Alsop Louie Partners

What they do

Founded in 2006 by Stewart Alsop and Gilman Louie, Alsop Louie Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. The firm is highly distinctive for its deep ties to the U.S. intelligence and defense communities, largely driven by co-founder Gilman Louie, the inaugural CEO of the CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel. Alsop Louie Partners champions a philosophy they call "Venture Humanism," aiming to fund accountable technologies that drive prosperity, equality, and longevity while generating strong financial returns. They have built a formidable reputation in the ecosystem for identifying transformational technologies at their inception, with a track record that includes early bets on massive consumer hits like Twitch and Niantic, alongside hard-tech and defense successes like Ursa Major and Aerospike.

What they look for

The firm operates under a thesis of "Venture Humanism." They explicitly state that they believe technology can bring humanity into a future of prosperity, equality, and longevity, and that "the best way to predict the future is to be the ones building it." They focus on accountable technologies that are designed and engineered with safeguards built-in, rather than hoping advanced technologies will simply behave well on their own. They seek out bold, risk-taking entrepreneurs working on high-stakes problems and transformational technologies at their inception. They heavily favor founders building in frontier tech, cybersecurity, defense/aerospace, and deep enterprise SaaS.

Stage

Pre-seed, Seed, Series A

Sectors

Cybersecurity, Deeptech, AI, Media, SaaS, Consumer, Food and agriculture

Based

San Francisco, US