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Seed & Series A · United States

Every great company runs on the same pattern. We fund it before consensus forms.

16|18 backs AI and robotics for the industries that build, move, fix and power everything else. Our partner accelerators and venture firms put us in front of breakout companies early, while the price still reflects what the market has not seen yet.

Pitch us Read the thesis

1 : 1.618 · the smallest square is where we invest

Thesis

The world is running short of people to do the work. AI and robotics can finally do it.

The industries that build, move, fix and power everything else are being asked to do more with fewer people. We back the companies that take on that work, at Seed and Series A.

Read the thesis →

01

Fewer people, more to build

Birth rates across the developed world are below replacement, while defense, energy and manufacturing are being rebuilt at home. The dirty, dangerous and tedious jobs go unfilled first.

02

AI and robotics do the work

Running AI costs about 280 times less than it did in late 2022. Software and machines can now take on the jobs nobody can hire for, and customers pay for them from the payroll budget, not the IT budget.

03

Partners filter first

Leading accelerators and venture firms spend months with founders and bring us the best of them. We follow strong leads we respect, decide in days, and bring more capital through Partner Track.

02 / Filters

Four filters. A company clears all four or we pass.

Most companies reach us already filtered once, by a partner accelerator or venture firm that has spent months inside the business. Then they meet ours.

01

A fully built, working product

Not a prototype, not a pilot, not a design partner agreement. The product does what the founder says it does and is available today.

Built

02

Customers who pay

Even a handful. Someone inside the target market has willingly parted with money. This is the gate that disqualifies the most companies.

Paying

03

Both of us say yes

Two general partners, unanimous. Either one can kill a deal, and neither can push one through. We are the check on each other.

Unanimous

04

Before consensus forms

Once a market is obvious, the price says so. We want in while the company can still define its category and the valuation has not caught up.

Early

1.618

The golden ratio, the pattern underneath everything

Cut a square from a rectangle with those proportions and what is left is a smaller rectangle with exactly the same proportions. Cut again, and again. Every piece is the whole in miniature.

That is what we look for: a company at seed that already has the proportions of the company it will become. A product that works. Customers who pay. Small, but the shape is right.

Structure

One fund, one syndicate, one round.

Most early-stage funds stop at their own check. Ours arrives with a syndicate behind it: 16|18 takes its full position first, and Partner Track adds capital on top, at the same price and on the same terms.

Anatomy of a roundIllustrative, drawn to 1 : 1.618

Lead investorSets the price

16|18Full position, first

More, same terms

Others

Lead investor sets the price
16|18 fund, full position first
Partner Track, more on the same terms
Other investors

How it works → Join the syndicate →

Who we are

Two partners. You talk to the people who decide.

16|18 is Joseph Nagle and Steven Doman. No investment committee, no associate layer, no process built to protect the firm from being wrong. Both of us have to say yes. That is the trade: we will miss things, and we will be early on the ones we catch.

Joseph Nagle

General Partner

Began at Nokia, Microsoft and Samsung, bringing startups onto their platforms. First hire at EverCharge, later Chief Strategy Officer at Pando Electric through 57% compound annual growth. Two of his companies were acquired during his tenure.

Steven Doman

General Partner

One of the first 25 employees at Virtru, seven years through 10x ARR growth and its Series B and C. Investment Associate at VU Venture Partners, a $100M multi-stage fund. Limited Partner in Antler and Venture Guides, angel investor in 15+ companies.

Every great company runs on the same pattern. We fund it before consensus forms.

The world is running short of people to do the work. AI and robotics can finally do it.

Four filters. A company clears all four or we pass.

Six companies in the industries tech left alone.

GUDEA

Detect Auto

Hullbot

withQ

PaySlice

Datasent

One fund, one syndicate, one round.

Built it. Selling it. Let's talk.