Jennifer Neundorfer
VCCo-Founder & Managing Partner, January Ventures
Pre-seed investor backing outlier founders everywhere
Background
Jennifer Neundorfer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of January Ventures, a pre-seed fund she launched to invest in outlier founders regardless of pedigree or network. Before January Ventures, she was co-founder of Flashstarts, a software accelerator outside Silicon Valley, and an operator who scaled media and advertising businesses at 21st Century Fox and YouTube. She holds a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford. January Ventures has backed 60+ companies with 80% having female founders, deploying from Fund III ($200M+, opened 2025) at checks of $150K–$500K. She hosts the podcast 'Beyond the Cap Table.'
Investment Thesis
Pre-seed B2B software investing in outlier founders from non-traditional backgrounds; prioritizes industry-native operators with deep domain expertise over pedigree or access.
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $150K–$500K
Sectors
Based in: Boston, MA, USA (invests US and Europe) (North America)
Notable Investments
Pano AI
AI wildfire detection; $44M Series B; TIME 100 most influential companies 2025
Guidewheel
Manufacturing optimization; $31M Series B from BlackRock/Temasek
Sonantic
AI voice platform; acquired by Spotify
PlanetFWD
Carbon footprint management for food brands
Gable
Hybrid office and coworking platform
Ntropy
Financial data enrichment and transaction intelligence
Vault Platform
Workplace misconduct reporting; acquired by Diligent
Treefera
Carbon credit verification platform; $30M Series B