Cambrian Ventures
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Rex's track record is genuinely impressive - about half of his 33 portfolio companies have already secured Series A funding, way above the 15.4% industry benchmark. The secret sauce isn't just his A16Z pedigree - it's his 1,500+ member founder-only Slack community that serves as his deal sourcing and portfolio support engine. As a solo GP, Rex makes all investment decisions himself, enabling rapid decision-making and personalized founder relationships. He's deliberately structured as a small, non-lead investor writing ~$500K checks to collaborate with top lead firms rather than compete with them. The downside? His LP base is loaded with fintech operators from SoFi, Plaid, Betterment who can provide co-investment and distribution support - so if you're building something that competes with his LP companies, that could get awkward fast.
- —Best for: Early fintech founders who want genuine community access and a connected advocate
- —Watch out for: Competing with his LP base of fintech incumbents like Plaid/SoFi
- —Known for: Exceptional Series A graduation rate and the strongest fintech founder network in SF
Cambrian believes that fintech remains massively underpenetrated globally, with "only 1% of global financial services revenues has been captured by fintech," presenting enormous opportunities for founders building the remaining 99%. The fund explicitly rejects the notion that fintech's opportunities are exhausted and targets "great founders who are very good at executing against the vision they lay out."
Cambrian focuses exclusively on pre-seed and seed stages, investing $250k to $1mm+ with core check sizes around $500,000 as non-lead investments. Despite the "fintech" branding, Rex actually invests across all financial services verticals but with a strict fintech lens. Avoids founders without deep fintech domain expertise or execution track record, and consumer-only plays without defensible unit economics.
Investment banker turned fintech software engineer turned A16Z partner (where he helped launch their fintech practice) turned Solo-GP. Built one of the largest fintech founder communities in San Francisco starting as grassroots meetups years before launching the fund. Known as a fintech "super-connector" who provides access to networks and connects people building interesting companies in financial services with technology.
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