Washington D.C.'s AAF Management has just closed its fourth fund, The Axis Fund, securing $55 million to fuel a distinctive hybrid investment strategy.
This new capital pushes AAF's total assets-under-management (AUM) to $250 million, signaling a growing appetite for its unconventional approach to early-stage venture capital.
The Axis Fund isn't just another early-stage vehicle. It's designed to invest in both emerging fund managers and directly into their most promising portfolio companies, spanning Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO rounds. What sets AAF apart, according to the firm, is its unique method of leveraging Limited Partner (LP) checks to unlock proprietary, non-public deal flow and market insights. This isn't data you'd find on Crunchbase or CB Insights; it's gated intelligence gleaned from the very funds AAF invests in.
Since its inception in 2016, AAF has built a formidable track record, backing 39 emerging managers across 43 fund vintages and making 138 direct investments. Its portfolio boasts five unicorns—Jasper, Current, Flutterwave, Drata, and Hello Heart—and 20 exits with a combined enterprise value of $2 billion. These include notable names like MoneyLion and Even Financial. The firm has also made early bets on companies like KarmaCheck and Pelago.
The Data Advantage in a Crowded Market
This data-driven strategy is the core of The Axis Fund's thesis. General Partner and Managing Director Kyle Hendrick emphasizes, "Over the past decade, we have found that the richest dataset of private market companies at the earliest stages of their formation is accessed only through LP checks in emerging managers." By combining its fund-of-funds expertise with its direct Seed investing track record, AAF aims to generate superior risk-adjusted returns for its LPs.
General Partner and Managing Director Omar Darwazah elaborates on this two-pronged approach: "Our two-pronged investing strategy allows our LPs to access a beta product, through the indexing of emerging managers, and an alpha product, through the picking of companies to back at the early stage." This dual focus, he argues, helps AAF "identify signal from noise and increase our probability of backing outliers."
The Axis Fund has already deployed capital into 25 Pre-Seed and Seed funds and made five direct investments. These underlying managers collectively cover approximately 800 venture-backed companies formed between 2021 and 2025, providing AAF with a broad, granular view of the nascent startup ecosystem.
Anchored by Mubadala Capital, along with family offices, prominent GPs, a multi-billion-dollar AUM VC firm, and a publicly traded company, The Axis Fund's backing underscores confidence in its differentiated model. Previous AAF funds have consistently ranked in the top decile for Net TVPI against industry benchmarks, suggesting their data-centric approach isn't just theoretical. As Suzanne Fletcher, Founder and General Partner of Zelda Ventures, notes, AAF's "approach of backing managers and then investing alongside them truly delivers on their mission to build enduring partnerships."
