# Vast Ventures

> Vast Ventures is a small New York venture firm with a deliberately broad mandate: back disruptive early- and growth-stage companies whose work can improve health, conserve resources, expand human potential, deepen connection, or force resistant industries to change. Founded by Doug Chertok, the firm says it has made more than 70 investments across healthcare, AI and cloud software, fintech, food, consumer products, and deep tech, with a portfolio that includes Coinbase, Ripple, Sweetgreen, Zocdoc, Ginkgo Bioworks, Diamond Foundry, Eight Sleep, and Moat.

- **Founded:** 2004
- **Headquarters:** New York City, United States
- **Founders:** Doug Chertok (Founder and Managing Partner)
- **Team size:** Approximately 10 people on LinkedIn as of August 2026; the public team page names three investment professionals.
- **Products:** Early-stage venture investing, Growth-stage investing and SPVs, Founder advice and company-building support, Business incubation
- **Notable:** Built a portfolio of more than 70 investments across consumer, AI/cloud software, finance and real estate, deep tech, healthcare and food., Backed widely adopted or publicly traded companies including Coinbase, Sweetgreen, Clover Health, Ginkgo Bioworks and DocGo., Invested in Moat before its acquisition by Oracle and in StreetEasy before its acquisition by Zillow.

## Products & services

- **Early-stage venture investing** — Capital for pre-seed, seed and Series A companies, with a publicly described national-security sweet spot of $100,000 to $2 million for pre-seed and seed opportunities.
- **Growth-stage investing and SPVs** — Follow-on and later-stage capital across the portfolio; Vast has publicly described using special-purpose vehicles for selected Series A and later hard-tech opportunities, with potential checks of $2 million to $20 million.
- **Founder advice and company-building support** — Hands-on help informed by the team's operating experience, including business development, growth guidance, recruiting and access to the firm's network.
- **Business incubation** — Financing and advisory support for startup and emerging companies; the firm's public trademark filing explicitly includes business incubation services.

## Achievements

- Built a portfolio of more than 70 investments across consumer, AI/cloud software, finance and real estate, deep tech, healthcare and food.
- Backed widely adopted or publicly traded companies including Coinbase, Sweetgreen, Clover Health, Ginkgo Bioworks and DocGo.
- Invested in Moat before its acquisition by Oracle and in StreetEasy before its acquisition by Zillow.
- Made early investments in Ripple, Zocdoc, Diamond Foundry, Eight Sleep, ClassPass and Bark.
- Third-party investment databases track roughly 60 portfolio companies and more than a dozen exits, though counts vary by methodology.
- Extended its published thesis into national-security software, industrial capacity and sustainable rare-earth processing in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Portfolio company Fortell appeared on Forbes' 2026 Next Billion-Dollar Startups list, and Vast highlighted the AI hearing-aid company's New York clinic.
- **2026-05** — Healthcare portfolio company Forus, formerly Tandem, announced $160 million in total funding and said it served thousands of practices and health systems nationwide.
- **2026-03** — Eight Sleep raised a $50 million strategic round led by Tether Investments at a reported $1.5 billion valuation.
- **2025-11** — Ripple announced a $500 million financing at a reported $40 billion valuation; Vast said it had partnered with the company from the beginning.
- **2025-04** — Third-party databases recorded new Vast investments in Warrant and Flychain.
- **2024-05** — Vast published a detailed national-security thesis covering supply-chain software, OSINT, workforce tools, rare-earth processing and advanced manufacturing.
- **2024-02** — Vast doubled down on Fabric in the healthcare software company's $60 million Series A led by General Catalyst.

## Links

- Website: https://www.vastvc.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vast-ventures

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vast-ventures
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-17