Vermilion Cliffs Ventures closes $25 million fund for technical founders

Vermilion Cliffs Ventures closed a $25 million Fund II on Wednesday, giving Ashley Smith a fresh pool of capital to keep backing technical founders in AI infrastructure, security and dev tools. Smith founded the firm in 2023 and runs it as one of the few solo women general partners in venture capital, a structure that relies on a tight thesis and fast decision-making.

Smith said the new fund took about four months to raise, and much of the capital came from existing investors. Fund II will write average checks of $500,000 to $1 million and is targeting at least 25 companies over the next two and a half years. The firm had already backed six companies when the fund was announced.

The first Vermilion Cliffs fund totaled $13 million and backed 35 companies, including the cybersecurity startup Keycard and the AI infrastructure company CopilotKit. Smith’s background helps define the firm’s pitch to founders: before turning investor, she worked in marketing at Twilio, Facebook, GitHub and GitLab, and she says that experience shapes how she helps companies think about distribution.

“Selling to developers and security teams is its own discipline, and most founders learn it the expensive way with time,” Smith said. “I try to help them skip mistakes I’ve made or seen other founders make.” That operator-led approach is central to the firm’s edge, especially in categories where technical buyers are hard to win and early go-to-market decisions can determine whether a startup gets another round.

The close also underscores why limited partners continue to back small, specialized emerging managers even as venture capital stays crowded. A one-person shop can move quickly, stay close to founders and concentrate on a narrow slice of the market, but it also leaves fundraising, sourcing, diligence and portfolio support in the hands of a single investor. Vermilion Cliffs is betting that deep focus on technical founders can still create room for new firms to stand out.