AltaIR Capital

AltaIR Capital Research Overview AltaIR Capital is an international venture capital firm founded in 2005 by Dr. Igor Ryabenkiy, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with over two decades of experience. Headquartered in San Francisco with a strong presence across Europe and Israel, AltaIR manages approximately $600M in assets and has invested in 400+ tech startups. The firm is best known for early-stage bets on category-defining companies — six of its 10+ unicorns were backed at seed stage, including Miro, Deel, PandaDoc, OpenWeb, Socure, and Turing. In 2025, Dealroom ranked AltaIR Capital in the top 2.5% of EMEA venture capital firms by its Power Law Investor Ranking. PitchBook has previously ranked it the #2 most active VC in Israel (2019, 2022). Investment Thesis AltaIR backs world-class founders building disruptive, scalable technology companies. Igor Ryabenkiy's core thesis: back focused founders solving real problems in markets they understand deeply, with clarity, discipline, and drive. The firm prioritizes teams with a strong product vision, a scalable business model, and access to large addressable markets. Key evaluation criteria: Crystal-clear problem definition and singular focus Resilient team with market expertise and communication clarity Scalable business model independent of custom services Favorable unit economics and early signs of customer obsession Sector Focus AltaIR's primary sectors: Productivity Tools — collaboration software, workflow automation Future of Work / HR Tech — remote work enablement, payroll, compliance, talent FinTech — payments, banking, expense management, BNPL, equity access InsurTech — digital insurance distribution and underwriting Digital Health — telehealth, AI-powered health monitoring, medical AI Enterprise SaaS / AI — vertical SaaS, LLM-powered productivity, document automation Secondary interests include edtech, robotics, and food technology, primarily via Igor's personal angel portfolio. Stage Focus AltaIR is primarily a seed-stage investor, with selective Series A participation and a growth-stage fund (AltaIR ABO) for late-stage follow-ons: Pre-Seed/Seed : Core focus across Fund I–III Series A : 23+ investments (avg round $8.28M) Growth/Late-Stage : AltaIR ABO ($300M fund, 2021) for scaling portfolio companies Check Size Checks range from $1M to $25M depending on stage: Seed: typically $1M–$5M (avg participated round ~$2.29M) Series A: typically $5M–$15M Late stage (via ABO): larger positions in scaling companies Fund Structure | Fund | Year | Size | Focus | |------|------|------|-------| | Fund I | 2012 | $20M | Pre-seed/Seed — SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech | | Fund II | 2014 | $100M | Pre-seed and Series A | | Fund III | 2019 | $200M | Productivity, FinTech, InsurTech, Future of Work | | AltaIR ABO | 2021 | $300M | Late-stage growth investments | Recent Activity AltaIR made 10 investments in 2025 (as of October) and 7 investments in 2024, indicating continued active deployment. Recent investments include: December 2025 : Simuhealth (Seed, healthcare AI) September 2025 : EvolvePlatform (Seed) 2025 : iPNOTE (Seed, $1M, led with Hi2 Global) Portfolio Highlights Unicorns (backed at Seed): Miro — Visual collaboration platform (90M+ users globally) Deel — Global payroll and compliance ($12B+ valuation) PandaDoc — Document automation SaaS OpenWeb — Social engagement and publishing Socure — AI identity verification Turing — AI-powered tech talent platform Other Unicorns: Sunbit — BNPL for everyday purchases Jeeves — Corporate expense management Verbit — AI transcription and captioning Albert — AI-powered personal finance Notable Exits: Klear (acquired by Meltwater) — Influencer marketing GuruShots — Photography gamification Unomy (acquired) — B2B sales intelligence Toutapp (acquired by Marketo) — Sales engagement Team Dr. Igor Ryabenkiy, Founder and Managing Partner : Serial entrepreneur and angel investor since the early 2000s. Former founder of multiple tech companies in Russia and the US. Known for identifying Miro at seed when the company had fewer than 10 employees. Dmitriy Firskin, Partner : Active deal leader. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dmfirs Mike Zakharov, Investment Director : Focuses on deal sourcing and due diligence. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mike-zakharov-6a5b9098 Dr. Sergey Konkin, Director : Senior team member Alfred Augustin, Director : MBA, supports portfolio operations Stani Ryabenkiy, Head of Legal : Manages legal and compliance Decision Process AltaIR operates as a partnership with Igor Ryabenkiy as the primary decision-maker, supported by a team of partners and directors. Investment decisions are made collaboratively, with Igor having final authority on major checks. The firm is known for responsive, founder-friendly processes. Geographic Focus AltaIR invests globally with primary focus on: US (SF Bay Area, East Coast) Europe (UK, Eastern Europe, Germany, Netherlands) Israel (ranked #2 most active VC in 2019 and 2022) The firm explicitly targets international startups expanding into the US market, particularly from Europe and Israel. Founder Preferences AltaIR backs founders with: Deep domain expertise and first-hand understanding of the problem Relentless focus — one problem, one solution, executed well Resilience and openness to feedback Technical or product DNA, ideally with prior startup experience Scalable vision beyond niche or service-heavy approaches Igor avoids: unfocused teams pursuing multiple opportunities, founders who can't clearly articulate the problem they're solving, or businesses dependent on custom services rather than scalable product.