The people
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Working at Third Prime
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On the TechTO stage
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About
Third Prime is a generalist early-stage venture firm founded in 2016 by Wes Barton and Keith Hamlin, investing across the United States and Canada from New York, with a second base in Nashville. It leads rounds and follows on heavily, with a sweet-spot first cheque around $1 million — as low as $250,000 at pre-seed and as high as $3.5 million at late seed. Barton described the strategy on the TechTO stage in April 2020 as the antithesis of spray-and-pray: 12 to 15 investments per fund so that both capital and partner time stay concentrated. Two themes run through the portfolio: businesses that are must-have rather than nice-to-have, and the belief that companies mindful of employees, customers and suppliers — not only investors — will be the important ones of the decade, without the firm calling itself an impact fund. Barton has also said the firm actively looks outside San Francisco, and Third Prime led the Series A and Series B of New York's Kafene, whose founder Neal Desai joined him on the TechTO stage.
Backers
A venture fund rather than an operating company; its limited partners are not disclosed publicly.
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Quick answers
What does Third Prime invest in?
Early-stage companies across any sector, in the US and Canada, with a stated interest in emerging geographies outside San Francisco. It leads rounds and reserves heavily for follow-ons, favouring must-have products over nice-to-have ones.
How concentrated is the portfolio?
12 to 15 investments per fund. Wes Barton contrasted this with the spray-and-pray model on the TechTO stage on 2020-04-24, arguing it lets the firm concentrate partner attention as well as capital.
What Canadian connection does Third Prime have?
Barton was introduced to the Toronto ecosystem in 2018, began visiting regularly from mid-2019, and appeared on TechTO's Founders & Funding in April 2020 — the show's first American guest — with Kafene founder Neal Desai.