Key Takeaways
- • Stage 2 Capital has closed $100 million across Venture Fund IV and Catalyst IV to back early-stage business-to-business AI companies.
- • Venture Fund IV will write $2 million to $5 million checks into seed and Series A companies, while Catalyst IV will invest $200,000 in pre-seed businesses.
- • The firm is pairing capital with a network of more than 1,000 go-to-market operators drawn from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, Lovable, SpaceX and ElevenLabs.
- • A new MCP agent is designed to match portfolio founders with operators who have recently solved similar problems, built on the firm's Science of Scaling framework.
- • The firm has already deployed capital into Letter.ai, Qualitate and Axle, and led Letter.ai's $10.6 million Series A.
Summary
Stage 2 Capital has closed $100 million across two new funds, Venture Fund IV and Catalyst IV, according to the firm's announcement. Venture Fund IV will make investments of $2 million to $5 million in companies from seed through Series A, while Catalyst IV will invest $200,000 in pre-seed businesses, often participating in their first institutional financing. Both funds combine capital with support from experienced go-to-market executives under the firm's pod model, which pairs a venture investment partner with a partner whose background is in operating go-to-market functions.
The firm's limited partner network includes more than 1,000 leaders with experience across sales, marketing, customer success, revenue operations, partnerships and forward-deployed engineering. Members come from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, Lovable, SpaceX and ElevenLabs. Stage 2 has introduced an MCP agent intended to connect portfolio founders with relevant expertise in that network. The firm says the agent will identify operators who have recently addressed problems similar to those facing a given portfolio company. The system draws on the firm's Science of Scaling framework, developed by Co-Founder and Managing Partner Mark Roberge, which helps companies assess when they are ready to scale and how quickly to grow.
The fund close follows four portfolio transactions: Salesforce's acquisition of Momentum, Mainsail's acquisition of Steelhead, Avalara's acquisition of Versori, and PSG's majority investment in Order.co. Stage 2 has already begun deploying the new capital, backing Letter.ai, Qualitate and Axle. The firm led Letter.ai's $10.6 million Series A, which was followed four months later by a $40 million Series B led by Battery Ventures.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jay Po said the firm was founded because early-stage founders need investors who can help them navigate operational challenges, and that the new AI tooling lets the firm more easily surface expertise across its LP network. Roberge said founders tend to either scale too slowly and miss their window or scale before they are ready, and that boards often rely on playbooks that worked for other companies a decade earlier. Ashley Wilson, Co-Founder of Momentum, said Stage 2 helped the company pressure-test product-market fit and its scaling pace from its Series A onward and introduced it to customers and operators.
The firm's limited partner network includes more than 1,000 leaders with experience across sales, marketing, customer success, revenue operations, partnerships and forward-deployed engineering. Members come from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, Lovable, SpaceX and ElevenLabs. Stage 2 has introduced an MCP agent intended to connect portfolio founders with relevant expertise in that network. The firm says the agent will identify operators who have recently addressed problems similar to those facing a given portfolio company. The system draws on the firm's Science of Scaling framework, developed by Co-Founder and Managing Partner Mark Roberge, which helps companies assess when they are ready to scale and how quickly to grow.
The fund close follows four portfolio transactions: Salesforce's acquisition of Momentum, Mainsail's acquisition of Steelhead, Avalara's acquisition of Versori, and PSG's majority investment in Order.co. Stage 2 has already begun deploying the new capital, backing Letter.ai, Qualitate and Axle. The firm led Letter.ai's $10.6 million Series A, which was followed four months later by a $40 million Series B led by Battery Ventures.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jay Po said the firm was founded because early-stage founders need investors who can help them navigate operational challenges, and that the new AI tooling lets the firm more easily surface expertise across its LP network. Roberge said founders tend to either scale too slowly and miss their window or scale before they are ready, and that boards often rely on playbooks that worked for other companies a decade earlier. Ashley Wilson, Co-Founder of Momentum, said Stage 2 helped the company pressure-test product-market fit and its scaling pace from its Series A onward and introduced it to customers and operators.
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