Masha Bucher, founder and general partner of Day One Ventures, recently raised $150 million for the firm’s biggest fund, Fund III, making it one of the two largest funds raised by a female solo general partner in the past year.
Fund III’s backers include institutional investors from the U.S. and Europe, more than 25 unicorn founders, and Day One Ventures’ own portfolio founders, as well as family offices, institutional investors, and leaders of private equity and larger venture firms.
The announcement of this new fund reflects the success of distinctive approaches to early-stage venture capital. Beyond financial backing, Bucher and her team provide active support in public relations, art, and culture for the startups they invest in.
“We are an early-stage venture capital firm that deeply values the power of storytelling, art, and culture as tools to bridge the gap between society and innovative technology,” she says.
The Power of Storytelling
Day One Ventures’ emphasis on communications stems from Bucher’s experience founding a PR studio that collaborated with companies like Houzz, HotelTonight, Gett, Toptal, and PandaDoc. This focus is also shaped by her observation that society often struggles to embrace new technologies, becoming fearful of the changes they can bring.
“I’ve observed a repeating pattern: Society often hesitates to embrace what’s new, and becomes afraid of these groundbreaking technological advances,” she says. “Innovations like [artificial intelligence], self-driving cars, drones, vaccines, are profoundly impactful, yet people are afraid of them.”
Day One Ventures helps founders craft compelling narratives that resonate with users and the broader market, with the goal of facilitating a stronger connection between technological innovation and societal acceptance.
This approach has manifested in initiatives such as the firm’s collaboration with OpenAI to host the first-ever physical DALL-E art show. The exhibition showcased how AI-generated art can enrich the public’s understanding of this emerging technology, helping to break down barriers and demystifying its capabilities.
“We are developing multiple similar and completely new initiatives for the next year and meeting with active members of the art world to brainstorm potential collaborations,” says Bucher.
A Rigorous Approach to Selection
Day One Ventures’ approach goes beyond communications, extending to a rigorous approach to selecting investments.
“We look for unusual people,” Bucher said in a recent interview with Forbes.
The team at Day One Ventures reviews around 1,000 companies per month, typically choosing to invest in only one or two every two months.
They target early-stage founders who are intensely customer-obsessed and exhibit a tireless commitment to their life’s work. They give preference to companies that effectively blend technology with societal needs.
“It has to be a 10 out of 10 idea. We will never back a company with a 9 out of 10 idea,” Bucher told Forbes.
This commitment to funding founders working on the biggest ideas possible has been a defining feature of Day One Ventures since its inception. The strategy has proved effective: The firm’s portfolio companies now have a combined value of over $115 billion, and its current fund has an internal rate of return six times higher than the median net IRR for funds under $250 million in North America, according to PitchBook data.
Masha Bucher’s Motivation
Before founding Day One Ventures, Masha Bucher held roles as vice president of communications at global data protection company Acronis and head of communications at Runa Capital. She later launched her own PR firm, M&A PR, which specialized in communications for tech startups.
These experiences ultimately guided her into the world of venture capital. As an angel investor, she sharpened her ability to identify and support promising startups, achieving an 11 times distribution to paid-in capital on her investments.
The barrier to raising funds for female investors has always been higher than that for men. In 2018, at the age of 28, Masha Bucher launched Day One Ventures. At the time, there were only two female general partners who started new funds in the U.S. out of 157 funds started overall.
“When I launched the fund, there were scarcely any female general partners starting new funds in the U.S.,” she recalls. “This challenge did not deter me. It motivated me.”
More than 60% of Day One Ventures’ founders are female or people of color, a statistic Bucher notes came about organically as a result of the firm’s focus on backing exceptional founders, regardless of background.
‘Unprecedented Possibilities for Human Progress’
With the launch of Fund III, Day One Ventures is introducing a new investment category — “The Future of Human” — which will focus on projects that could redefine humanity’s essence.
“For me, working with the most talented, fast-moving, outstanding entrepreneurs is my greatest achievement and my highest calling,” Bucher says.
Early investments in this new “Future of Human” category include AstroForge, a company making space resources accessible on Earth by mining asteroids, and Rainmaker, a cloud-seeding startup addressing water shortage problems.
This expansion into more ambitious, transformative technologies aligns with Day One Ventures’ investment thesis, which prioritizes backing founders who are not just building companies, but pursuing society-changing technologies.
According to Bucher, the fund sits at the “crossroads of history and technological advancements that could unlock unprecedented possibilities for human progress.”
