — things unlike anything we’ve seen before that hopefully make the world a better place” and “Most importantly, things that don’t prey on human frailty” ¹¹.

She defines their investment thesis as chasing “that moving target across the diaspora of frontier technologies,” spanning semiconductor processing, machine learning, genetic data, and metagenomic data ¹¹. She has described deep tech as “a constantly moving target” and defines frontier technology as “what is just over the horizon of the capability to produce in mass today” ¹¹.

On fund structure, Saenko has emphasized the uniqueness of their two-person partnership: “A two-person firm is fundamentally and structurally very different. There isn’t a sense of a ‘Maryanna investment’ or a ‘Steve investment.’ Neither of us ever moves independently of the other. It’s a partnership of equals, which is unique and amazing, and challenging” ¹².

Future Ventures operates with a 15-year fund horizon. As Saenko has explained: “With a 15-year fund we are able to give our founders more runway, and more commitment” and “It’s in years seven, eight, nine that these companies start changing the world” ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 20 verified investments at Future Ventures (see Portfolio below). Saenko’s stated thesis about broad frontier technology investing aligns closely with her actual portfolio, though the data reveals specific concentrations.

Sector distribution (20 verified investments): - Biotech / therapeutics: 6 of 20 (30%) — ATAI Life Sciences, Deep Genomics, Cambrian Biopharma, Gameto, Faeth Therapeutics, Doloromics - Energy / climate: 4 of 20 (20%) — Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Realta Fusion, Earthshot Labs, Copernic Catalysts - Agriculture / food: 3 of 20 (15%) — Verdant Robotics, Beeflow, Upside Foods - AI / computing: 3 of 20 (15%) — Mythic, MosaicML, ALICE Technologies - Space / aerospace: 2 of 20 (10%) — SpaceX, Xona Space Systems - Developer tools / IoT: 1 of 20 (5%) — Ockam - Lab automation: 1 of 20 (5%) — Opentrons

Stage distribution: The portfolio spans from seed through growth, but concentrations appear at seed and Series A. Future Ventures’ stated check range is $1M-$20M, with a sweet spot around $4M ¹³. The firm has written checks from $1M to $20M ⁹.

Geographic patterns: Portfolio companies are concentrated in the United States, with hubs in the San Francisco Bay Area (Verdant Robotics, Ockam, ALICE Technologies), the Boston area (Commonwealth Fusion Systems, 64xBio), and emerging biotech centers.

Founder profile patterns: Portfolio companies frequently feature technically credentialed founders — PhDs and scientists from research institutions such as MIT, Stanford, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The portfolio has notable representation from companies with university spin-out origins (Realta Fusion from UW-Madison, Deep Genomics from the University of Toronto, Copernic Catalysts from academic research).

Notable patterns not in stated thesis: The heavy biotech/therapeutics concentration (30%) is not prominently featured in Saenko’s public messaging, which tends to emphasize the breadth of frontier tech. The portfolio also skews toward companies addressing healthcare problems specifically affecting women (Gameto in reproductive longevity, Faeth in endometrial cancer), a pattern not explicitly marketed. The firm has shown strong co-investment alignment with Khosla Ventures, which appears across multiple portfolio companies (Faeth, Opentrons, Copernic Catalysts) — likely reflecting Saenko’s prior relationship as a Khosla principal.

Portfolio

This table represents a subset of Future Ventures’ 64 total portfolio companies ³². SpaceX and Upside Foods are pre-Future Ventures investments made by the partners at their prior firms (DFJ) but are listed by Future Ventures as part of their track record ².

In Their Own Words

“I never expected to be a venture capitalist. I had no idea that creatures called venture capitalists existed until my mid-20s.” — Maryanna Saenko, Kauffman Fellows Journal, 2022 ¹¹

“I am a recovering engineer. I had intended to spend my life as a research scientist and an academic.” — Maryanna Saenko, Kauffman Fellows Journal, 2022 ¹¹

“I’m a techno-optimist. I think that technology can solve an enormous amount of problems in the world. I also think it’s essential to consider all of the second-order effects.” — Maryanna Saenko, Kauffman Fellows Journal, 2022 ¹¹

“We want to invest in the most fundamental changes in the world.” — Maryanna Saenko, Crunchbase News, 2019 ⁹

“The joy of having your own fund, it turns out, you can do whatever you want, to the extent that it fits the thesis of is it truly world changing.” — Maryanna Saenko, Crunchbase News, 2019 ⁹

“We’ve written checks from one to twenty million dollars.” — Maryanna Saenko, Crunchbase News, 2019 ⁹

“My job is like playing a game of blackjack, but I’m in the position where I get to rifle through the deck and see the cards that are going to be played next.” — Maryanna Saenko, EVCA profile ³

“Until ALICE, a key component missing within the construction technology was the agility to create alternate execution plans quickly, which is arguably the most essential piece to improving project success factors.” — Maryanna Saenko, ALICE Technologies press release, November 2020 ²⁰

“There’s such a beauty in understanding the world. That’s what drives me.” — Maryanna Saenko, Kauffman Fellows Journal, 2022 ¹¹

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Future Ventures’ website features general descriptions of founder support but no specific attributed quotes from portfolio founders about their experience working with Saenko.

Connections

• Board member, Ockam ¹⁰
• Board member, Cambrian Biopharma ¹⁰
• Board member, Deep Genomics ¹⁰
• Co-founder, Future Ventures — alongside Steve Jurvetson ¹
• Former Principal, Khosla Ventures ³
• Former Investment Partner, Airbus Ventures ⁴
• Former associate, DFJ — worked directly with Steve Jurvetson ³
• Kauffman Fellows contributor — featured in Women in Deep Tech series ¹¹
• Speaker, RoboBusiness, SynBioBeta, EDGE World Summit, Computer History Museum ³³

Sources