AI is shifting from content to systems, from screens to the physical world, from the trivial to the critical. We invest in critical infrastructure, the stuff that matters.

Swell backs preseed and seed founders who see, move, and build differently.

They see what others don't. They possess unique insight from the inside of an industry, but think with an outsider perspective. They move before others will. They act ahead of consensus, learn rapidly, and move faster than anyone else. They build what others can't. Technical depth. Commercial instincts. The rare combination that turns insight into revenue.

This is not a job, it's a life's work. Unfinished business, a massive chip on the shoulder, and an obsession with solving real customer problems.

THE THESIS

We invest in high-stakes systems that power the economy, defend the nation, and extend human quality of life. These aren't incremental. They might not even look like "software" as we know it.

Five frontiers where AI is moving from support role to doing the work.

01. ENTERPRISE

Software is evolving from tool to labor. We are moving beyond the prompt. We back the transition to Service-as-Software. Autonomous systems that execute core job functions for the Fortune 500. They interpret messy context, make decisions, and carry workflows across the finish line.

02. SPACE & DEFENSE

Security is the prerequisite. For freedom, prosperity, everything else. Defense is becoming software-defined. Orbit is becoming a platform. We invest where national necessity meets commercial ambition. The technologies securing the ultimate high ground.

03. BIO

Biology is becoming programmable and data-rich. The winners translate wet-lab intuition and novel datasets into compounding advantages across discovery, diagnosis, and care delivery. Data moats, not just IP moats.

04. INDUSTRIAL

The physical world still runs on brittle processes and downtime. We back autonomy, automation, and operational intelligence that makes moving atoms as reliable as software.

05. COMMERCE

Markets are becoming algorithmic. We invest in how goods move, price, and transact. Especially where hidden complexity has quietly taxed the economy for decades.

YOU WIN WITH PEOPLE

We don't just write checks. We build the teams that build the companies. Early-stage outcomes follow power laws, and so does early-stage hiring. The right person changes everything; people determine the success of the company.

As GPs, we've personally placed 75+ key hires across our portfolio. From Sales and BD to Marketing and Product, we identify the gaps before they become bottlenecks.

We help founders build the team, pressure-test the go-to-market, and get to revenue faster. Not as a "platform service." As partners who show up in the messy middle.

OPERATORS TURNED INVESTORS

We were building AI companies before it was a category. Met in 2008 as early employees at an AI startup, long before the hype cycle made it fashionable. We've been investing in critical infrastructure since 2018, when space, defense, and bio weren't yet consensus trades. We know what early-stage chaos feels like. The weight of delivery when nobody else believes yet. When we find the right founder, the best part of this job is two words: "We're believers."

We don't outsource conviction. We operate as a single unit. One shared judgment, one decision. Between us: 20,000+ hours evaluating founders. Teams built that scaled from $0 to $100M+. We embrace the founder's edge, build the team, and turn conviction into outcomes.

RUSTY RALSTON & JAY PATIL

Partners for 15+ years. From our first angel check into TapAd ($360M exit) to our current fund, we've been building together for our entire careers. We earn our access through the trust of the founders we serve. That stability, shared judgment, and operational DNA comes standard with every check we write.

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