VC Spotlight: Floodgate
Floodgate is where the headwaters of change turn into market-moving waves. Founded in 2006 by Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko, the firm rebranded in 2010 with a name that doubles as metaphor: control the surge, block the noise, and channel energy into the currents that transform industries. This isn't about volume, it's about conviction.
Mike Maples Jr. arrived with the operating scars and public-market receipts to prove his edge.Tivoli Systems went public before IBM took it in. Motive listed before Alcatel-Lucent made the buy. Stanford engineering, Harvard MBA, eight-time Forbes Midas List member, Fortune Rising Star, bestselling author of Pattern Breakers, and voice behind the Pattern Breakers podcast. His philosophy is razor-sharp: ignore pattern matching, bet on pattern breaking, and hunt Thunder Lizards, the rare companies that mutate markets so violently they account for nearly all venture returns.
Ann Miura-Ko brought the technical precision that makes conviction investable. A PhD in mathematical modeling of cybersecurity from Stanford and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Yale. A RoboCup competitor in Paris. Daughter of a NASA rocket scientist. Named the Most Powerful Woman in Startups by Forbes, repeat Midas List honoree, and New York Times Top 20 Venture Capitalists Worldwide. Beyond Floodgate, she lectures in entrepreneurship at Stanford, co-directs the Mayfield Fellows Program, co-founded All Raise, and served on Yale's Board of Trustees from 2019 to 2025. Her career includes stints at McKinsey & Company and Charles River Ventures, grounding her investing in both strategy and execution.
Floodgate bets early, often when an idea is still half-formed. Pre-seed and seed checks range from 500,000 to 3 million dollars, sometimes less. These are not lottery tickets. They are core positions anchored in founder-future fit, non-obvious insights, and the courage to build from nothing. Mike Maples Jr. makes only four to six investments each year, proof that scarcity is the strategy.
The portfolio reads like a timeline of inflection points. Odeo became Twitter. Ann Miura-Ko led Lyft's seed in 2010 and served on the board until 2023. Twitch emerged from Justin.tv. Okta began life as Saasure. Outreach, Chegg, Applied Intuition, all early, all against the grain.
The pipeline remains electric. SmarterDx raised 50 million dollars in 2024 before a strategic investment in 2025. Eudia pulled in up to 105 million. Terradot secured 58.2 million for carbon removal. Zitadel raised 9 million for cloud-native identity. Eighty percent of Floodgate's exit profits have come from companies that pivoted hard, proving flexibility is as critical as vision.
This is not just capital. It's co-conspiracy. Ann Miura-Ko engages deeply with only a handful of boards each year, ensuring real partnership. The firm invests across AI, enterprise software, consumer tech, fintech, healthcare, and Web 3, centered in the Bay Area with reach across the U.S. Its community impact, All Raise, Mayfield Fellows, public thought leadership, has shaped both the talent pipeline and the industry itself.
Floodgate has raised eight funds, including 146 million dollars for Fund VII in 2021. With roughly 500 million under management, their impact punches above weight. Their companies are building the future, and they are hiring.
Applied Intuition — https://www.appliedintuition.com/careers
Outreach — https://www.outreach.io/company/working-at-outreach
Twitch — https://careers.twitch.com/en/
Twitter (formerly Odeo) — https://twitter.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/X
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