Rachel Holt

Co-Founder & Managing Partner at construct-capital

Reviewed Updated Apr 6, 2026

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Location Washington, DC
Check Size $2M-$10M
Last Verified Investment BackOps (Series A) — Mar 12, 2026
Social @RachelJHolt LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed series-a
Sector Focus
manufacturing industrial-tech logistics supply-chain mobility defense-tech energy automation

Background

Rachel Holt is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Construct Capital, a Washington, DC-based early-stage venture firm focused on foundational industries 1. She co-founded the firm in 2020 with Dayna Grayson, a former partner at New Enterprise Associates 2.

Holt grew up in New York City and attended the Brearley School 3. She graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, where she was a four-year All-American tennis player 43. She earned her MBA from Stanford University, where she was named an Arjay Miller Scholar 4.

Holt began her career at Bain & Company, advising companies in private equity, media, and healthcare 5. She then moved to brand management at The Clorox Company, where she managed the Hidden Valley vinaigrette line 6. In 2011, she joined Uber as General Manager of Washington, DC, becoming one of the company’s first 30 employees 27. She launched Uber’s DC market without legal support or regulatory playbooks, growing it into one of the company’s largest markets at the time 75.

Over nearly nine years at Uber, Holt rose through the executive ranks. She managed the US and Canada Rides business, Global Marketing and Brand, and Customer Operations – divisions representing nearly half of Uber’s total bookings and roughly half of the company’s employees 48. She later led the New Mobility organization, overseeing the JUMP eBike and eScooter businesses and Uber’s Incubator 4. She was a long-time member of Uber’s Executive Leadership Team 4.

Holt was ranked No. 9 on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list in 2016 6 and was named by Fast Company as one of the Most Creative People in Business 4.

During her time at Uber, Holt made personal angel investments in companies including Calibrate, UrbanStems, and Caribou (formerly MotoRefi), where she joined the board 49. She also served as a scout for NEA beginning around 2018, investing in early-stage startups on the firm’s behalf 2.

Holt and Grayson met approximately six years before launching Construct, connected through Washington, DC networks 10. In late 2019, they decided to formalize earlier conversations into a fund. Holt left Uber in early 2020 and the pair began fundraising, navigating the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic 210. They closed their debut fund at $140 million in February 2021 10.

Stated Thesis

Holt publicly describes Construct Capital’s focus as investing in founders applying modern technology to transform “foundational industries” – manufacturing, logistics, defense, energy, and critical infrastructure – sectors she says represent over half of U.S. GDP but have been “neglected for decades” 111.

A pivotal influence on her thesis was her experience at Uber. While the rides business operated with second-by-second visibility into every vehicle, her New Mobility division’s supply chain for e-bikes and scooters operated with almost no visibility. She has described this contrast as a eureka moment: “We had no visibility, we had no ability to reroute” 12. This gap shaped her belief that industrial supply chains are dramatically underserved by modern software.

In a March 2025 announcement, Holt stated: “Foundational Industries are a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity because technologies of the last 25 years – let alone the most recent advances in agentic AI, world foundation models, and beyond – have not been applied to these spaces. Now is the moment to apply these technologies to the massive sectors that have missed the benefits of modern technology” 13.

At Manifest 2026, she described supply chain structure as “literally a chain,” arguing that the biggest breakdowns occur “at the seams between tools, platforms, and stakeholders” 12. On AI adoption, she noted: “We are getting much more signal from customers around how they’re using AI this year,” with the shift moving beyond labor efficiency into direct spend optimization 12.

The firm invests at Seed and Series A with check sizes of $2M-$10M, targeting approximately 20 companies per fund in a concentrated portfolio 1415.

Inferred Thesis

The inferred thesis for Construct Capital is computed in detail on Dayna Grayson’s profile, which covers the full firm portfolio. Below are observations specific to Holt’s individual pattern and emphasis.

Based on 36 verified investments across Construct Capital’s portfolio (2020-2026), as documented in Grayson’s profile 16:

Stage distribution: Predominantly seed and Series A. Approximately 12 of 36 at Seed (33%) and 17 at Series A (47%), with occasional Series B follow-on 16.

Sector breakdown: Supply chain and logistics leads at 9 of 36 (25%), followed by manufacturing and production at 7 (19%), defense and aerospace at 4 (11%), AI and industrial software at 5 (14%), energy and infrastructure at 3 (8%), workforce and HR tech at 3 (8%), and food and consumer at 3 (8%) 16.

Operator-to-investor lens: Holt’s Uber background gives her a distinctive perspective on logistics, mobility, and operations-heavy businesses. Several portfolio companies map directly to problems she encountered at Uber: Veho (last-mile delivery), Telegraph (freight rail logistics), and Kinetic (auto repair) all reflect supply chain and mobility pain points she experienced firsthand 417.

Personal angel investments pre-Construct: Holt’s pre-fund investments in Caribou (auto finance), UrbanStems (e-commerce delivery), and Calibrate (health) suggest a broader consumer interest than Construct’s purely industrial branding implies 49.

Geographic patterns: Portfolio skews heavily U.S., with concentrations in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Boston/Cambridge 16.

Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and Caffeinated Capital 16.

Notable gap vs. stated thesis: The stated thesis emphasizes purely “foundational industries,” but the portfolio includes pure software companies (DBOS, Advex, Didero) and consumer-adjacent businesses (The Rounds, Folio, Impulse Labs home appliances). The portfolio is more technologically diverse than the industrial branding suggests 16.

Portfolio

Rachel Holt’s portfolio is shared with Dayna Grayson as co-equal partners at Construct Capital. The full portfolio table with 36 verified investments is documented in the Dayna Grayson profile. Key investments where Holt’s operator background is particularly relevant:

Construct Capital (2020-present)

Company Year Stage Sector Source
Veho 2021 Series A Logistics/last-mile delivery 17
Telegraph 2021 Seed Freight rail logistics 18
Hadrian 2021-2023 Seed through Series B Aerospace/defense manufacturing 19
Copia Automation 2021 Seed Industrial DevOps 20
Verve Motion 2021 Series A Industrial wearables 21
Impulse Labs 2021 Seed Home appliances/electrification 22
Arkestro 2022 Series A AI procurement 23
Chef Robotics 2023 Seed Food production automation 24
DBOS 2024 Seed Cloud-native OS 25
Aetherflux 2024 Seed Space-based solar power 26
Nexxa AI 2026 Seed (led) AI agents for heavy industry 27
BackOps 2026 Series A AI supply chain OS 28
Swarm Aero 2026 Series A UAV/drone swarms 29
Amca 2025 Series A Aerospace/defense components 30

See the Dayna Grayson profile for the complete portfolio table of 36 verified investments representing approximately 52-63% of an estimated 57-69 total investments 16.

Personal Angel Investments (pre-Construct)

Company Year Stage Sector Source
Caribou (fka MotoRefi) ~2018 Angel Auto finance/fintech 9
UrbanStems ~2018 Angel/Scout E-commerce/delivery 2
Calibrate ~2019 Angel Health/wellness 4

In Their Own Words

“I love founders who aren’t taking the easy road. I know firsthand that it takes a different kind of entrepreneur and team…” – Rachel Holt, Construct Capital website 1

“I love finding solutions to problems and doing whatever it takes to get the best end result.” – Rachel Holt, Fortune 40 Under 40, 2016 6

“We are investing primarily in software businesses, right? Some may have a hardware component or a connected component.” – Rachel Holt, The Full Ratchet podcast 14

“The first thing we do when we make an investment is we have kind of an onboarding conversation with the founder and we solicit from them where do you want help.” – Rachel Holt, The Full Ratchet podcast 14

“We’re big believers in one plus one makes three.” – Rachel Holt, The Full Ratchet podcast 14

“We had no visibility, we had no ability to reroute.” – Rachel Holt, on Uber’s New Mobility supply chain, Supply Chain Now/Manifest 2026 12

“We are getting much more signal from customers around how they’re using AI this year.” – Rachel Holt, Supply Chain Now/Manifest 2026 12

“Foundational Industries are a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity because technologies of the last 25 years – let alone the most recent advances in agentic AI, world foundation models, and beyond – have not been applied to these spaces.” – Rachel Holt, Fund III announcement, March 2025 13

“Consumers are feeling more and more squeezed financially.” – Rachel Holt, on Caribou’s market opportunity, Yahoo Finance 9

What Founders Say

“We’re providing e-commerce brands a fast, tech-forward and customer-centric delivery option that ensures brand perception makes it past the purchase, all the way through to the customer door.” – Itamar Zur, CEO and Co-founder of Veho, in Veho’s $125M Series A announcement in which Construct Capital participated 17

No other independently sourced founder testimonials about Rachel Holt’s specific involvement were found. Firm website does not feature founder testimonials. The TechCrunch Live video featuring Rachel Holt and Kevin Bennett (Caribou CEO) was not accessible in transcript form 31.

Connections

  • Board member, Caribou (fka MotoRefi) – joined the board in 2020; early angel investor while at Uber 94
  • Board member, Kinetic Automation – serves on the board of the auto repair technology company 4
  • Co-founder, Construct Capital – alongside Dayna Grayson (former NEA partner); met through Washington, DC networks circa 2014 210
  • Former member, Uber Executive Leadership Team (2011-2020) – nearly nine years as one of the company’s first 30 employees 47
  • Former scout, NEA (~2018-2019) – made early-stage investments on behalf of the firm before launching Construct 2
  • Speaker, Manifest 2026 – moderated panel on “Redefining What’s Possible in Supply Chain Visibility” 12
  • TechCrunch Live panelist (May 2022) – appeared with Caribou CEO Kevin Bennett 31

Frequent co-investors (via Construct Capital): Lux Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Caffeinated Capital, Lachy Groom 16.

Sources

  1. Construct Capital website, “Team” and homepage, accessed April 2026. https://www.constructcap.com↩↩↩

  2. TechCrunch, “Another women-led venture firm gains momentum, with Uber exec Rachel Holt as co-founder,” January 14, 2020. https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/14/another-women-led-venture-firm-gains-momentum-with-uber-exec-rachel-holt-as-cofounder/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Amherst College Athletics, “Rachel Holt - 2004-05 - Women’s Tennis,” accessed April 2026. https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/womens-tennis/roster/rachel-holt/11305↩↩

  4. Kinetic Automation website, “Rachel Holt - Board Member,” accessed April 2026. https://www.kinetic.auto/team/rachel-holt↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. All American Speakers, “Rachel Holt Biography,” accessed April 2026. https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Rachel+Holt/44517↩↩

  6. Fortune, “40 Under 40 - Rachel Holt (#9),” 2016. https://fortune.com/40-under-40/2016/rachel-holt/↩↩↩

  7. Newsweek, “Inside Uber: An Interview With Executive Rachel Holt,” March 24, 2016. https://www.newsweek.com/inside-uber-rachel-holt-319755↩↩↩

  8. Uber Newsroom, “Rachel Holt - Executive Bio,” accessed April 2026. https://www.uber.com/en-NL/newsroom/leadership/rachel-holt↩

  9. Yahoo Finance, “Car fintech company Caribou is now a unicorn,” accessed April 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/car-fintech-caribous-now-a-unicorn-212716370.html↩↩↩↩↩

  10. TechCrunch, “A former NEA partner and a former Uber exec just closed their $140 million debut VC fund,” February 8, 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/08/a-former-nea-partner-and-a-former-uber-exec-just-closed-their-140-million-debut-vc-fund/↩↩↩↩

  11. Construct Capital website, “Our Point-of-View,” accessed April 2026. https://www.constructcap.com/construct-point-of-view↩

  12. Supply Chain Now, “Investing at the Seams: Rachel Holt of Construct Capital on AI, Visibility, and the Race to Transform Foundational Industries,” Manifest 2026 interview, accessed April 2026. https://supplychainnow.com/investing-seams-construct-capital-ai-visbility-race-transform-foundational-industries/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  13. Construct Capital website, “Announcing Fund III,” March 31, 2025. https://www.constructcap.com/articles/announcing-fund-iii↩↩

  14. The Full Ratchet, “291. Competing with Amazon, Combatting 60% Talent Attrition, and Driving Transformation of Foundational Industries (Dayna Grayson & Rachel Holt),” accessed April 2026. https://fullratchet.net/291-competing-with-amazon-combatting-60-talent-attrition-and-driving-transformation-of-foundational-industries-dayna-grayson-rachel-holt/↩↩↩↩

  15. Construct Capital website, “Announcing Construct II: $300M of New Capital to Transform Foundational Industries,” April 2022. https://www.constructcap.com/articles/announcing-construct-ii↩

  16. Seedlist database, Dayna Grayson investor profile (Construct Capital portfolio analysis), accessed April 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  17. PRNewswire, “Veho Raises $125 Million Series A, with $1B Valuation, to Reinvent Package Delivery,” December 21, 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/veho-raises-125-million-series-a-with-1b-valuation-to-reinvent-package-delivery-301448669.html↩↩↩

  18. Crunchbase, “Seed Round - Telegraph - 2021-07-19,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/telegraph-system-seed–c85e3005↩

  19. Cooley LLP, “Hadrian Automation Announces $117 Million Series B,” February 21, 2024. https://www.cooley.com/news/coverage/2024/2024-02-21-hadrian-automation-announces-117-million-series-b↩

  20. GlobeNewswire, “Copia Automation Raises $16.4M in Funding to Bring DevOps Efficiencies to Industrial Automation,” October 5, 2021. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/10/05/2308494/0/en/Copia-Automation-Raises-16-4M-in-Funding-to-Bring-DevOps-Efficiencies-to-Industrial-Automation.html↩

  21. TechCrunch, “Verve Motion raises $15M following exosuit pilot with grocery workers,” July 15, 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/15/verve-motion-raises-15m-following-exosuit-pilot-with-grocery-workers/↩

  22. Sourcery VC, “Impulse Labs, Trojan Horse for Battery-Powered Homes,” accessed April 2026. https://www.sourcery.vc/p/impulse-labs-trojan-horse-for-battery↩

  23. PRNewswire, “Arkestro Announces $26 Million in Series A Funding Round,” June 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arkestro-announces-26-million-in-series-a-funding-round-301567208.html↩

  24. TechCrunch, “Chef Robotics eyes commercial kitchens with a $14.75M raise,” January 26, 2024. https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/26/chef-robotics-eyes-commercial-kitchens-with-a-14-75m-raise/↩

  25. VC News Daily, “DBOS Pulls In $8.5M Seed Financing,” accessed April 2026. https://vcnewsdaily.com/dbos/venture-capital-funding/mnjjfkbynb↩

  26. Crunchbase, “Seed Round - Aetherflux - 2024-10-09,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/aetherflux-seed–461089d3↩

  27. Finsmes, “Nexxa.ai Raises $9M in Seed Funding,” January 2026. https://www.finsmes.com/2026/01/nexxa-ai-raises-9m-in-seed-funding.html↩

  28. BusinessWire, “BackOps Raises $26M Series A to Build the AI-Native Operating System for Global Supply Chains,” March 12, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260312950847/en/BackOps-Raises-$26M-Series-A-to-Build-the-AI-Native-Operating-System-for-Global-Supply-Chains↩

  29. BusinessWire, “Swarm Aero Announces $35M Series A Financing Led by Two Sigma Ventures and Silent Ventures,” March 10, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260310673101/en/Swarm-Aero-Announces-$35M-Series-A-Financing-Led-by-Two-Sigma-Ventures-and-Silent-Ventures↩

  30. PRNewswire, “Amca, a legacy aerospace business built for the future, launches with $76M,” 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amca-a-legacy-aerospace-business-built-for-the-future-launches-with-76m-to-acquire-specialized-suppliers-and-develop-new-products-302424069.html↩

  31. TechCrunch, “Rachel Holt (Construct Capital) + Kevin Bennett (GoCaribou),” May 5, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/video/rachel-holt-construct-capital-kevin-bennett-gocaribou/↩↩