Dovzhikov & PartnersEst. 2018
Fund III · open for allocations
Pre-seed · Seed · Series AGlobal mandate
Founder capital · Operator bench

Deal by Deal. Founder by Founder.

The cheque, the advice, and the phone number you call at 2 a.m. all come from founders who have built, scaled and sold the companies you’re trying to build. No institutional partners. No blind pool. An operator on every cap table.

Cheque size
$200600K
Target IRR · 5y
20–30%
Decision → Wire
14 mo
Portfolio
33+
IThesis

Founders back founders. Operators help operators.

The capital comes from people who have built, scaled and sold. The help comes from the same people. Three pillars. One bench.

The help a founder actually needs isn’t a term sheet — it’s the phone number of the person who already solved your problem two companies ago.

Our capital comes from a bench of founders and senior operators — CEOs of exited companies, CTOs of scaled infrastructure, the people who survived the hard quarter, negotiated the acquisition, and wrote the playbook you’re trying to learn in real time.

When we wire a cheque, you get more than money. You get a warm intro for the hire you’re trying to land, a reference call with the buyer who’ll eventually acquire you, and a cold-eye review of the growth plan by someone who ran the same motion at scale.

We cheque in at pre-seed, seed and Series A — $200K–$600K — alongside the bench that helps you get to the next round. Operators first. Capital second.

Position · IOperator capital

Money from the people who built the thing.

Our LPs are CEOs and founders of exited, listed and scaled companies. Every cheque carries their cap-table experience — not an institution’s mandate.

Position · IIExit-tested bench

40+ exits in the bench.

The acquisition negotiation, the failed IPO, the Series B-to-C survival, the pivot that worked — our operators have shipped them. They pick up the phone when yours is breaking.

Position · IIIScaling expertise

The 1 → 100 part, de-risked.

Warm intros to the hires that move the needle. Reference calls with the eventual buyer. A cold review of the growth plan by someone who ran the same motion at $100M ARR.

Who’s on the bench?14 founder-operators · 40+ exits · on request
See the roster
IIThe fund in numbers

Discipline, not dogma. Conviction, not luck.

The venture power law, written explicitly. Thirty-three deals, plotted against their projected IRR. The shape of the distribution — not the median — is the argument.

Cheque size
$200600K
Typical ticket across pre-seed to Series A, written into an SPV per deal.
Target IRR · 5 yr
20–30%
Modeled deal by deal, stress-tested by the operator bench; returns net of 5/20 structure.
Commitment to wire
14 mo
From the call that commits to capital on the balance sheet — median, not best-case.
Portfolio
33+
Active since 2018. Realized performance available on request under NDA.

Figures describe fund mandate and mechanics · Past performance not indicative of future results

Want the model behind the numbers?LP fact sheet · one-pager · PDF
Download fact sheet
IIITwo sides · one table

A fund built by operators — for operators, and the investors who trust them.

Two audiences. One bench. Founders get operators on speed-dial; operator-LPs get deals alongside people they already respect.

For Founders

Capital that moves at your speed — not ours.

Cap table space is expensive. We earn ours by closing the round, landing the hires, and showing up before the next cheque is written.

  • Growth & fundraising operators. We shape the story, rebuild the model, and open the warm doors that actually move.
  • Recurrent revenue fluency. Cohort curves, NRR, payback — we speak the language your Series B partner will test you on.
  • Complex cases welcome. Hard pivots, international redomiciliations, dual-entity structures — bring the hard ones.
  • Four weeks to yes. First call to commitment in under four weeks; committed capital wired within 1–4 months.
Stage
Pre-seed · Seed · Series A
Cheque size
$200K — $600K
Decision time
2–4 weeks
Typical form
SAFE · Priced · SPV
For Operator-LPs

Invest where you can also add edge.

If you’ve built, scaled or sold — come in as an LP and a bench member. Share a deal, add a reference call, or sit it out. Your call, every time.

  • Two-way deal flow. See every deal before it closes — and bring your own for the bench to back alongside you.
  • No blind pool. No capital calls. Opt in deal by deal. Pass on one and you’re still on the bench for the next.
  • GP has skin. We write a cheque into every SPV alongside you. Aligned by paper, not promise.
  • Bench, not board. Help when the founder asks — your rolodex is the value, not your calendar.
Setup fee
5%
Carry
20% over 8% hurdle
Target IRR
20–30% · 5y
Minimum
$25K per SPV
IVPortfolio · 33 companies

Thirty-three companies. One conviction at a time.

Deployed across eight sectors, five stages, and four continents. Every one was backed with an operator from our bench already on the cap table.

▸ Portfolio map · all stages · global mandate ● Live · updated 2026
№ 01Series D
RipplingHR · SaaS
№ 02Series C
AircallVoice · SaaS
№ 03Series C
PipefyWork OS
№ 04Series C
TransferGoFintech
№ 05Series C
SolugenClimate
№ 06Series A
AllocationsFund Tech
№ 07Series A
VarwinXR · Industry
№ 08Growth
ElamaAdTech
№ 09Seed
AspectFintech
№ 10Seed
BoomerangmeRetail SaaS
№ 11Series A
ZiphyCareHealthTech
№ 12Seed
FundmatesCreator Fin.
№ 13Series A
Carbon 6E-com OS
№ 14Series A
MedvidiTeleHealth
№ 15Seed
Yalla!MartQ-commerce
№ 16Seed
VnoskaConsumer
№ 17Seed
BeamsConsumer
№ 18Seed
DioramEdTech
№ 19Seed
Cattle CareAgriTech
№ 20Series A
TextbackMarTech
№ 21Seed
VoiciaVoice AI
№ 22Series A
DamonMobility
№ 23Series A
IntelliboardEdTech
№ 24Series B
UpkeepVertical SaaS
№ 25Series B
CareRevHealthTech
№ 26Series B
BurrowConsumer
№ 27Growth
Quero EducationEdTech
№ 28Series A
TuluUrban OS
№ 29Seed
BotanixBio
№ 30Series A
CyabraTrust & Safety
№ 31Seed
zkpassCrypto · ZK
№ 32Series B
ScentbirdConsumer DTC
№ 33Seed
LivelymeWellness
18Recurrent revenue 9Consumer & marketplace 6Deep tech & climate 4Strategic exits
Building the thirty-fourth?We read every deck · reply within the week
Send your deck
VHow we work

From first call to wire — four steps, zero theater.

A founder’s time is capital. The altitude profile below is not aspirational — it’s the median deal we’ve run since 2018.

T+00 · Week 0
01 · Intro

The honest conversation.

Thirty minutes, no deck required. What are you building, and what would unreasonable look like in two years?

T+07 · Week 1–2
02 · Bench review

Operators look under the hood.

Reference calls with operators who have run your motion at scale. You get their playbook before anyone else does — including the mistakes they won’t let you repeat.

T+14 · Week 2–4
03 · Commit

A cheque with conviction.

Term sheet or SAFE issued. We anchor if useful, syndicate if needed, and stay out of your way by default.

T+30 · Month 1–4
04 · Wire

Capital, then partnership.

SPV closes, wire lands, and the real work begins: the next round, the next hire, the next inflection.

Ready for the honest conversation?Thirty minutes · no deck required
Book the intro call
Non-negotiable

Three commitments in writing.

Promise · 01
We reply within 5 business days. Every time.
Silence is an answer. If we haven’t written back by day five, we’re not who you want — better for both of us to know fast.
Promise · 02
No capital calls. Ever.
Every cheque goes into its own SPV. No blind pool, no obligation waiting in a drawer. Your money stays yours until you opt into a specific deal.
Promise · 03
Decline any deal. Stay on the bench.
Pass on one and you remain an operator-LP for the next. Saying no is free. The only thing you commit to is access.
VIA letter from the principal

Run by a serial operator first, an investor second.

Alex DovzhikovFounder · Principal

I’ve built companies for twenty years — founded, scaled, sold. The good ones ran on a certain kind of oxygen: a partner who had already walked the path, who picked up the phone when something broke, and who had the restraint to stay out of the way when things were working.

This fund exists so other founders can have that. The LPs aren’t institutions — they’re founders and operators who’ve sold to Microsoft, scaled to $100M ARR, survived the down-round, and written the playbook you’re learning in real time. When we wire, you get them on speed-dial.

This isn’t a pool. It’s a bench. If you’re building a company where a warm intro, a reference call with your eventual buyer, or a cold-eye review at $10M ARR would change the trajectory — I’d like to read your deck before anyone else does.

Transmission · open

Write the deck.
We’ll read it within the week.

Pitch a company, request the LP deck, or send a hard problem and let someone from the bench weigh in. We reply personally — every time.