Solo GP Ashley Smith has announced a second $25 million fund to support startups in AI, security, and more

Vermilion Cliffs Ventures announced Wednesday the closing of its $25 million second fund. The company was founded in 2023 by operator-turned-investor Ashley Smith, who runs it as one of the few solo public women in venture capital. Speaking to TechCrunch, Smith said this fund will continue the company’s thesis of supporting tech founders, specifically those building AI infrastructure, security, and development tools.

It took about four months to raise the new fund this year, with most of the capital coming from existing investors, she said. The average check size for the second fund will range between $500,000 and $1 million, and it hopes to invest in at least 25 companies over the next two and a half years, having already backed six companies. The company previously raised a $13 million seed fund to back 35 companies, including cybersecurity startup Keycard and AI infrastructure company CopilotKit.

Smith said many early-stage companies are there to help founders raise their next round, and from her marketing experience at Twilio, Facebook, GitHub, and GitLab, she hopes to help founders with go-to-market strategies that help them become profitable. “Selling to developers and security teams is a discipline of its own, and most founders learn it expensively over time,” she said. “I try to help them move past mistakes I’ve made or seen other founders make.”