Vermilion Cliffs Ventures declared on Wednesday the completion of a $25 million Fund II. The company was established in 2023 by operator-turned-investor Ashley Smith, who leads it as one of the rare solo female GPs in venture capital. In a conversation with TechCrunch, Smith stated that this fund will persist in the firm’s mission of supporting technical founders, particularly those developing in AI infrastructure, security, and development tools. 

She mentioned that it took her roughly four months to raise the new fund this year, with a significant portion of the capital sourced from existing investors. The typical check size for Fund II will range from $500,000 to $1 million, aiming to invest in at least 25 companies over the next two and a half years, having already supported six companies. The firm had previously secured a $13 million inaugural fund that funded 35 companies, including the cybersecurity startup Keycard and the AI infrastructure company CopilotKit. 

Smith remarked that many early-stage firms exist to assist founders in securing their next round, and from her background in marketing at Twilio, Facebook, GitHub, and GitLab, she aims to aid founders with go-to-market strategies that drive revenue. “Selling to developers and security teams is a distinct discipline, and most founders experience learning it the hard way over time,” she noted. “I strive to help them avoid the pitfalls I’ve encountered or witnessed other founders experience.”