Founded in 2014, 645 Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in rapidly-growing software and Internet companies at the early stage. The firm was founded by Nnamdi Okike and Aaron Holiday. The firm applies a data-driven investment model, leveraging proprietary software and analytics, to help the firm startups that fit the firm's investment criteria and have the potential to reach large revenue scale. The firm is headquartered in New York.
The firm is backed by leading institutional Limited Partners, including Princeton University and the Mellon Foundation. The firm is also backed by individuals who include Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express, Mellody Hobson and George Lucas, and Howard Morgan, co-founder of First Round Capital.
The firm's investment approach can be characterized as a Moneyball strategy for venture capital. The founders started the firm in response to structural changes occurring in the venture capital business, including the proliferation of startup data and the reduction in cost required to scale a startup. The firm's investment approach can also be described as being based on first principles.
Okike previously spent eight years as an investor at leading venture New York City based capital firm Insight Venture Partners, where he had multiple exit events. Okike received undergraduate, MBA, and JD degrees from Harvard. Holiday, a computer scientist and graduate of Morehouse College, began his career at Goldman Sachs, then joined DFJ-Gotham Ventures after receiving his MBA from Cornell.
CTO Blake Jennelle and VP of Ops and Story Dessy Levinson have also played key roles in the firm's growth and expansion. Jennelle is a Harvard graduate, computer scientist and entrepreneur. Levinson is an investor, story evangelist, speaker and creative director, who received her undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta.
The firm's portfolio companies include Iterable, MM.LaFleur, FiscalNote, Overtime, and Negotiatus. The firm raised its first fund in 2014, an $8 million fund. The firm raised its second fund, a $40 million fund, in 2018[1].