July 30, 2025
We're writing this post with hearts full of gratitude and excitement. Today marks a milestone for Bonfire Ventures as we officially activate our fourth fund – our largest to date at $245M – and celebrate our growing team.
But before we dive into what's ahead, we need to pause and say thank you.
To every founder who has trusted us with their vision – companies like MNTN (which just went public!), Alvys, Blueprint, Boulevard, Branch, Disqo, Figment, Healnow, Mithrl, Rwazi, SafeRide Health, Supio, Topline Pro, Wildfire, Writer, and so many others – thank you.
You've taught us more than we could ever teach you. Companies in our most recent fund, Bonfire III, have grown ARR on average more than 6x with a 58% graduation rate from Seed to Series A, versus the 14% industry benchmark (‘22-23 cohorts).
When we recently asked all our founders, "If you had to do it again, would you choose Bonfire?" 100% of you said yes.
That response means everything to us. Thank you for allowing us to collaborate on your life’s work, for slacking back at us at all hours, and for teaching us what true partnership looks like.
To our limited partners who believe in our vision and have entrusted us with their capital – we are profoundly grateful. Your support allows us to back the founders changing the world, and your continued confidence in our approach humbles us every day.
We couldn’t be more excited to be investing what is one of the industry’s largest pure play B2B software seed funds during what is surely the most extraordinary period of technological transformation in decades.
AI’s momentum is real - nearly 40% of Americans now use generative AI daily, far outpacing the adoption curves of electricity, telephony, and the internet. More importantly, as investors who focus solely on b2b software companies, AI is redefining entirely the impact a great founder’s product can have: moving from a product that “records” work to one that significantly assists – if not fully performs – the work to be done.
The rules and the playbook for how to build an iconic company in this new age are being rewritten every day. This is the birth of what we call the "Change Economy" – where software companies can not only improve their products 10x faster than before but also redefine their entire operational and GTM motions to be faster, leaner, and more efficient.
This change demands a different kind of seed stage investor partner. When founders need to pivot strategy or navigate uncharted territory, we're right beside them. Our "in the pit" approach has never been more relevant – we roll up our sleeves and work through the hard problems alongside our founders. We are rewriting, along with our founders, that new playbook.
The impact of the Bonfire approach is entirely a function of the quality of our team.
We are a relatively small and focused team and one that doesn’t outsource work: when a partner invests in a founder and joins their BOD, they own supporting that founder’s success.
As such, as we have grown our AUM and fund size, we have been very very selective around expanding the team – ensuring that every addition represents the Bonfire ethos in every way.
We are thrilled today to promote Tyler Churchill to Partner at Bonfire Ventures. Tyler embodies everything we value at Bonfire: deep operating experience, a genuine care for founders, an intuitive understanding of what it takes to build lasting companies, and a relentless motor (despite three kids under the age of four at home) to not only find and track down the best founders but also build trusted relationships with them out of the gate.
Jerry Zhou, the founder of Supio, expresses it best: “Every founder needs an investor that's in the trenches alongside them. Someone with a pulse on the industry. Someone to share ideas with and get an immediate reply, whether it's first thing in the morning or last thing at night. We're proud to be backed by Bonfire and incredibly fortunate to call Tyler a member of our team.”
We're also excited to welcome Jason Tahir as Vice President, joining us full-time after three years at Struck Capital, where he led and supported pre-seed and seed investments across Vertical SaaS, commerce-tech, and GTM technologies. When we “asked around” for the best young VC in Southern California, Jason was by far most frequently named. As a Division 1 team captain at Duke (top 3 all time singles tennis!) he clearly understands competition and achievement, which is all the more impressive when combined with his approachable, engaging style.
With Fund IV, our thesis and scope remains unchanged: 100% business software, 100% seed stage, AI forward, backing amazing founders who are irrationally obsessed with transforming entire industries. We continue with our low-volume, high conviction, high-support model at seed.
To the founders reading this: if you're building the future of B2B software, if you're thinking differently about how AI can massively impact commercial sectors, if you want partners who will be in the trenches with you – we want to meet you.
This is our moment. This is your moment. Let's build something extraordinary together.
Mark, Jim, and Brett and the entire Bonfire Team
