Ryan Bednar
About Ryan Bednar
Ryan Bednar describes himself as a software engineer turned founder turned investor. He started as a founding engineer at SeatGeek, then went through Y Combinator twice, with Tutorspree (W11) and RankScience (W17). His site also lists 7Cups among the companies he helped build.
RankScience was an SEO automation company. He was co-founder and CEO, and in 2018 TechCrunch reported that it closed a $1.8M seed round with Initialized. On his site he says his career has mostly been software, search and growth, helping companies such as Calm, Zapier, Rippling and Shutterstock grow search traffic from Google. Crunchbase lists his education as a BS at Rutgers University (2004 to 2007).
He is now co-founder and GP of Orange Collective. His X bio says he is looking for the companies that become obvious later. He is based in San Francisco.
His personal site lists investments going back to Vanta in 2018, followed by Howie.ai in 2022. From 2023 to 2025 it lists Conduit, Trigger.dev, VetRec, PointOne, Garage, Corgi, Henry, StarCloud and Mastra. The site does not say which of these were made personally and which through Orange Collective. Crunchbase separately shows him as an individual investor in seed rounds for howie and Riley.
He took part in Hypercubic's seed round, announced on August 18, 2026. Hypercubic's announcement says the round was $5.3M, led by CIV, and names Ryan Bednar among the backers. Hypercubic builds agentic AI for mainframe and COBOL operations and modernization.
Orange Collective is described on his site as writing the first checks into breakout AI startups.
Public sources point to the earliest stages and to AI. His site says Orange Collective backs YC alumni and writes first checks. His listed investments run from 2018 to 2025, and the most recent round on the Lounge deals desk is a seed. Geographic focus is not stated, though he is based in San Francisco. No check size or fund size is public in the sources reviewed.
- Hypercubic: agentic AI for mainframe and COBOL modernization; $5.3M seed announced August 2026, led by CIV.
- Mastra: listed on his site as a 2025 investment.
- PointOne, Garage, Corgi, Henry, StarCloud: each listed on his site as a 2024 investment.
- Conduit, Trigger.dev, VetRec: each listed on his site as a 2023 investment.
- Howie.ai: listed on his site as a 2022 investment; Crunchbase shows a seed round.
- Vanta: listed on his site as a 2018 investment.
- Riley: Crunchbase lists him as a seed investor, with no date given.
- ryanbed.org
- x.com/ryanbed
- crunchbase.com/person/ryan-bednar
- crunchbase.com/organization/hypercubic
- hypercubic.ai/insights/hypercubic-raises-usd5-3m-to-build-the-future-o
- techcrunch.com/2018/10/08/rankscience-closes-1-8m-seed-and-now-only-wa
- crunchbase.com/organization/riley-2
- crunchbase.com/organization/tutorspree
Investing activity
Ryan Bednar appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $5M. The most recent is Hypercubic (Seed, $5.3M, Aug 2026).
Ryan Bednar most often invests alongside CIV, Multimodal Ventures, Tony D. and Gokul Rajaram, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Ryan Bednar
Who is Ryan Bednar?
Ryan Bednar is a San Francisco-based founder and investor. He co-founded RankScience and Tutorspree, both through Y Combinator, and was a founding engineer at SeatGeek. He now co-founds Orange Collective.
What is Orange Collective?
His site describes it as a YC alumni fund that writes the first checks into breakout AI startups. He is co-founder and GP.
What AI rounds has Ryan Bednar joined recently?
He participated in Hypercubic's $5.3M seed round, announced in August 2026 and led by CIV. His site also lists 2025 and 2024 investments including Mastra, PointOne, Garage, Corgi, Henry and StarCloud.
What is Ryan Bednar's check size?
He has not made a check size public in the sources reviewed. Founders should ask him directly.
What stage does Ryan Bednar invest in?
He describes writing first checks, and his recent public rounds include a seed round. He has not published a formal stage or sector thesis beyond early AI startups.
How can founders contact Ryan Bednar?
He is on X at @ryanbed and has a personal site at ryanbed.org. Orange Collective's site is OrangeCollective.vc.
Is Ryan Bednar an angel investor?
Yes. Ryan Bednar invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Ryan Bednar invested in?
Ryan Bednar's AI investments include Hypercubic. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Ryan Bednar invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Ryan Bednar has invested at Seed, with a median round of $5M.
Who does Ryan Bednar co-invest with?
Ryan Bednar's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are CIV (1 deal), Multimodal Ventures (1 deal), Tony D. (1 deal), Gokul Rajaram (1 deal) and Kasra Nejatian (1 deal).