Series C investors in San Francisco: who's writing $50M+ checks in 2026

San Francisco closed $18.4B in Series C rounds across 180+ deals in 2025. Average round size was $65M. Most capital went to AI infrastructure, fintech, and vertical SaaS. You need $15M+ ARR and 100%+ net dollar retention to get meetings with these funds.

Series C investors here expect you to have product-market fit and a clear path to $100M ARR. They're not funding experiments. They want to see repeatable sales motion, predictable growth, and unit economics that work at scale. Most funds pass if your CAC payback is over 18 months.

The challenge with San Francisco Series C rounds is competition. Every growth-stage fund wants the same 20 companies. If you're growing 150%+ year-over-year with strong retention, you'll have term sheets in weeks. If you're growing 50% with okay metrics, you'll spend 6 months fundraising.

Quick list

Why San Francisco for Series C funding

San Francisco has more Series C capital than any other city. Over 50 growth-stage funds have offices within 5 miles of downtown. You can take 8 partner meetings in one week without leaving the city. That density matters when you're trying to create competitive tension.

The downside is valuation compression. San Francisco investors saw too many overpriced Series C rounds in 2021-2022. Now they're cautious. Expect 8-12x revenue multiples for SaaS, down from 15-20x two years ago. AI infrastructure companies still get premium multiples but only if you're growing 200%+ annually.

Most Series C investors here expect you to raise Series D within 18-24 months. They want to see a path to IPO or acquisition above $1B. If you're building a sustainable $200M revenue business, consider growth equity funds instead. Traditional VCs at Series C want unicorn outcomes or nothing.

Picking the right San Francisco Series C investor

Local presence: Series C investors in San Francisco invest globally, but they prefer companies with engineering teams here. They want quarterly board meetings in person and easy access to your executive team. Remote-first companies can still raise here but expect more diligence on team cohesion and culture.

Portfolio companies: Check if they've backed companies in your category at Series C before. Funds that led enterprise SaaS Series C rounds understand that segment's metrics. Consumer funds know different benchmarks. Don't pitch a marketplace to a pure B2B fund expecting them to understand your unit economics.

Check sizes: Series C rounds in San Francisco range from $20M to $100M+. Know which funds lead rounds versus participate. Insight Partners and Coatue lead. Battery and Bessemer can lead or follow. Some funds only write $10-20M checks as participants. Make sure you're talking to funds that can anchor your entire round.

Network access: Series C investors should open doors to enterprise buyers, help with executive recruiting, and intro you to bankers for IPO prep. Ask portfolio founders what value their investors added beyond capital. Some VCs are just money. Others spend weekends helping you close $10M deals.

Communication: Upload your Series C deck to Ellty and send trackable links to each fund. You'll see which partners spend time on your financial projections versus just skimming the overview. San Francisco Series C investors review 500+ decks per quarter. Most spend under 3 minutes unless something catches their attention.

Follow-on capacity: Most Series C investors reserve 2-3x their initial check for Series D and beyond. Ask about their fund size and deployment pace. If they just raised a new fund, they have capital. If they're at the end of a fund cycle, they might not have room for meaningful follow-on.

How to find and approach San Francisco Series C investors

Research recent deals: Search Crunchbase for Series C rounds $20M+ in your sector from the last 12 months. Most rounds list all investors. Cross-reference with PitchBook to see who led versus participated. Focus on funds that led rounds similar to yours in size and stage.

Leverage board connections: Your Series A and B investors should intro you to growth-stage funds. If they won't, that's a red flag about your metrics. Most Series C rounds start with warm intros from existing investors who've worked with growth funds before.

Build relationships early: Meet Series C investors at Series B. Take quarterly update calls. Share metrics even when you're not fundraising. When you hit $15M ARR and start your Series C process, you'll already have 5-6 funds who know your story. Upload your deck to Ellty before those early meetings. Track which funds engage with your materials over time.

Attend investor events: All Raise Summit, SaaStr Annual, and TechCrunch Disrupt bring Series C investors to San Francisco. Growth-stage funds send partners to these events specifically to meet Series C companies. Skip the pitch competitions. Focus on 1-on-1 meetings and small dinners.

Connect with portfolio CEOs: Find 3-4 CEOs who raised Series C from your target funds. Ask them which partners were helpful, how diligence went, and what surprised them about the process. Most founders share honest feedback over coffee. These conversations save you months of wasted effort on wrong-fit funds. Visual capture can expose information even when files aren’t downloaded, so be careful.

Organize due diligence materials: Set up an Ellty data room with your financial model, customer cohort analysis, sales pipeline, and retention metrics before you start Series C conversations. Growth-stage investors want to see unit economics and LTV:CAC broken down by customer segment. Having clean data ready speeds up diligence by 4-6 weeks.

Understand local pace: Series C rounds in San Francisco take 8-16 weeks from first meeting to close. Diligence is thorough - expect customer reference calls, financial model audits, and competitive analysis. Partners meet weekly to review deals. If you don't hear back within a week after partner meetings, you're probably not moving forward.

Prep for partner meetings: You'll present to 5-8 partners in 60-90 minutes. They'll grill you on growth assumptions, competitive moats, and path to $100M ARR. Bring your head of sales and CFO. Partners want to meet your leadership team before committing. Practice your financial model defense - they'll stress test every assumption.

San Francisco Series C considerations

Series C investors here expect 80-100% year-over-year growth minimum. Consumer companies need 100M+ users or $50M+ revenue. B2B SaaS needs $15M+ ARR with net dollar retention above 120%. AI infrastructure needs to show $10M+ ARR with clear path to platform dominance. Miss these benchmarks and you'll struggle to raise.

Dilution at Series C averages 15-20% in San Francisco. If investors want more, your valuation is probably too high. Most founders give up 1-2 board seats at Series C. Expect new investor representatives who'll push for profitability planning even if you're still burning cash for growth.

San Francisco Series C investors care deeply about capital efficiency now. In 2021, burning $5M/month to grow 150% was fine. In 2026, they want to see a path to profitability within 18 months even if you're not profitable yet. Show them scenarios where you can cut burn by 40% without killing growth.

15 top Series C investors in San Francisco

1. Insight Partners

Growth equity fund writing $50M-$150M Series C checks into B2B software at scale.

• Recent Deals: Vanta ($150M Series C at $1.6B, 2023), Wiz ($300M Series D at $10B, 2023), Recorded Future ($250M Series F, 2022)
• LinkedIn: Jeff Horing
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, security, dev tools, vertical software
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth equity
• Office Location: 456 Montgomery Street, San Francisco
• Website: insightpartners.com

2. Iconiq Capital

Family office-backed fund investing $100M+ in elite growth companies.

• Recent Deals: Databricks ($1.6B Series I at $43B, 2024), Rippling ($200M Series D, 2023), Devoted Health ($300M Series D, 2022)
• LinkedIn: Divesh Makan
• Sector Focus: AI infrastructure, fintech, health tech, enterprise
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: One Market Plaza, San Francisco
• Website: iconiqcapital.com

3. Coatue Management

Tech hedge fund writing $50M-$300M growth checks with hedge fund speed.

• Recent Deals: Ramp ($550M Series D at $8.1B, 2023), Chime ($750M Series G at $25B, 2021), Databricks ($1.6B Series I, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Thomas Laffont
• Sector Focus: Fintech, enterprise SaaS, consumer, AI infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: 1 Letterman Drive, San Francisco
• Website: coatue.com

4. General Catalyst

Multi-stage fund leading $30M-$100M Series C rounds across sectors.

• Recent Deals: Carta ($500M Series F at $7.4B, 2021), Samsara ($300M Series F before IPO), Stripe ($600M Series H, 2021)
• LinkedIn: Hemant Taneja
• Sector Focus: Fintech, health tech, enterprise SaaS, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D
• Office Location: 548 Market Street, San Francisco
• Website: generalcatalyst.com

5. Tiger Global

Crossover fund deploying $50M-$200M at Series C with minimal diligence.

• Recent Deals: Notion ($275M Series C at $10B, 2021), Stripe ($600M Series H at $95B, 2021), Databricks (multiple rounds)
• LinkedIn: Scott Shleifer
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, consumer marketplaces, AI
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: 201 California Street, San Francisco
• Website: tigerglobal.com

6. Accel

Traditional VC leading $40M-$100M Series C rounds with hands-on support.

• Recent Deals: Webflow ($140M Series C at $4B, 2022), UiPath ($225M Series D before IPO), Atlassian (Series C before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Rich Wong
• Sector Focus: Dev tools, enterprise SaaS, security, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D
• Office Location: 500 University Avenue, Palo Alto (serves San Francisco)
• Website: accel.com

7. Lightspeed Venture Partners

Growth-stage fund writing $30M-$80M Series C checks into category leaders.

• Recent Deals: Affirm (Series E-G before IPO at $13B), Rubrik ($261M Series E before IPO), Epic Games ($1.25B Series E)
• LinkedIn: Ravi Mhatre
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, consumer, gaming, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: 2200 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park (serves San Francisco)
• Website: lsvp.com

8. Index Ventures

European-US fund leading $50M-$150M rounds in developer and infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Figma ($200M Series E at $10B, 2021), Cockroach Labs ($278M Series F at $5B, 2022), Wiz ($300M Series D, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Mike Volpi
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, dev tools, security, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Series E
• Office Location: 650 Townsend Street, San Francisco
• Website: indexventures.com

9. IVP

Late-stage VC backing infrastructure and SaaS companies pre-IPO.

• Recent Deals: Datadog ($94M Series D before $19B IPO), Slack ($250M Series E before IPO), UiPath (Series D before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Somesh Dash
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, observability, SaaS, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: 2882 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park (serves San Francisco)
• Website: ivp.com

10. Bessemer Venture Partners

Multi-stage fund with $20B+ AUM leading Series C rounds in SaaS.

• Recent Deals: Toast ($400M Series F before IPO), Twilio (Series E before IPO), Shopify (Series C before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Byron Deeter
• Sector Focus: Cloud infrastructure, SaaS, fintech, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D
• Office Location: 950 Tower Lane, Foster City (serves San Francisco)
• Website: bvp.com

11. Battery Ventures

Growth equity fund writing $30M-$100M checks into B2B software and infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Outreach ($114M Series E at $1.33B, 2020), Chili Piper ($54M Series B at $1B, 2023), MessageBird ($800M Series C)
• LinkedIn: Neeraj Agrawal
• Sector Focus: B2B SaaS, dev tools, cybersecurity, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth equity
• Office Location: 950 Winter Street, Waltham (San Francisco office at 535 Mission Street)
• Website: battery.com

12. GGV Capital

Multi-stage fund with US-China presence backing marketplace and enterprise.

• Recent Deals: Wish ($500M Series G before IPO), Affirm (Series E before IPO), HashiCorp ($175M Series E before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Hans Tung
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, consumer, marketplaces, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D
• Office Location: 280 Second Street, San Francisco
• Website: ggvc.com

13. Andreessen Horowitz

Mega-fund leading $50M-$200M growth rounds with extensive platform support.

• Recent Deals: Instacart ($265M Series D at $7.6B, 2018), Databricks ($1.6B Series I, 2024), OpenAI ($300M investment, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Marc Andreessen
• Sector Focus: AI infrastructure, crypto, enterprise, consumer, bio
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, growth
• Office Location: 2865 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park (serves San Francisco)
• Website: a16z.com

14. Sequoia Capital

Top-tier VC leading $50M-$500M rounds in category-defining companies.

• Recent Deals: Stripe ($600M Series H at $95B, 2021), Databricks ($1.6B Series I, 2024), ServiceTitan ($500M Series F before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Roelof Botha
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, infrastructure, AI, consumer
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, pre-IPO
• Office Location: 2800 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park (serves San Francisco)
• Website: sequoiacap.com

15. NEA

Growth equity fund with $25B+ AUM backing enterprise and infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: Cloudflare (Series C before IPO at $6B+), DataRobot ($206M Series E at $2.7B, 2019), MongoDB (Series D before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Scott Sandell
• Sector Focus: Enterprise software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth equity
• Office Location: 2855 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park (serves San Francisco)
• Website: nea.com

Start tracking your San Francisco Series C outreach

These 15 investors closed Series C deals in San Francisco and the Bay Area in 2023-2025. Before you start reaching out to growth-stage funds, set up proper tracking.

Upload your Series C deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each fund. You'll see exactly which partners review your financial model and how long they spend on your cohort analysis. San Francisco Series C investors focus on unit economics and growth sustainability more than vision slides.

When funds ask for customer references, detailed financials, or competitive analysis during diligence, share an Ellty data room. Your CAC payback model, sales efficiency metrics, and retention cohorts in one secure place with view analytics. You'll know which partners did deep diligence versus those who just scanned materials.

Common questions

Do I need to be based in San Francisco to raise Series C from SF investors?

No, but 80% of their Series C deals involve companies with significant SF presence. Remote-first companies can raise here but expect extra diligence on culture, retention, and ability to scale distributed teams. Most funds want to visit your office during diligence.

How does San Francisco compare to New York for Series C funding?

San Francisco has 3x more Series C capital deployed. Average rounds are $65M in SF versus $45M in NYC. SF investors understand tech business models better. NYC investors are stronger in fintech, media, and e-commerce. For pure SaaS or infrastructure, SF is still dominant.

What's the average Series C round size in San Francisco?

$65M in 2025, down from $85M in 2021. Expect dilution of 15-20%. Most rounds have 2-3 investors - one lead writing $30-40M and two participants writing $15-20M each. Insider participation from Series A and B investors adds another $10-20M typically.

Should I raise Series C locally or consider growth funds in other cities?

San Francisco has the most Series C capital, but don't limit yourself. Many NYC and London funds compete for SF deals. Create competitive tension by running a tight process with 12-15 funds across geographies. Most Series C rounds take 10-14 weeks regardless of where investors are based.

Do San Francisco Series C investors expect in-person board meetings?

Yes, quarterly at minimum. Most funds want monthly or bi-monthly check-ins with management. Remote board meetings work for operational updates but major decisions happen in person. Budget for investors to visit your office 4-6 times per year.

What metrics do Series C investors care about most?

Net dollar retention above 120%, gross margin above 70% for SaaS, CAC payback under 18 months, magic number above 0.75, and clear path to $100M ARR. They'll model your business extensively. Any metric that doesn't match industry benchmarks will get questioned in diligence.

How long does Series C diligence take in San Francisco?

6-10 weeks after partner approval. Expect customer reference calls with 8-12 customers, detailed financial model review, product security audits, competitive analysis, and background checks on executives. Some funds bring in third-party consultants to validate your market size and competitive position.