About | Team | Portfolio | Working with Humba Ventures
Humba Ventures is a pre-seed and seed fund in the Susa Ventures family. While Susa Ventures is focused on leading early stage rounds in traditional sectors like enterprise SaaS, fintech, healthcare, and logistics, Humba Ventures is mainly focused on smaller, emerging sectors and technologies like robotics and manufacturing, climate and energy, and defense and security. Humba also occasionally invests as a supportive, non-lead investor in traditional sectors.
Humba typically writes $250k-$500k core checks with a high engagement model, and occasionally writes $50k-$100k scout checks.
We bring over a decade of institutional VC experience developed through supporting companies like Robinhood, Flexport, and Mux at their earliest stages, and apply that experience to founders building companies at the frontiers of technology.
Humba is principally run by Leo Polovets and Pratyush Buddiga, with support from the larger Susa team.
Leo (
blog)
Pratyush (
blog)
Team’s previous fund and angel investments: CloudTrucks ($850m), Dusty Robotics (🤫), Hightouch ($615m), Mashgin ($1.5b), Placer ($1b), Scalyr (acquired), Veho ($1.5b), Vetcove (🤫).
Categories:
🧬Biotech
🔋Climate/Energy
💰Crypto/Web3
🛡️Defense/Security
🤖Robotics/Manufacturing
🤝Supportive Check
Most of the companies below are in stealth mode, unless their homepage links are included.
Category | Description |
---|---|
🤖 | Adaptable ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) for warehouses. |
🤖🛡️ | Autonomous drone swarms for military applications. |
🛡️ | Compliance and collaboration software for government primes and subcontractors. (GovForce) |
🤖 | Comprehensive marketplace for industrial parts. (Volition) |
🔋 | Distributed network of balloon-based weather sensors. |
🔋🤖 | Forest monitoring and inventory management using drones and robots. (Treeswift) |
🤖 | Hardware-based precision crop load management. |
💰 | Highly efficient decentralized exchange. (Ambient Finance) |
🤝 | K-12 math practice software. |
🤝 | Next gen property management platform. |
🔋🛡️ | Nuclear microreactors for defense applications. (Antares) |
🧬 | Organoids for drug testing and drug development. |
🧬 | Protein design using generative AI. |
🛡️ | Search engine for geospatial data that targets defense & government use cases. (Danti) |
🛡️ | Security middleware platform that gives users control and visibility over their security posture. (LimaCharlie) |
🔋 | Site selection and permitting software for large cleantech projects. |
🛡️ | Software platform that makes it easier for the US to share info with its allies in a faster, more secure way. |
🤝 | Super app for solopreneurs that helps with payments, scheduling, marketing, and more. |
🤝 | System of record for account managers. |
🤝 | Telehealth dietician platform. (Nourish) |
We try to do monthly syncs with every core check founder, and of course we’re always available ad hoc whenever anything urgent comes up.
Our approach is to be actively helpful and supportive without being meddlesome or getting in the way. We’re laid back and nonjudgmental – whether things are going well or not, we’re not going to add to your stress; we’re just going to roll up our sleeves to help wherever we can.
Areas where we can help:
FUNDRAISING SUPPORT
STRATEGIC SUPPORT
HIRING SUPPORT
NETWORK
DISCOUNTS