Quest Venture Partners

Quest Venture Partners Research Investment Thesis Quest Venture Partners believes in entrepreneurialism and the magnificent achievements that the right team of individuals can accomplish. Founded in late 2007, the firm invests in early-stage companies with exceptional founding teams and genuine market opportunities. They focus on companies that understand customer pain points deeply, can execute at the highest level, and have the perseverance to build meaningful businesses. Core Investment Approach Quest VP emphasizes six critical success factors for startups they support: Exceptional teams - Best and brightest ambitious, dedicated, and passionate people Realistic planning - Acknowledges the likelihood of failure and plans accordingly Conviction and perseverance - Patient courage to persist even when alternatives emerge Genuine market pain - Solves real, significant problems with cost-effective solutions Go-to-market execution - Successfully markets and monetizes solutions with early customer validation Exceptional execution - Relentless focus on doing the right things and doing them right Check Size and Participation Quest VP is typically the first institutional investor in its portfolio companies. Investment range: $100,000 - $1,500,000, with sweet spot at $500,000. The firm invests across pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds, with capacity to follow-on in later stages when warranted. Sector and Model Diversity Quest VP has a remarkably diversified portfolio spanning multiple sectors and business models: Mobile and Consumer: Coffee Meets Bagel (dating), PicCollage (photo sharing), Tapulous (games), DogVacay (pet services), The Bouqs (e-commerce) Developer Tools and Infrastructure: Sandstorm (server infrastructure), opsee (dev-ops monitoring), Famo.us (JavaScript framework), PredictionIO (machine learning server), Expect Labs (future of computing) B2B SaaS: Amplitude (product analytics platform), Groove (sales team tools), Sonar (mobile customer chat), MapJam (map publishing), CrowdFlower (crowdsourced work) Hardware and AI: Neurable (brain-computer interfaces, Fund 3), FIT 3D (body scanning), Gazehawk (eye tracking), Fit3D (fitness tracking) Other: Tripping (home rentals), AngelList (startup ecosystem), Expect Labs, ThinAir (data security) Portfolio Performance and Exits Quest VP has built a strong track record with notable exits and active companies: Acquired Companies: Multiple successful acquisitions including some high-profile exits in consumer and developer tools spaces. Diverse exits across mobile, enterprise software, and infrastructure sectors. Active Portfolio: 83+ active investments as of May 2024, with companies like Amplitude (product analytics leader), Neurable (cutting-edge neurotechnology), and numerous other growth-stage companies building meaningful businesses. Geographic Focus Primarily Silicon Valley based with concentration on companies in San Francisco Bay Area, though increasingly supportive of teams across the United States with demonstrated execution capabilities. Stage Focus Quest VP's core competency is early-stage: Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A. Most recent activities show continued investment in this range with selective follow-ons for strong portfolio companies. Team Experience The firm brings exceptional domain expertise: Andrew Ogawa (Managing Partner): 11 years at Daimler AG across Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, and Global Procurement with expertise in corporate strategy, turnarounds, and procurement. Strong automotive and supply chain background. BA Economics and East Asian Studies (UC Santa Barbara), MBA International Management (Thunderbird). Maarten 't Hooft (Managing Partner): 6+ years at Google including 4 years on Android team (European launch of G1, technical lead for Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7). 12+ years Silicon Valley experience. Backend performance optimization, cloud infrastructure expertise. BS Engineering in Electronics. Marcus Ogawa (Managing Partner): Expert in digital media, mobile, and video. Active in angel investment community. Bilingual Japan-US (Tokyo native). BS Computer Information Systems (Bentley University). Responsible for sourcing and closing investments. Takeshi Ito (General Partner): 20+ years at Sony Group - from ASIC engineer to CTO of Sony Mobile. Full-stack expertise spanning semiconductor, hardware, software, and enterprise sales. Recently Chief Product Officer at Asurion (InsureTech). BS Computer Graphics. Decision Process and Timeline Partnership-based decision making with experienced investors evaluating opportunities. Responsive timeline reflecting early-stage focus and conviction-based investing. Recent Activity As of late 2025, Quest VP continues to be actively deploying capital with 2024 seeing 2+ investments. Recent focus includes: Continued early-stage investing (Seed and Series A) Diversified sector approach maintaining breadth across mobile, developer tools, B2B SaaS, and emerging technologies Strong portfolio company support and active board participation Fund 3 deployment ongoing Anti-Thesis Quest VP is selective and avoids: companies without exceptional founding teams, businesses solving non-existent problems, companies with unclear paths to monetization, teams lacking in execution capability, and late-stage mega-rounds where they cannot meaningfully participate. Founder Preferences Quest VP backs exceptional execution teams with: Deep understanding of their customer problems Technical or operational domain expertise Realistic understanding of company building challenges Genuine conviction and perseverance Technical founders with proven ability to build and ship Teams from diverse backgrounds including international founders AUM and Fund Status Quest VP manages approximately $107.4M across 3 private funds. Fund 3 is in active deployment phase, continuing the firm's tradition of opportunistic early-stage investing.