Theory Ventures General Partner Tom Tunguz Sama

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 27, 2025, 9:18 AM

theory ventures general partner tom tunguz sama

Reimagine your AI development with a data-centric platform. Learn how to use Sama to transform data into advanced AI applications An automotive OEM needed annotations for millions of samples for semantic segmentation, object tracking, and object detection. An automotive OEM needed annotations for millions of samples for semantic segmentation, object tracking, and object detection. A market leader in online retail delivery struggled to maintain the accuracy of its extensive product catalog, which included millions of items from multiple retailers. They relied on their foundational model to generate new product listings, including images and details, but it often produced errors.

AI has become the single largest driver of revenue spend for venture capitalists. Today’s guest has sat on the board for many companies and currently serves as a General Partner at Theory Ventures. Tom Tunguz joins us to share his predictions for the future of software along with many other insights from his research into AI, including the importance of being at the forefront of AI developments... By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.

By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. Tomasz Tunguz is a venture capitalist who has worked with eight unicorns predominantly in data and data infrastructure, including Looker, Monte Carlo, Dremio, Hex, Omni, Mother Duck. He writes a blog at tomtunguz.com that drives millions of pages per month. Before becoming an investor, he was a product manager at Google managing a billion dollar business unit on the AdSense team. Theory Ventures has raised $450 million for its second fund, according to securities filings viewed by Fortune.

The firm was started in 2023 by Tomasz Tunguz, a former managing director at venture capital firm Redpoint. Tunguz made his name at Redpoint with investing wins like data analytics company Looker—sold to Google-parent Alphabet for $2.6 billion in 2019—and customer service software startup Kustomer, acquired by Facebook-parent Meta in 2020 for... This second fund of $450 million is a major step up from last year’s first fund of $230 million. To date, Tunguz and Theory’s investments include data infrastructure platform Allium, blockchain infrastructure company Initia (last valued at $350 million), and open source data operations startup Tobiko. Theory describes itself as a “theory-driven” firm, and tends to invest in enterprise software, AI, crypto, and data tools. Among the early VC bloggers with a substantial social media following, Tunguz co-wrote a book called Winning with Data in 2016.

Ryan welcomes Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures back to the podcast to talk about the intersection of AI and venture capital, the implications of AI on the labor market, and the future of AI... Ryan welcomes Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures back to the podcast to talk about the intersection of AI and venture capital, the implications of AI on the labor market, and the future of AI... They delve into the optimization of AI models, the potential for parallelization, the importance of emerging standards in AI technology, and the role of open-source AI. Tomasz is a general partner at Theory Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage software companies. He’s a coauthor of Winning with Data, a deep dive into how big data has changed business best practices and organizational culture. Tomasz was on the podcast back in 2023.

Give it a listen! I’m thrilled to announce the debut of Theory Ventures & our first fund of $230m. I’ve spent my career as a student of startups. I’ve worked for two, invested in many, seven of which became unicorns. I study them, benchmark them, analyze them, interview their leaders to understand their mechanics & share what I’ve learned on this blog. The throughline of my work has been in identifying technological discontinuities that enable go-to-market advantages, & it’s patently clear to me that we are in the midst of another revolution now.

I aim to continue this work for many years at Theory Ventures. Theory is deliberately named. Thesis investing is at our core. We aim to research ideas, develop informed perspectives, & ply those insights to support founders from their earliest stages. I started a company at 17 which built legal software for international law firms in South America. That experience made me fall in love with startups.

In college & grad school I studied mechanical engineering, computer science, & control systems which helped me understand the power of well-designed machine learning. I joined a startup called Appian as a software engineer building Java systems for government agencies before coming to California in 2005. At Google, I worked initially in customer support & afterwards in Marissa Mayer’s Associate Product Manager program on the AdSense team developing classical machine learning models for ad targeting, in particular internationalization & social... In 2008, I became a venture capitalist & worked at Redpoint. Then in 2022 founded the venture capital firm Theory Ventures, an early-stage AI & web3 investment firm focused on building concentrated portfolios. I’m a student of startups & have been privileged to work with eight unicorns.

Through data-driven analysis & insights, I write about the evolving landscape of technology, startups & venture capital. My goal is to help founders, investors & leaders understand the strategic dynamics shaping our industry & navigate the complex intersections of innovation, growth & market forces. Tomasz Tunguz, Partner at Theory Ventures, explains the value of proper AI deployment in today's business landscape. Join Jared S. Taylor for the latest episode of the Slice of Technology AI podcast, created in collaboration with HumanX. This week's guest is Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures.

In a riveting conversation with host Jared S. Taylor, Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures, shared his insights into AI's transformative role in the business world. With nearly two decades of venture capital experience and a portfolio featuring eight unicorns, Tunguz brings a wealth of expertise to the table. His firm, Theory Ventures, has secured $700 million to fuel early-stage companies innovating in data, AI, and Web3. When it comes to identifying promising startups, Tunguz emphasizes the importance of technical founders who excel at selling. "The AI wave is really about selling the change in the way we work," he notes, likening it to creating entirely new categories of business.

He highlights the sweet spot for AI companies as those operating at the intersection of unattractive or labor-intensive work, workforce shortages, and pressing hiring needs. While acknowledging AI's rapid progress, Tunguz offers a pragmatic take: "Today's AI solutions are like Swiss cheese—there are gaps. But understanding those gaps is crucial for leveraging the technology effectively." He advises early adopters to embrace imperfect solutions, noting that improvements are imminent, and investing early allows businesses to grow alongside these advancements.

Theory Ventures General Partner Tom Tunguz Sama

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