Kickstart is an early-stage venture firm that states it leads pre-seed and seed rounds, occasionally investing at Series A, with initial checks of $500K to $4M. Its stated geography is Utah, Colorado and the wider Mountain West, including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. The firm says it was founded in 2008 as the first dedicated seed fund in the Mountain West, that it has over $500 million across six dedicated pre-seed and seed funds and one co-investment fund, and that it has 150+ active portfolio companies. Its stated sector coverage is AI, B2B SaaS, frontier tech and physical AI, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces and consumer tech, and it describes itself as generalist. It operates from Salt Lake City and Denver.
$500M+ (the firm's own FAQ Quick Facts line "Assets under management: $500M+", checked 2026; earlier dated figures were over $250M in April 2020 and nearly $500M in March 2023) AUM70/100 Power Score™2008 FoundedSalt Lake City, UT
Angel Studios (NYSE: ANGX, listed via SPAC merger with Southport Acquisition Corporation, September 2025); listed under the "Exits" heading on Kickstart's own partner biography pages.
Gavin Christensen founds Kickstart, which the firm's own pages describe as the first dedicated seed fund in the Mountain West; KICKSTART SEED FUND LP is registered with the SEC under CIK 0001441370.
2015
TechCrunch reports on 30 January 2015 that Utah-based Kickstart Seed Fund has raised $39.2 million.
2020
Kickstart announces the close of its $110 million Fund V on 29 April 2020, stating the close raised its total assets under management to over $250 million.
2022
Kickstart Seed Fund VI, L.P. files its Form D on 2 February 2022, naming Gavin Christensen and Kickstart Capital, LLC as executive officers.
2023
Deseret News reports on 30 March 2023 that Kickstart has closed a $230 million fund, more than double its 2020 fund, and plans to open a Colorado office to be run by Dalton Wright.
2025
Angel Studios, Inc., a Kickstart portfolio company, completes its business combination with Southport Acquisition Corporation on 10 September 2025 and begins trading on the NYSE under the ticker ANGX.
2026
Kickstart Seed Fund VII, L.P. files its Form D on 23 April 2026, an indefinite offering with no sales yet recorded, from the firm's Cottonwood Heights, Utah address.
2026
NVCA announces on 14 May 2026 that Gavin Christensen has been appointed 2026-2027 Chair of its Board of Directors.