Primary Venture Partners
About Primary Venture Partners
Primary Venture Partners is a seed-stage venture capital firm based in New York City, founded in 2015 by Ben Sun and Brad Svrluga. With approximately $1 billion in assets under management, it is recognized as the largest early-stage VC firm by operator headcount. The firm focuses on leading pre-seed and seed rounds, typically investing between $1 million and $10 million per deal, and has a portfolio of 272 investments.
What sets Primary apart is its dedicated “Primary Impact” team, which provides extensive operational support to portfolio companies. This team, composed of over 20 full-time op Per Crunchbase, Primary Venture Partners has made 278 investments, 72 as lead investor across 146 portfolio companies, with 43 exits including 2 IPOs.
Ben Sun and Brad Svrluga founded Primary in 2015. Svrluga had earlier co-founded High Peaks Venture Partners, and Sun had earlier co-founded the e-commerce investor LaunchTime. Fund I was $60M. Later vehicles were a $100M Fund II, a $150M Fund III, a $275M Fund IV and a $163M opportunity fund. On February 2026 the firm announced a $625M Fund V, its largest, and TechCrunch reported about $1.65B in assets under management at that point. Svrluga is Managing Partner and Co-CIO, and Sun is Partner and Co-CIO. The firm says eight sector-focused investing partners lead strategies that include vertical AI, infrastructure and compute, cybersecurity, financial services, healthcare and go-to-market technology.
Primary calls itself a generalist with sector specialists. Sun told TechCrunch the firm has investors focused on vertical AI, fintech, healthcare, enterprise, cybersecurity and infrastructure. Svrluga's profile describes AI that embeds intelligence into real workflows in enterprise software, supply chain and industrial tech. Cassie Young's investments include 1mind, which sells AI sales agents. The firm also has an AI Infrastructure Investment team that hires incubation associates for compute. Recent AI rounds it led include Zero, TeRAM and The Biological Computing Co. Primary has also led seed rounds in Plural (AI for DevOps) and Bobyard (AI takeoffs for construction).
Primary leads pre-seed and seed rounds. For Fund V, Ben Sun said average checks would be $5M to $10M, and the firm plans 40 to 50 companies over three years, including pre-seed deals. It has expanded beyond New York and now invests in Chicago, Seattle, Virginia and Washington, DC. Third-party sites list smaller pre-seed checks, but Primary has not published a check-size range itself.
- Etched: AI chip company. Primary led its seed round, and Dealroom lists its valuation at $10.3B.
- Zero: AI agents meant to replace conventional CRM, with teams in Helsinki and New York. $10.3M seed led by Primary in 2026.
- TeRAM: AI memory company that left stealth with a $37M seed in 2026. Primary led.
- The Biological Computing Co.: $25M seed in 2026, led by Primary.
- 1mind: AI Superhumans for revenue teams. Series A, invested 2024.
- Bobyard: computer vision and AI for construction estimating. Primary led the seed, and 8VC later led its $35M Series A.
- Plural: AI for DevOps at scale. $6M seed led by Primary.
- Dandelion Health: named by TechCrunch among Primary's AI investments.
- techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/primary-ventures-raises-massive-625m-fund-v-
- techfundingnews.com/primary-ventures-625m-fund-v-seed-nationwide
- app.dealroom.co/news/feed/primary-ventures-closes-625m-fund-v-for-seed
- pulse2.com/primary-venture-partners-launches-625-million-fund-v
- primary.vc/team/brad-svrluga
- primary.vc/approach
- primary.vc/insights
- primary.vc/portfolio/specialization
Investing activity
Primary Venture Partners has made 278 investments according to Crunchbase across 146 portfolio companies, and has led 72 rounds and seen 43 exits, 2 of them by IPO.
Primary Venture Partners appears in 5 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $72M, and led 4 of them. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $10M and the largest at $37M. The most recent are Forgepoint (Seed, $9.8M, Oct 2026), Zero (Seed, $10.3M (EUR 8.9M), Sep 2026) and Teram (Seed, $37M, Sep 2026).
Primary Venture Partners most often invests alongside a16z Speedrun, Illusian Founder Office, Greens Ventures and Peter Sarlin, and the companies it backs on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Primary Venture Partners
Does Primary Venture Partners invest in AI startups?
Yes. Primary has a vertical AI practice and an AI infrastructure and compute team. It has led recent seed rounds in Zero, TeRAM and The Biological Computing Co.
How big is Primary Venture Partners' latest fund?
Fund V is $625M and was announced in February 2026. It follows funds of $60M, $100M, $150M and $275M, plus a $163M opportunity fund.
What check size does Primary write at seed?
Ben Sun said average Fund V checks would be $5M to $10M. The firm plans 40 to 50 companies over three years, including pre-seed. Primary has not published a formal range.
Who are the partners behind Primary's AI investing?
Brad Svrluga and Ben Sun are Co-CIOs and have written about AI in enterprise workflows. Cassie Young invested in AI sales company 1mind. The firm lists eight sector partners including vertical AI and infrastructure.
Does Primary invest outside New York?
Yes. Primary has said it invests nationwide and has expanded to Chicago, Seattle, Virginia and Washington, DC. It also backs companies in Europe, such as Zero in Helsinki.
What AI companies has Primary Venture Partners invested in?
Primary Venture Partners's AI investments include Forgepoint, Zero, Teram, Pelgo and The Biological Computing. The 5 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Primary Venture Partners based?
Primary Venture Partners is based in Manhattan, New York, United States.
What stage does Primary Venture Partners invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Primary Venture Partners has invested at Seed, with a median round of $10M. Primary Venture Partners led 4 of those rounds.
Who does Primary Venture Partners co-invest with?
Primary Venture Partners's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are a16z Speedrun (1 deal), Illusian Founder Office (1 deal), Greens Ventures (1 deal), Peter Sarlin (1 deal) and The Twenty Minute VC (1 deal).
How can founders reach Primary Venture Partners?
Founders on Lounge can see Primary Venture Partners'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 Primary Venture Partners to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.