SciFi VC

What’s In A Name? In 2011, I started HVF as a container entity for all sorts of data-related projects: ideation, incubation, investing, other things starting with letter 'i'. In the last 5 years HVF has been a highly rewarding exercise in both thinking and doing. We incubated and seeded Glow and Affirm, the latter of which I am now running full time, and invested in over 50 startups. We also began to distinguish HVF Labs, which recruits teams and incubates our own ideas, from HVF Investments, focused solely on helping external teams solve truly important problems in innovative ways. Both teams have grown over time, resulting in the need to create more distinct identities. Today, I am excited to announce that we are giving HVF Investments a new name — SciFi VC. SciFi stands for Science Finance, because as financiers, we focus a lot of our attention on really hard (valuable!) problems where solutions require intense curiosity, intellectual depth, and often science. Furthermore, it's an acknowledgement of our collective roots in fintech investing. We are excited to continue helping and learning with the industry’s most outstanding innovators, such as existing investments Artivest, True Accord, OpenDoor, Ellevest, Blend Labs, Gusto, and numerous others. And finally, for me personally, it’s a nod to what we’ve always seen as the mission of venture capital — to take risks in the service of transforming science-fiction into reality. --Max Levchin