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Harpoon

North America, California, United States, San Diego

Description

Harpoon Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm strategically located in San Diego, United States. While the provided short description highlights a specialization in finance and investment management, public data, particularly from Crunchbase, indicates a broader investment mandate. The firm primarily focuses on disruptive technologies across various sectors, including software, healthcare, and financial services, aligning with their stated emphasis on early-stage companies.

As an early-stage investor, Harpoon Ventures typically engages with companies at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. Their investment thesis centers on identifying nascent companies with innovative solutions that have the potential for significant market disruption. They aim to provide capital to help these startups achieve critical early milestones, such as product development, team expansion, and initial market traction. The firm's portfolio suggests a preference for technology-driven businesses.

Harpoon Ventures has built a focused portfolio, having made approximately 10 investments to date, with 1 reported exit, according to Crunchbase. Notable companies in their portfolio have included those in health tech and insurtech, demonstrating their willingness to explore diverse applications of technology. While specific check sizes are not publicly disclosed, given their focus on Pre-Seed and Seed rounds, Harpoon Ventures typically provides initial capital ranging from approximately $100,000 for very early-stage or pre-product companies, up to $750,000 for more developed seed-stage ventures. This range positions them as a key early partner for founders seeking initial institutional funding.

Investor Profile

Harpoon has backed more than 34 startups, with 6 new investments in the last 12 months alone. The firm has led 3 rounds, about 9% of its total and boasts 4 exits across its portfolio.

Investment Focus Highlights

  • Concentrates on Series A, Series B, Seed rounds (top funding stages).
  • Majority of deals are located in United States, Germany.
  • Strong thematic focus on Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI).
  • Led 1 rounds in the past year.
  • Typical check size: $100K – $750K.

Stage Focus

  • Series A (53%)
  • Series B (24%)
  • Seed (9%)
  • Series C (6%)
  • Series Unknown (6%)
  • Series D (3%)

Country Focus

  • United States (88%)
  • Germany (12%)

Industry Focus

  • Software
  • Information Technology
  • Artificial Intelligence (Ai)
  • Machine Learning
  • Security
  • Saas
  • Enterprise Software
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Open Source
  • Cyber Security
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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn who this investor regularly partners with—both firms and angels—and explore their latest activity.

Who does Harpoon frequently co-invest with?

Sequoia Capital
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Co-Investments: 9
Bossa Invest
South America, Sao Paulo, Brazil, São Paulo
Co-Investments: 3
Google Ventures
North America, California, United States, Mountain View
Co-Investments: 3
Refactor
North America, California, United States, Burlingame
Co-Investments: 3
Felicis
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Co-Investments: 5
Menlo Ventures
North America, California, United States, San Francisco
Co-Investments: 3
Fifty Years
North America, California, United States, San Francisco
Co-Investments: 3
Andreessen Horowitz
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Co-Investments: 8
Lightspeed Venture Partners
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Co-Investments: 3
Venrock
North America, California, United States, Palo Alto
Co-Investments: 3

Which angels does Harpoon often collaborate with?

JD
North America, California, United States, Palo Alto
Shared Deals: 2
JG
North America, California, United States, San Francisco
Shared Deals: 1
Dan Scheinman
North America, California, United States, San Francisco
Shared Deals: 1
JT
Europe, Harjumaa, Estonia, Tallinn
Shared Deals: 1
SK
North America, New York, United States, New York
Shared Deals: 2
EE
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Shared Deals: 1
MS
North America, California, United States, Palo Alto
Shared Deals: 1
AR
North America, California, United States, Stanford
Shared Deals: 1
RS
North America, California, United States, Menlo Park
Shared Deals: 1
AB
North America, California, United States, Redwood City
Shared Deals: 1

What are some of recent deals done by Harpoon?

Firestorm

San Diego, California, United States

Firestorm develops AI-assisted, modular UAS platforms for adaptable and rapid remote operations.

AerospaceDronesIndustrial ManufacturingMachinery ManufacturingMilitary
Series AJul 16, 2025
Amount Raised: $35,000,000
Somite

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Somite is leveraging data and AI to introduce novel cell replacement therapies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)Biotechnology
Series AMay 13, 2025
Amount Raised: $47,000,000
n8n

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

N8n is a workflow automation tool that integrates AI capabilities with business process automation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)Enterprise SoftwareInformation TechnologySaaS
Series BMar 24, 2025
Amount Raised: $59,316,395
Semgrep

San Francisco, California, United States

Semgrep is an application security platform that scans code for bugs, security vulnerabilities, and enforce coding standards.

Cyber SecurityNetwork SecuritySecuritySoftware
Series DFeb 5, 2025
Amount Raised: $100,000,000
General Galactic

El Segundo, California, United States

General Galactic revolutionize the energy supply chain by producing synthetic hydrocarbons from air and waste CO2.

EnergyEnergy ManagementRenewable Energy
SeedOct 11, 2024
Amount Raised: $8,000,000
Firestorm

San Diego, California, United States

Developing Low-Cost, Modular Unmanned Systems. Designed For Warfighters. Future-Proofed For Tomorrow.

3D PrintingAerospaceDronesGovernmentIndustrial EngineeringIndustrial ManufacturingMachinery ManufacturingMilitaryNational Security
Series AOct 3, 2024
Amount Raised: $20,000,000
Aalo Atomics

Austin, Texas, United States

Aalo makes small, factory-manufactured nuclear reactors that can fit in your garage, and power anything from a datacenter to a large city.

EnergyNuclear
Series AAug 14, 2024
Amount Raised: $27,000,000
Lumos

San Francisco, California, United States

Lumos is the first AppStore for companies. Employees can receive access to the right apps and permissions for the right amount of time.

CollaborationIdentity ManagementInformation TechnologySecuritySoftware
Series BMay 23, 2024
Amount Raised: $35,000,000
Tarsal

San Francisco, California, United States

Tarsal is a data pipeline that builds for modern security teams.

Cloud Data ServicesData IntegrationSecurity
SeedMar 21, 2024
Amount Raised: $6,000,000
deepset

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

deepset is the company behind Haystack open-source LLM framework and deepset Cloud — an LLM platform for enterprise AI teams.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)Generative AIMachine LearningNatural Language ProcessingOpen SourceSearch EngineSemantic Search
Series BAug 9, 2023
Amount Raised: $29,638,704