How Screendoor became a key signal for emerging VC talent

Mesh and semi-transparent, screendoors are most associated with sticky summer Sunbelt days, but they’re not fundamentally aesthetic—they’re meant to improve air circulation for homes. 

“What it also symbolized was that, as a kid, you knew when your friends were home, and you could go over and open the door,” said Hunter Walk, cofounder of LP Screendoor and cofounder at VC Homebrew. “It meant ‘come on in.’ It was an invitation… So, when we were thinking about starting Screendoor, it was from the standpoint of inviting and easing new managers into the ecosystem. The metaphor of the screendoor as a symbol and signal just stuck for us.”

Walk—known for his online writing and for backing companies like ShieldAI, Plaid, Gusto, and Chime through Homebrew, the firm he cofounded with Satya Patel—launched Screendoor with Patel in 2021, at what’s now become an almost apocryphal moment in venture capital: the height of the ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) era. At the time, Patel and Walk got together with eight other GPs—including Forerunner’s Kirsten Green, Cowboy Ventures’ Aileen Lee, and Precursor’s Charles Hudson—who agreed to serve as advisors to emerging VC fund managers. 

Their idea was straightforward—act as an LP to the most promising emerging managers long before they became obvious winners. If it worked, it would be a win-win.

“Usually, LPs will say, ‘great, let’s wait until your fund three or four, when you quote-unquote have a track record,’” said Walk. “We looked at our own experiences—Homebrew’s fund one was quite successful—and thought that LPs who take that perspective are missing out on alpha…So, we saw Screendoor originally as the bridge between the best of new emerging managers and large institutional LPs who wanted to build relationships with those emerging managers while also capturing some of the upside.”

Screendoor’s now been around for nearly five years, a time frame in which much has changed. The AI boom has materialized, but overall the ecosystem has grown increasingly split between the haves and have-nots. In 2025, for all but the most elite firms, fundraising has been challenging: In the first half of the year, the top 30 firms collected 74% of all venture dollars raised from LPs, and 12 firms in the U.S. comprised 50% of that total value, according to PitchBook.

“Unless you’re spinning out of an established multi-stage venture fund, it’s a challenging environment for emerging managers,” said Precursor’s Hudson via email. “LPs are cautious, preferring to reinvest in funds they already know. This concentration of capital makes it harder for emerging managers to break through, especially if they don’t have strong LP networks, a strong track record, and an obviously differentiated thesis.”

Screendoor is key, Hudson adds, in the “growing ecosystem of support for emerging managers,” which also includes organizations like Raise and Venture Forward. Some emerging managers naturally have buzz, like those spinning out of giant platforms like Andreessen Horowitz, but for those with unconventional backgrounds, they’re a harder sell in a tough environment, especially for the deluge of investors who raised funds in the ZIRP era. According to PitchBook, among managers who raised first funds in 2021, only 33% have raised a second fund so far. There’s still time, of course, for those who haven’t, but the landscape remains tough. 

It’s still early for all involved, but Screendoor says 100% of its VC managers who have pursued a subsequent fund have succeeded in raising it. Among them: Screendoor-backed managers leading firms like Sunflower Capital and Divergent Capital have raised second funds in 2025 and 2024 respectively. Screendoor’s strategy involves being among the first LPs to commit and taking an ecosystem approach, providing these emerging managers with mentorship, network, and co-investing connections in order to succeed. 

“I have this database of every LP that I’m aware of and, to be honest, I don’t know a single LP out there that’s like Screendoor, “said Liu Jiang, founder of Sunflower and previously of Sequoia. “There are so many funds-of-funds, right? And so many LPs in general, but none of them provide the same value. Most of the time, I’m the one pinging Screendoor with a question, which is really rare. I don’t tend to ping LPs with questions.”

Screendoor may have started as ad-hoc, but it has become increasingly institutionalized since Lisa Cawley, formerly from the family office world, joined in 2023. This year, Screendoor has backed a number of buzzy debut funds that Term Sheet has broken the news on, including Rex Woodbury’s Daybreak and Ashley Smith’s Vermilion Cliffs Ventures. Both are relatively unconventional—Woodbury was previously at Index Ventures but is best known for his Substack Digital Native, while Smith has a background as an operator at companies like Twilio and GitHub. 

“If you’re trying to remove all of the perceived risk in a venture investment, you’re just removing the alpha from it,” said Cawley. “The other thing from the LP side is that the real risk in emerging managers isn’t actually participating in it—it’s waiting too long for someone to emerge, for them to no longer be an emerging manager. LPs can sit and wait for performance, but by waiting, you’re not actually participating. You’re making a different bet.”

Finding true alpha in VC, Walk says, is in part a right-sizing game: “Venture, for me, is: Does the firm’s fund size match their talent and strategy? I’d say that for most funds that have grown large, the AUM has grown faster than the quality of the average partner, and the ability to deploy successfully.” For Walk, this all comes back to a core principle: That emerging managers aren’t emerging for long. 

“We’re trying to back competitors,” he said. “We’re funding our competition. We’re not funding minor leagues. We’re not funding scouts. We’re funding people who, head-to-head, have a reasonable chance of beating a Homebrew, beating a Forerunner at some point. That’s the bar.”

That’s the bar—but it’s also a door, one clear enough to walk through.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Venture Deals

– Gamma, a San Francisco-based AI-powered presentation-making platform and website builder, raised $68 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by Accel, Uncork Capital, and others.

– 1mind, a San Francisco-based AI platform designed to lead marketing, sales, and customer success, raised $40 million in funding, including a $30 million Series A round led by Battery Ventures and joined by Primary Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, and others.

– AirOps, a New York City-based content engineering platform for AI search, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Greylock led the round and was joined by Unusual Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, XFund, Village Global VC, and Frontline VC.

– Extellis, a Durham, N.C.-based satellite imaging company, raised $6.8 million in seed funding. Oval Park Capital led the round.

– Spectral Compute, a London, U.K.-based developer of a software designed to enable Compute Unified Device Architecture applications to run on any GPU, raised $6 million in seed funding. Costanoa led the round and was joined by Crucible and angel investors. 

– OneLot, a Manila, Philippines-based financing platform for used car dealers, raised $3.3 million in seed funding. Accion Ventures and 468 Capital led the round and were joined by Everywhere Venture, Seedstars, and others.

– NLPatent, a Toronto, Canada-based AI-powered patent research and intelligence platform, raised $3 million in funding. Mighty Capital and Draper Associates led the round and were joined by The Legal Tech Fund, Storytime Capital, and The51.

Private Equity

– Avego invested $29 million in myTomorrows, an Amsterdam, the Netherland-based platform designed to connect patients with all possible pre-approved treatments.

– Lindsay Goldberg agreed to acquire EMCO Chemical Distributors, a Pleasant Prairie, Wis.-based distributor of industrial chemicals. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Miller Environmental Group, a portfolio company of Coalesce Capital, acquired ACE Environmental Services, a New York City-based environmental consulting company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– MML Capital Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in Lowe Rental Corporation, a Lisburn, Northern Ireland-based commercial refrigeration and catering equipment company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Russell Landscape Group, a portfolio company of The Sterling Group, acquired Utz Environmental Services, a Leander, Texas-based landscaping company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– State Street Corporation acquired PriceStats, a Boston, Mass.-based provider of daily inflation statistics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Valor Exterior Partners, a portfolio company of Osceola Capital, acquired Unisource Roofing, a Louisville, Ky.-based roofing company, and A. Casperson Co., a Stow, Ohio-based home remodeling company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Exits

– Arcline Investment Management agreed to acquire Novaria Group, a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of components and processes for the aerospace and defense industries, from KKR for approximately $2.2 billion.

– Align Capital Partners acquired Advantage Investigations, a Kannapolis, N.C.-based insurance investigation services platform, from MD Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Nexture agreed to acquire Frulact, a Porto, Portugal-based natural ingredient solutions platform, from Ardian. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Satair, an Airbus company, agreed to acquire Unical Aviation, a Glendale, Ariz.-based provider of aerospace aftermarket parts, from Platinum Equity. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Funds + Funds of Funds

– J2 Ventures, a Boston, Mass.-based venture capital firm, raised $250 million for its new Brookhaven Fund focused on developing technologies across advanced computing, cybersecurity, AI, and other tech fields.

– Glasswing Ventures, a Boston, Mass.-based venture capital firm, raised $200 million for its third fund focused on pre-seed and seed investments in AI-native and frontier tech companies.

Other

– Yeti Holdings acquired Helimix, a Punta Gorda, Fla.-based designer and manufacturer of a shaker bottle for protein drinks, for $38 million.