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The Venture Codex

Kortschak Investments

625 E Main Street, Suite 102B-408, Aspen, Colorado, 81611, United States

Overview

We invest in smart people solving hard problems, often difficult scientific or engineering problems. Importantly, we believe the brightest and most creative problem solvers seek the hardest and most interesting problems, and gathering the best technical talent is a major competitive advantage. Advances in cloud and other computing technologies radically reduce the costs of starting and running new businesses, creating opportunities for outsized returns. We invest in teams we believe in and our experience suggests that finding good founding teams and leaving them in place tends to produce higher returns overall. As a corollary, we resist shackling a company to its original business model. Businesses really do evolve over time and changing models in the early years is anything but a sign of weakness. We do not expect that the first business model for a company will be the final or best business model and do not see evolution as a negative. The most powerful minds are the ones that can be changed. We believe that substantially all of our investments should be directed to companies with an audacious vision seeking enormous markets. So, we will continue to invest in very talented entrepreneurs who are pursuing ambitious, challenging tasks. We will treat them with respect and hope for the best.

Total investments
3
Lead investments
1
Investments · 12mo
0
Active investors
1

Sector focus

  • Finance
  • Financial Services
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Freshtohome

    Participated · Series A · May 2019

    Founded in 2015 by Shan Kadavil and Matthew Joseph, FreshToHome operates a meat and seafood delivery business across roughly 160 cities in India and has operations in key UAE markets. The company expanded into quick commerce in February last year, offering deliveries within 10–15 minutes in some areas. FreshToHome has raised over $320 million in equity to date and last completed a $104 million Series D round in February prior to these recent debt raises. In FY25 the firm reported revenue from operations of Rs 421.33 crore, a 14% year-on-year increase, while losses remained largely flat at Rs 146.32 crore. The recent financings (debt and a small OCRPS component) are intended to support working capital, growth, expansion, marketing, and general corporate purposes. The company has used successive rounds of capital to scale operations and enter new service segments such as quick commerce.

  • 8i

    Participated · Series A · Oct 2015

    8i builds volumetric capture systems that stitch multiple camera feeds into three-dimensional holograms, primarily aimed at bringing celebrities and personalities into immersive AR/VR experiences. The company has focused on headset-based solutions but is moving toward phone-based augmented reality through a new app called Holo. Holo is slated to launch later this year on Google Tango–compatible devices, with the company open to supporting more basic camera configurations in the future. 8i Studios currently counts more than 100 partners using its capture technology. Growth is constrained by the technical complexity of high-end hologram creation—many captures require large, studio-grade setups—and the firm says its software is steadily improving. 8i is not pursuing hardware production and is instead anticipating more mobile volumetric capture devices that would enable simpler footage to be uploaded to its network. The company recently closed a $27 million Series B round of funding led by Time Warner Investments. 8i builds a consumer media platform that enables users to create, experience and share immersive, lifelike 3D video of real people. Its proprietary software transforms regular camera video into realistic, fully volumetric 3D video for VR, AR and the web, allowing viewers to move around people in a virtual environment while preserving human movement, face and hair detail. The company was founded in May 2014 by CEO Linc Gasking and is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, having since expanded to Los Angeles and San Francisco. 8i has opened a showcase studio in Culver City, Los Angeles, and plans to offer free access to the recording studios alongside community events such as workshops and demonstrations. The company announced a $13.5M venture funding round, reflecting its current financial backing. No operating metrics (revenue/users) were disclosed in the article.

  • Beauty Noted

    Led · Seed · May 2014

    Beauty Noted operates a crowdsourced site that enables women to discover, share, and purchase beauty products by leveraging members' favorite products and individual preferences to provide personal product recommendations. The company recently released its site in beta and is planning a full release later this year. Its platform focuses on personalized recommendations drawn from community input. Beauty Noted was founded in 2012 by USC student Sarah Kortschak and has named Kate Thorp as president and CEO. Financially, the company raised $2.2M in seed funding. The company is based in Sausalito, California.

Team