Category Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in exceptional technical founders building category-defining software startups.
Category Ventures focuses on early-stage enterprise software startups, particularly in areas such as:
In November 2024, Category Ventures announced the launch of its debut fund, Category Fund I, with a target of $156 million. The fund is dedicated to investing in ambitious founders at the pre-seed and seed stages, with investment amounts ranging from $1.5 million to $5 million.
The firm was founded by Villi Iltchev, who brings two decades of operating and institutional investing experience. Before establishing Category Ventures, Villi was a Managing Director at Two Sigma Ventures, where he managed the San Francisco office and invested in startups across SaaS, infrastructure, and developer tools. Prior to that, he was a General Partner at August Capital and held leadership roles at Box and LifeLock, overseeing strategy, product, alliances, investments, and acquisitions. At Salesforce, as Vice President, he led the investments and acquisitions teams, investing in over 30 leading software companies, including HubSpot, Box, Gusto, Anaplan, MuleSoft, Adaptive Insights, and Zapier.
Notable Investments
Prior to founding Category Ventures, Villi Iltchev led investments in several successful companies, including:
