Advance Venture Partners
170 Grant Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94108, United States
Overview
Advance Venture Partners (""AVP"") is a venture capital and growth equity investment firm that combines the disciplined approach of an institutional equity investor with the strategic insights, access and impact of a strategic investor. AVP invests in early growth stage companies that can benefit from the Firm’s partnership with Advance Publications - one of the world’s premier global media franchises and the owner or substantial shareholder of media and technology businesses such as Conde Nast, Charter Communications, Discovery Communications, Reddit and 1010Data. AVP invests $10 million to $30 million in each of its investments, and is a hands-on partner to entrepreneurs in growing businesses and building value. AVP’s investments include Compass, Curology, Farfetch, Gigya, Mediamorph, Nativo, Rent the Runway and Vestiaire Collective.
- Total investments
- 27
- Lead investments
- 18
- Investments · 12mo
- 4
- Active investors
- 6
Sector focus
- Business Development
- Financial Services
- Venture Capital
Investment portfolio
- Midi Health
Participated · Series D · Feb 2026
Headquartered in Palo Alto, Midi Health operates a nationwide virtual clinic that addresses gaps in women’s healthcare from perimenopause and menopause to broader chronic and preventive needs. The company’s proprietary AI engine analyzes patient charts to personalize diagnosis, streamline scheduling and documentation, and continuously refine clinical protocols using one of the industry’s largest women’s-health datasets. Midi currently has insurance contracts that give more than 45 million U.S. women in-network access to its services, and over 25,000 patients seek care on the platform each week. Outcomes data show a 28-percentage-point increase in breast-cancer screening adherence, an 11-point rise in colorectal screening adherence, and up to a 13 percent reduction in total cost of care, alongside clinically significant reductions in A1c and LDL levels. The business complements its clinical model with an expanding specialist roster covering OB-GYN, cardiology, endocrinology, mood disorders, dermatology, longevity, and more. Recent executive hires from Tesla, Google, Meta, Lyft, and Omada Health signal a push to scale operations and brand awareness. Following its latest financing, Midi is valued at more than $1 billion and plans to broaden its AI capabilities and extend comprehensive women’s care across every life stage.
- Seneca
Participated · Equity · Oct 2025
San Francisco–based Seneca is building what it calls the first and only fully autonomous fire-suppression system, centered on heavy-lift drones that carry more than 100 lbs of suppressant, fire at over 100 PSI, and can reach a reported blaze in under ten minutes. The modular aircraft can be launched remotely with only an approximate fire location, using onboard AI to navigate and extinguish hotspots, and can also support prescribed burns and fuel-reduction work year-round. Developed in collaboration with agencies such as San Bernardino County Fire and Aspen Fire Department, the technology is designed to operate in situations that are currently unsafe or impractical for human crews. Seneca’s advisory board includes former U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell and other prominent fire-service leaders. The company publicly launched in October 2025 alongside a $60 million financing, capital it will use to harden the system, scale production, and deploy initial units for the 2026 fire season. Seneca’s long-term mission is to protect 500 million acres in the U.S. and allied nations by 2035, addressing a market where wildfire damage now costs the U.S. economy an estimated $1 trillion annually.
- Conceivable Life Sciences
Led · Series A · Sep 2025
Founded in 2021 in New York, Conceivable Life Sciences is building AURA, an integrated in-vitro fertilization (IVF) lab platform that combines AI, robotics, and advanced optics to automate and standardize over 200 manual procedures spanning oocyte and sperm preparation, fertilization, embryo culture, vitrification, and thawing. The system provides end-to-end sample traceability and uses proprietary imaging (e.g., OCT) and machine-learning models to guide robotic manipulators in real time. Initial prototype work has already resulted in the birth of 18 healthy babies, and the company is running a 100-patient clinical trial with plans to gather data from an additional 120 patients this year. In a pilot deployment at Hope IVF in Mexico City, a three-person team processed roughly 2,000 IVF cycles annually with AURA, illustrating meaningful throughput and labor savings. Management aims to complete clinical trials and launch full commercial operations in the United States in early 2026. After its recent financing, the company has raised a total of $70 million to date, positioning it to move from pilot projects to commercialization.
- Ditto
Participated · Series B · Mar 2025
Founded in 2018, San Francisco-based Ditto offers an embeddable SDK that turns smartphones, tablets, and other edge devices into ad-hoc mesh networks, enabling applications to read and write data locally while remaining synchronized with other devices and the cloud. The platform replaces expensive on-premise edge servers by using built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or LAN to keep data consistent even when connectivity is patchy—an approach already adopted by customers such as Delta, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, and the U.S. Air Force (which signed a $950 million contract in 2022). Over the past year the company’s customer count has doubled to 30-plus and annual recurring revenue has grown 250%, though absolute figures were not disclosed. Ditto recently partnered with MongoDB to launch a native connector that syncs edge data with MongoDB databases, and it plans to deepen integrations with additional cloud database providers. With fresh capital, the company will expand headcount and accelerate product development aimed at AI-driven, real-time use cases where privacy, resiliency, and low latency are critical. Ultimately, Ditto positions itself as the default platform for edge computing and data synchronization as AI workloads proliferate.
- GrayMatter Robotics
Participated · Series B · Jun 2024
GrayMatter Robotics is a Los Angeles-based AI and advanced robotics company delivering autonomous robotic solutions for tedious and ergonomically challenging tasks such as sanding, polishing, grinding, coating, and finishing. It bundles proprietary AI technologies with robots, sensors, and tools and provides application-specific solutions in a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) format. Representative products include Scan&Sand™, Scan&Polish™, Scan&Buff™, and Scan&Grind™. The company serves manufacturers across aerospace & defense, specialty vehicles, maritime, metal fabrication, and consumer products such as sports equipment. Led by CEO Ariyan Kabir, GrayMatter aims to improve shop floor worker quality of life, enhance production capacity, and reduce scrap, repair, and rework costs. The company raised $45M in Series B funding to accelerate development and deployment of its AI-powered robotic solutions. GrayMatter Robotics delivers AI-driven robotic automation solutions aimed at tedious and ergonomically challenging manufacturing tasks. Its core products are smart robotic cells for high-mix surface finishing and surface treatment, sold to a range of manufacturing industries. The company says its systems help improve shop-floor worker quality of life, enhance production capacity, and reduce scrap, repair, and rework costs. Leadership is headed by CEO Ariyan Kabir and CTO Brual Shah. GrayMatter plans to use the new funding to expand its team across a wide range of roles and to accelerate development and deployment of its AI-robotic solutions. The article does not disclose revenue or user metrics. GrayMatter Robotics develops smart robotic assistants that help humans perform surface-treatment tasks like sanding and spraying on manufacturing lines. The company packages proprietary AI algorithms with commercially available robots, sensors, and tools so robots can program themselves and learn a new part in minutes. Its turnkey solutions aim to help manufacturers grow capacity, maintain consistent quality, and keep a digital trace for improving operations. GrayMatter is led by CEO Ariyan Kabir and is based in Los Angeles, CA. The company raised $4.1M in seed funding and will use the proceeds to scale hiring, accelerate development of its robots for sanding and finishing, and engage a wider customer base. Investors in the round include Stage Venture Partners, Calibrate Ventures, 3M Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, and B Capital Group.