Former NEA Partner Vanessa Larco Launches New Venture Capital Firm

Vanessa Larco, formerly a partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), has co-founded Premise VC with Mercedes Bent. The new firm aims to back early-stage technical founders building high-growth software companies.

Larco spent nearly eight years at NEA, a large venture capital firm, where she was part of the investment committee and led investments across enterprise software, developer tools, and consumer technology. Her background also includes experience as a product leader and founder at technology companies before entering venture capital.

The launch of Premise VC addresses a perceived shift in founder priorities for early-stage funding. Larco noted that larger funds often deprioritize smaller check sizes, leading founders to seek investors who offer more focused attention. Premise VC intends to capitalize on this by targeting founders who want their investors to feel the impact of the check size relative to the fund.

The firm will strictly focus on pre-seed and seed-stage investments, with check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $3 million. Larco stated that Premise VC evaluates startups based on founder potential, with a particular interest in teams leveraging AI to create products that are faster, cheaper, or easier to use.