Collide Capital closes $95M oversubscribed round for Fund II to usher in a new era of venture capital

Collide Capital, founded in 2021 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, has closed an oversubscribed $95 million Fund II, cementing its position as one of the few emerging early-stage venture firms to successfully transition from a proof-of-concept vehicle to an institutional-grade operation. The new fund brings the firm's total assets under management to over $170 million, building on its initial $66 million Fund I closed in 2022. The oversubscription signals strong institutional appetite for Collide's investment strategy and execution track record.

The firm's performance metrics support this institutional momentum. Collide has backed over 75 companies since inception across pre-seed through Series A rounds, with check sizes ranging from $1 million to $3 million. The portfolio has generated five exits to date and achieved top-quartile Total Value to Paid-In capital (TVPI) returns on both its exploratory Fund Zero and Fund I vehicles—a differentiated outcome for an emerging manager in the increasingly crowded early-stage venture landscape.

Fund II's limited partner composition reflects institutional confidence in the firm's strategy and management. Anchor LPs include the University of California Endowment (UC Regents), Accolade Partners, Fairview Capital, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. This blend of university endowments, established venture firms, and bulge-bracket financial institutions validates Collide's thesis and provides multi-decade capital commitment structures typical of institutional venture allocations.

Collide's competitive positioning rests on three pillars: focused investment in fintech, supply chain, and future-of-work sectors (particularly AI and automation); direct founder relationships built by Hollins and Samuels' decades of experience in founder communities and technology ecosystems; and differentiated post-investment support. Beyond capital provision, the firm creates structured pathways connecting portfolio companies to Fortune 500 procurement and revenue teams while securing compute credits from major cloud providers including Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Alphabet. The firm also maintains an active presence at universities including Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford, creating a talent pipeline for both portfolio hiring and future venture capital professionals.

According to Hollins in the announcement, Fund II enables Collide to "double down on our commitment to supporting relentless, tactical, generational founders building enterprise software" and leverage its ecosystem-building experience to transition portfolio companies from early-stage to growth phase. The oversubscription and institutional LP composition position the firm to increase check sizes and sector focus while maintaining its emerging-firm credibility with founders.