![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kevin-Ryan-at-Deep-Tech-New-York-e1784060801784.jpg?w=2048\")
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Consider psychedelics: Ryan\u2014often called \u201cthe Godfather of NYC Tech\u201d\u2014was once skeptical that psychedelics could be viable treatments for depression or PTSD. But in 2018, he read Michael Pollan\u2019s How to Change Your Mind and encountered a wave of data. Now, he\u2019s a key backer of the Yale Center for Psychedelic Research and cofounded Transcend Therapeutics, a psychoactive drug maker that sold in June for $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I think about is where the world\u2019s going five to ten years from now, and then we need to make a bet when it\u2019s not obvious,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIf it\u2019s obvious, it\u2019s worth $20 billion and it\u2019s too late. So, we\u2019re making bets early. Psychedelics are a perfect example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan, throughout his career, has cofounded dozens of companies (including MongoDB, Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, and Zola). Many began as incubations through the venture firm he originally founded as a family office in 2007, AlleyCorp. The firm took on outside investors for the first time in 2024, with a $250 million fund that Term Sheet broke the news on. (A source familiar with the firm\u2019s financials said that previous investments have generated an all-time 60% IRR.) Now, as the venture capital landscape has evolved rapidly over the last couple of years, AlleyCorp is back with its $335 million second fund, the firm exclusively told Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom our point of view, it hasn\u2019t changed dramatically,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe just invested last week in a company [at] a $25 million valuation, and they have $500,000 in revenue so far. We need to help them build that business. That\u2019s what we do, and that\u2019s what we were doing six, seven years ago. The fundamentals haven\u2019t changed much. The things we invest in change over time.\u201d<\/p>\n AlleyCorp currently focuses on healthcare, deep tech, and general tech, and has eight unicorns in its current portfolio (that group includes Rogo, ShopMy, Valar Atomics, and Thyme Care). Talking to Ryan made me think about the time warp that\u2019s been the AI boom and venture in recent years. The AI boom was certainly in a very different spot in 2024 (Nvidia was about a $3 trillion company then, now it\u2019s over $5 trillion) and VC\u2019s grown much bigger by the AI-fueled numbers. I point out to Ryan\u2014who originally made his name as CEO of DoubleClick, bringing the company to 1,500 employees and a $1.1 billion sale back in 2005\u2014that 2026 so far has seen $412.7 billion in U.S. venture dollars deployed into just a few companies. The tens of billions that easily plow into Anthropic and OpenAI, Ryan said, are their own category of investing.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s venture capital,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cToday, [DoubleClick] would have been private for ten years, and gone public at a $10 billion valuation. If it\u2019s Anthropic, they wait until $1 trillion and it\u2019s all \u2018VC money\u2019 but it\u2019s not\u2014these are bigger than public companies\u2026I think you might ultimately see VC dollars invested drop because so much has gone into SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI. If you take those off the table, it\u2019ll seem like VC money is down.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryan says he\u2019s devoted to first checks under $10 million and backing young companies. Though he said there\u2019s a limit, he\u2019s not opposed to eventually raising a larger fund: Ryan defines venture by check size and stage, not fund size.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur next fund could be bigger,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cIt could be 500, 600 [million]. You can expand in two ways without changing your strategy: One\u2019s verticals, another is geography\u2026 Say, if tomorrow, I had a $500 or $600 million fund, I\u2019d consider having two biotech people and a biotech practice. But it doesn\u2019t change anything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n That said, things do change, often in ways we can\u2019t predict or that I certainly wouldn\u2019t have guessed. Sometimes it\u2019s small-enough things: For example, as I talk to Ryan, he\u2019s sitting in the AlleyCorp Building in New York\u2019s Nolita, which opened in June. The last time I\u2019d talked to Ryan in 2024, it was still very much in development\u2014now it\u2019s home to a hot new restaurant and a number of companies and VC firms like Benchstrength and BBG Ventures. I asked Ryan what he thinks we\u2019ll be leaving behind over the coming years, and he said it\u2019s hard to tell.<\/p>\n \u201cI was on some panel in 2017, where [everyone] would have sworn that by 2026, 50% of cars are going to be driverless,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re basically at 0% if you round up. [At the same time] it\u2019s hard to remember how fast everything has been moving [with AI]. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n To this end, we briefly talk about how we\u2019ve both been reading Sebastian Mallaby\u2019s The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe book ends, I think, 12 or 18 months ago,\u201d Ryan told me. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mention Claude, and now that\u2019s all anyone can talk about. It\u2019s almost like your grandmother saying: \u2018Do you remember the Spanish-American War?\u2019 And you say: \u2018No, we don\u2019t really think about that anymore.\u2019 But we\u2019re talking about the world from 18 months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of hand-wringing about what it means to operate in an AI-turbocharged-time-warp, where it\u2019s hard to see clearly. And I wonder if part of the answer is simple: That when things move fast, you need to be able to change your mind.<\/p>\n See you tomorrow,<\/p>\n Allie Garfinkle Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.<\/p>\n Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter<\/em>.<\/em> Subscribe here.<\/p>\n – <\/span>Walden<\/b> Robotics<\/b>, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of AI-powered robots, raised $300 million in funding. <\/span>Toyota<\/b> and <\/span>Deviation<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and were joined by <\/span>NVIDIA<\/b>, <\/span>Boeing<\/b>, <\/span>AE<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Samsung<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Prologis<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>CoreWeave<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Singularity<\/b>, a Los Angeles-based developer of low-cost air defense systems, raised $80 million in Series A funding. <\/span>Felicis<\/b> and <\/span>Khosla<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and were joined by <\/span>AE<\/b> Industrial<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>NEA<\/b>, <\/span>Long<\/b> Journey<\/b>, <\/span>Harpoon<\/b>, <\/span>Menlo<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>State Affairs<\/b>, a Washington, D.C.-based AI-powered intelligence platform designed for the policy economy, raised $70 million in funding from <\/span>Founders<\/b> Fund<\/b>, <\/span>Khosla<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Tru<\/b> Arrow<\/b> Partners<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>InstaLILY<\/b>, a New York City-based developer of an AI-forward deployed engineer, raised $60 million in Series B funding. <\/span>Energize<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Insight<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Home<\/b> Depot<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and <\/span>United<\/b> Rentals<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Corner<\/b> Health<\/b>, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based platform designed to help nurse practitioners start their own primary care practices, raised $32.5 million in seed and Series A funding. <\/span>Oak<\/b> HC\/FT <\/b>led the Series A round and was joined by <\/span>First<\/b> Round<\/b> Capital<\/b> and <\/span>Zigg<\/b> Capital<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Feathery<\/b>, a San Francisco-based AI operating and decisioning system for financial services, raised $30 million in funding from <\/span>Portage<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Index<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Allstate<\/b> Strategic<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Hadrius<\/b>, a New York City-based compliance AI startup, raised $27 million across seed and Series A rounds. <\/span>CRV<\/b> led the funding and was joined by <\/span>Y<\/b> Combinator<\/b>, <\/span>Pathlight<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Rime<\/b>, a San Francisco-based enterprise voice AI platform, raised $24 million in Series A funding. <\/span>M13<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Twilio<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Corazon<\/b> Capital<\/b>, <\/span>Unusual<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and existing investors.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Thira<\/b>, a Bellevue, Wash.-based creator of a secure, self-learning AI system of execution built for the enterprise, raised $21 million in seed funding. <\/span>Madrona<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>FUSE<\/b> and others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Pulse Security AI<\/b>, a San Francisco-based operational management platform for security, raised $8 million in seed funding. <\/span>Foundation<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and was joined by Zetta Venture Partners and angel investors.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>NextGo<\/b> EPI<\/b>, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of materials designed to make electric vehicles, renewable-energy systems, and other electronics more efficient, raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding. <\/span>Ultratech<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b> and <\/span>Viero<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and were joined by others.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Igneo<\/b> acquired <\/span>Cyntox<\/b> Biohazard<\/b> Solutions<\/b>, a Jackson, N.J.-based medical waste management company, and <\/span>AdvoWaste<\/b> Medical<\/b> Services<\/b>, a Lakewood, N.J.-based medical waste management company. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>IMB<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired <\/span>Strategic<\/b> Land<\/b> Services<\/b>, an Oakwood, Ga.-based site preparation and infrastructure services contractor for electric utility projects. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Infrastructure<\/b> Consulting & Engineering USA<\/b>, backed by <\/span>Godspeed<\/b> Capital<\/b>, acquired <\/span>Southeastern<\/b> Land<\/b> Company<\/b>, a Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based engineering, consulting, and infrastructure services platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Odyssey<\/b> Investment<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired a majority stake in <\/span>TransPak<\/b>, a San Jose, Calif.-based packaging, logistics, and testing solutions provider designed for high-tech industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>TRG<\/b>, a portfolio company of <\/span>Gemspring<\/b> Capital<\/b>, acquired <\/span>Barcode<\/b> Supply<\/b>, a Greensboro, N.C.-based provider of barcode, RFID, labeling, and data capture solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>VetnCare<\/b>, backed by <\/span>Great Point<\/b> Partners<\/b>, acquired <\/span>Holistic<\/b> Veterinary<\/b> Care<\/b>, an Oakland, Calif.-based veterinary hospital. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Greylock<\/b>, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $1.5 billion for a new fund focused on companies using AI across the infrastructure, cybersecurity, applications, deep tech, consumer and fintech companies.<\/span><\/p>\n – <\/span>Garnett<\/b> Station<\/b> Partners<\/b>, a New York City-based investment firm, promoted <\/span>David<\/b> Dragich<\/b> and <\/span>Rafi<\/b> Haramati<\/b> to partner, <\/span>Mike<\/b> Drittel<\/b>
X:<\/strong> @agarfinks
Email:<\/strong> alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com<\/p>\nVENTURE CAPITAL<\/h3>\n
PRIVATE EQUITY<\/h3>\n
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS<\/h3>\n
PEOPLE<\/h3>\n