Glasswing Ventures has launched as a new Boston-based venture capital firm focused on startups that leverage artificial technology to create new consumer and enterprise products and platforms.
Its two managing principals ― Rudina Seseri and Rick Grinnell ― previously were partners with Fairhaven Capital. A third partner, Sarah Fay, is an angel investor who previously served as CEO of Aegis Media North America.
Seseri says that the split from Fairhaven is amicable, with her and Grinnell maintaining their existing portfolio responsibilities, but that their investment interests had simply diverged. “We’re thinking a lot about AI, and then how that’s then applied to the connected world and secured,” she says. “IoT is fine, but the real question is what you actually do with the data.”
She declined to comment on fundraising, but Coins2Day has seen a pitchdeck that shows a $150 million target for Galsswing’s debut fund, with a 2.5% management fee and 20% carried interest.
It also shows that the trio reports a combined 4.25x return multiple (6x realized, 1.8x unrealized), and a gross IRR of 90%. This includes Grinnell’s big win with EqualLogic (acquired by Dell for $1.46 billion), plus Sesseri’s still-active investments in companies like Jibo and SocialFlow. Fay’s angel deals include Namely and Mavrck Ghostery, and she’s an independent director with SocialFlow and TheStreet.com (TST).
“We picked Glasswing because it is a butterfly with translucent wings, and we want to be both transparent and transformational,” Seseri adds.