Obvious Ventures
About Obvious Ventures
Obvious is a venture capital firm located in San Francisco that focuses on investing in early-stage and growth-stage companies. The firm is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs who are developing solutions to significant global challenges, with a strong emphasis on "world positive" businesses. Its investment themes include planetary health, human health, and economic health.
The core service of Obvious is providing funding and support to startups and founders. The team consists of experienced partners and "Obvious Champions" who assist portfolio companies in their growth. The firm highlights Per Crunchbase, Obvious Ventures has made 198 investments, 56 as lead investor across 124 portfolio companies, with 24 exits including 5 IPOs.
Ev Williams (Twitter co-founder and Medium CEO), James Joaquin and Vishal Vasishth founded Obvious Ventures in 2014. Biz Stone coined the term "world positive investing", according to Joaquin. The firm announced its first fund in December 2014. It closed that fund in May 2015 at $123,456,789. Fund II closed in 2017 at $191,919,191, and Fund III closed in January 2020 at $271,828,182, which brought total capital to about $585 million. PitchBook data cited by CNBC shows a fund of about $355 million in 2022. In January 2026 the firm announced its fifth fund at $360,360,360. TechCrunch reports that Joaquin, the managing director, works with four other active investors, including Vasishth. The firm does not publish which partner leads AI deals.
Obvious does not run a separate AI fund. AI shows up across its three themes, mostly in human health, where it backs companies that apply machine learning to biology. Its 2015 to 2017 era investments included Recursion Pharmaceuticals, which uses AI to find drugs for rare genetic diseases. For fund five, the firm pointed to Inceptive, an AI platform for molecule development founded by Jakob Uszkoreit, a primary author of the transformer paper. In 2026 it joined seed rounds for two AI biology companies, Boltz and Radical Numerics, both of which were led by other firms. Joaquin says the firm invests at the frontiers of math, science and physics.
TechCrunch reports that fund five targets about 10 investments a year, with check sizes of $5 million to $12 million for seed and Series A startups. The firm has said its typical first check was $1 million to $3 million in 2015, so older figures are smaller. Third-party directories list different ranges. The firm's own site is the best place to confirm current terms.
- Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI drug discovery for rare genetic diseases. Obvious led or joined the Series A and the company is now public.
- Inceptive: AI platform for molecule development, founded by a co-author of the transformer paper. Round details are not public in the sources reviewed.
- Boltz: open-source biomolecular foundation models for drug discovery. It raised a $28M seed in January 2026 led by Amplify, a16z and Zetta, with Obvious participating. It also announced a Pfizer partnership.
- Radical Numerics: AI research lab building general biological intelligence. It launched in June 2026 with a $50M seed led by Emergence Capital, with Obvious participating.
- techcrunch.com/2026/01/26/obvious-ventures-lands-fund-five-with-a-360-
- finance.yahoo.com/news/obvious-ventures-lands-fund-five-180000113.html
- cnbc.com/2025/02/26/obvious-ventures-started-by-twitters-williams-rais
- cnbc.com/2020/01/14/twitter-co-founder-ev-williams-obvious-ventures-an
- news.crunchbase.com/venture/obvious-ventures-closes-third-fund-at-a-no
- venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/ev-williams-obvious-ventures-closes-12345
- cnbc.com/2017/05/09/ev-williams-obvious-ventures-raises-191919191.html
- businesswire.com/news/home/20260615558179/en/AI-Lab-Radical-Numerics-L
Investing activity
Obvious Ventures has made 198 investments according to Crunchbase across 124 portfolio companies, and has led 56 rounds and seen 24 exits, 5 of them by IPO.
Obvious Ventures appears in 2 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $78M. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $50M. The most recent are Radical Numerics (Seed, $50M, Jun 2026) and Boltz (Seed, $28M, Jan 2026).
Obvious Ventures most often invests alongside Emergence Capital, Factory, Triatomic and First Spark Ventures, and the companies it backs on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Obvious Ventures
Does Obvious Ventures invest in AI startups?
Yes. It backs AI companies mainly in human health, including Recursion, Inceptive, Boltz and Radical Numerics. It has no AI-only fund.
How big are Obvious Ventures' checks?
TechCrunch reports that fund five plans checks of $5 million to $12 million for seed and Series A startups, at about 10 investments a year.
How large is Obvious Ventures' latest fund?
Fund five was announced in January 2026 at $360,360,360. An earlier SEC filing had targeted $400 million.
Who founded Obvious Ventures?
Ev Williams, James Joaquin and Vishal Vasishth founded it in 2014. Joaquin is managing director, and Vasishth is still an active investor.
Has Obvious Ventures led its recent AI rounds?
Not in the two most recent rounds on the Lounge desk. Obvious joined the Boltz seed (led by Amplify, a16z and Zetta) and the Radical Numerics seed (led by Emergence Capital).
What AI companies has Obvious Ventures invested in?
Obvious Ventures's AI investments include Radical Numerics and Boltz. The 2 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Obvious Ventures based?
Obvious Ventures is based in San Francisco, California, United States.
What stage does Obvious Ventures invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Obvious Ventures has invested at Seed, with a median round of $50M.
Who does Obvious Ventures co-invest with?
Obvious Ventures's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Emergence Capital (1 deal), Factory (1 deal), Triatomic (1 deal), First Spark Ventures (1 deal) and Zetta Venture Partners (1 deal).
How can founders reach Obvious Ventures?
Founders on Lounge can see Obvious Ventures's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with the firm under Warm Paths, and add Obvious Ventures to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.