Betaworks’ third fund closes at $66M to invest in early-stage AI startups

New York City-based Betaworks has closed its $66 million Fund III, which will focus on investing in early-stage AI companies. 

Betaworks has been investing in AI since at least 2016 and, through its investment program Camp, has backed companies such as Huggingface and Granola. Jordan Crook, a partner at the firm (and former TechCrunch employee), said the new fund will focus on agents, native AI interfaces, and application-layer AI. 

“Around these themes, we will continue to do straight seed investing and the Betaworks Camps,” Crook said. 

Fund III will seek to invest in at least 25 pre-seed to seed investments, as well as make at least 50 investments into startups as part of the Betaworks Camps program. “Thus far, we’ve done around 37 deals,” Crook said, adding that the average check size was around $500,000. 

Crook called the current fundraising environment “frothy” for startups, and “spiky” for funds, but she noted that Fund III saw many of the firm’s previous limited partners returning to invest. 

“The fundraising environment in venture was challenging in 2024, and we weren’t exempt, given that we were upsizing our fund,” she said.

Betaworks previously raised a $46 million Fund II in 2020, and a $48 million Fund I in 2016. It launched in 2008 as a venture studio, and has since become a staple in the New York City tech ecosystem, launching its Betaworks Camps program in 2016. The firm’s other notable investments include Tumblr and Kickstarter.