A*

A* is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2020 by Kevin Hartz, Bennett Siegel, and Gautam Gupta, based in San Francisco, California. Hartz co-founded and took both Xoom and Eventbrite public, while Siegel is a former Coatue partner who backed Peloton and DoorDash, and Gupta previously led finance at Uber and operated at Opendoor. The firm styles itself around three principles: conviction-led, relentless, and founder-centric, describing its mission as leading the shift from transactional capital to meaningful, long-term partnerships with founders rather than purely financial backing. A* takes a generalist approach across AI applications, fintech, healthcare, and security, leading seed rounds and doubling down at Series A, with select investments occasionally extending to Series B. Its portfolio includes early positions in Airbnb, Uber, Palantir, PayPal, Pinterest, SpaceX, DoorDash, Notion, Ramp, and Decagon. The firm closed its third fund at $450 million in 2026, following a $315 million Fund II in 2024 and a $300 million Fund I in 2021, deliberately capping its portfolio at around 30 companies per fund with check sizes typically ranging from $3 million to $5 million. Hartz has also become known for backing exceptionally talented young and teenage founders ahead of standard investor patterns.