Vermilion Cliffs Ventures announced Wednesday the close of a $25 million Fund II, continuing its focus on technical founders building in AI infrastructure, security, and developer tools.
The firm was founded in 2023 by Ashley Smith, a former operator who previously worked in marketing roles at Twilio, Facebook, GitHub, and GitLab. She runs Vermilion Cliffs as one of the few solo women general partners in venture capital.
Smith told TechCrunch that raising Fund II took approximately four months in 2026, with much of the capital coming from existing investors. The fund plans to write checks between $500,000 and $1 million and aims to back at least 25 companies over the next two and a half years. Six companies have already received investment.
The new fund follows the firm’s $13 million debut fund, which backed 35 companies including cybersecurity startup Keycard and AI infrastructure company CopilotKit.
Smith said her operational background shapes how she works with portfolio companies. Rather than focusing solely on helping founders raise follow-on rounds, she aims to assist with go-to-market strategy — an area she sees as frequently underserved at the early stage. “Selling to developers and security teams is its own discipline, and most founders learn it the expensive way with time,” she said. “I try to help them skip mistakes I’ve made or seen other founders make.”
The close suggests continued investor appetite for early-stage funds with specialized sector focus, and may reflect the value limited partners place on repeat managers, given that much of Fund II’s capital came from returning investors.
Source: TechCrunch