SEC filing: Alexis Ohanian is raising a fund called 776, with a target of $150M, three months after leaving Initialized Capital
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
The SEC filing turns Ohanian's June departure into a concrete plan. After two funds built alongside Garry Tan and Harj Taggar — a $115M third fund in 2016 and a $225M fourth fund in 2018 — he left Initialized citing a growing pull toward pre-seed investing, and this filing names his new vehicle: 776, targeting $150M on his own.
The timing matters because Initialized moved fast to fill the gap, closing a $230M heavily oversubscribed fifth fund just weeks ago without him. The filing would later be validated: Seven Seven Six ultimately closed its first fund at exactly the $150M target, with stated commitments to a 50% women and 15% Black or indigenous investor base, and Ohanian went on to raise $500M by 2022.
First-order effects
- Ohanian is officially in market as a solo GP, asking limited partners to back him personally at a $150M target rather than through the Initialized partnership he co-founded in 2012.
- Pre-seed founders get a new, brand-backed source of first checks, since Ohanian's stated thesis for leaving was deeper pre-seed focus.
Second-order effects
- Initialized's answer is already on record: an oversubscribed fifth fund raised weeks after his exit signals to LPs that the firm's deal flow was never dependent on one name.
- Former co-founders become direct competitors for the same early-stage deals and the same LP dollars, with both sides now marketing continuity and momentum.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — a founder's public profile becoming the fund-raising asset itself — venture structure drifts further toward solo-GP brands built around individuals, forcing multi-partner firms to prove institutional durability every time a name partner leaves.
The trend: Venture capital is splitting into personal-brand solo funds and institution-branded partnerships, with high-profile departures like Ohanian's testing whether LPs follow the person or the firm.