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Symphonic Capital has announced the closing of its $13.5 million inaugural fund that aims to close access gaps in health and wealth.
The fund, led by Sydney Thomas, will back pre-seed and seed-stage companies that traditional venture capital often overlooks.
“We raised $13.5 million to back founders solving critical access gaps in healthcare and financial services because we believe everyone deserves reliable healthcare and financial freedom,” Paige Thomas shared on her LinkedIn page.
Symphonic Capital is Supporting Early Stage Startups in Health and Finance
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The San Diego-based VC targets the earliest investment stage startups, focusing on companies with a minimum viable product and valuations under $10 million. Large venture capital firms often ignore these early-stage startups, leaving them without the capital and guidance needed to scale.
Symphonic aims to support founders early in a company’s development. Access to capital and strategic guidance can significantly impact a company’s growth trajectory at this critical phase.
“We believe in the vision we’re building at Symphonic and look forward to putting our thesis to work: investing in founders committed to creating a more equitable future for all,” said Thomas in a press release.
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Sydney P. Thomas likes to call herself a “conductor at Symphonic,” according to her LinkedIn page. Her job, she says, “is—as another great conductor said—not to make a sound. Instead, my power depends on my ability to make other people powerful. I take this job seriously by working alongside Pre-Seed founders to ensure they can achieve their goals.”
With six years of experience and 250 companies’ worth of investments under her belt from a stint as the first hire at Precursor Ventures, Thomas had built a fund that backs founders at the pre-seed stage and doubles down at the seed stage.
After graduating from the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, Thomas scaled Precursor from a firm handling less than $5 million in committed capital to raising tens of millions in venture financing to back other startups. She supported pre-seed companies democratizing access to products and services for what Thomas calls the “mass market economy.”
Scaling Health and Financial Startups
Symphonic Capital’s mission is especially timely in the health and financial sectors, which have seen persistent inequality in access and outcomes. With this fund, the venture firm aims to empower companies to create practical, scalable solutions to systemic issues.
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The firm also emphasizes investments outside the typical coastal tech hubs, hoping to back businesses often left out of the traditional venture ecosystem.
Shruti Shah joins Symphonic as a partner as part of the fund’s official launch. Shah brings additional experience and a shared commitment to supporting underrepresented founders.
“We see the next generation of founders as key drivers of lasting, meaningful change in society,” Shah said. “Our first fund prioritizes companies addressing inequities in healthcare and financial services because we recognize the opportunity to create outsized impact in communities that have long been overlooked and underserved.”
Main Image Symphonic Capital’s Sydney Thomas (right) and Shruti Shah (Credit: Radian Photography)
