Helping Exceptional Founders shape the future.
Makai (Mah-kigh):
Towards the ocean
On the Hawaiian Islands, Makai is a key directional word meaning ‘outward’ or ‘toward the ocean’. Makai VC looks outward, ‘toward the ocean’, scanning the distant horizon for opportunities to create the businesses that will fundamentally change the way we live.
We help create and build the next generation of successful companies by bringing together great ideas, exceptional talent, and appropriate funding, allowing these businesses to quickly focus and capitalize on emerging trends.
We Invest In...
Life Changing Potential – We invest in companies that have the potential to fundamentally change the way we live and how we do things
Massive Markets with Attainable Targets – Like any investor, we look for products and services in markets that have massive upside opportunity to allow for maximum growth.
Strong Founders / Management – At Makai VC, we believe that the team behind the company is in many ways more important to building a successful business than the product or service itself – so we look for a strong team that is prepared to navigate the challenges of building amazing new companies.
Simple Value Proposition – We look for companies that simplify things so that their target customers and investors alike can quickly understand the value they offer.
Great Brand Values – We believe that a company’s brand can make or break their success. This is why we look to invest in companies that are creating a brand identity that separates them from their competition and helps to effectively tell their story.
New Markets – We are always on the lookout for the next big thing and, when we find new ideas, our team conducts thorough research into the market space to assess the potential to create and scale a massive winner.
Our Value Add
Because it is far easier for companies to raise capital than to effectively deploy capital, we offer far more than access to capital. We provide acceleration – leveraging our team and resources. When a young company needs assistance with data infrastructure, design, back-end or front-end development, operations support, business and corporate development – we have the team to help our portfolio companies get work done — FAST.
We create ideas internally and build the products / services that become operating businesses. We also work with entrepreneurs in the very earliest stages (even before they have formed their companies), and well into their later stages. We provide valuable advice, capital and resources spanning design, development, corporate and business development, sales, operations, recruiting and fundraising.
We seek opportunities to create significant value for customers across a variety of industries. As the great companies of the last 20 years have shown, providing extraordinary value for customers is always a winning strategy.
We obsess over the little things – simple functionality, elegant design and extraordinary value take incredible focus. It’s an obsessive attention to detail that enables simple interactions to harness and tame complex functions.
400+
Startup investments
Exits
25+ Exits
10+ Public Listings
100MM+
40+ over $100MM+
15+ over $1b+
25+
Years startup experience
Our Deals
We have invested in over 450 deals. Here are just a few…
Our Team
Our team has built companies in hardware, software, e-commerce, online media and Saas, and has invested in over 250 start-ups across a variety of industries.
Our team is made up of serial entrepreneurs, investors and advisors experienced in business strategy, corporate and business development, M&A, sales/marketing and business partnership, finance, legal and technology/product development.
We have spent over 25 years across the tech & media landscape in hardware, software, online media (content, digital advertising, social media) and e-commerce, starting and growing both venture capital financed and organically grown ventures. We have raised material (circa 50MM) syndicated debt deals for growth and acquisitions.
Contact us
- Info@makaivc.com