Active Capital

Hi, I’m Pat. I’m an entrepreneur turned investor. I’ve spent my career building, scaling, and investing in enterprise software and cloud infrastructure. I started Active Capital because I love working with technical founders and helping them reach their potential. Today, I’m backing founders rebuilding software and infrastructure for an AI-native world. If that’s you, I’d love to hear from you. Warm intros and cold emails are always welcome.

About

Active Capital is a founder-led, pre-seed venture capital firm. We like to be one of the first investors in a company, typically writing $500K first checks. We’re equally comfortable leading rounds or investing alongside other great investors. Having built and operated technology companies ourselves, we love working with founders who stay lean and scrappy until they find product-market fit, then scale ambitiously from there. As companies grow and relationships develop, we have the ability to invest significantly more over time.

Approach

First Check Investing

Pre-Seed Focused

Flexible Check Size

Lead or Participate

Technical Founders

AI Software & Infra

Portfolio

Testimonials

“Pat is my first call with good news, bad news, or hard decisions I need help thinking through. He's an exceptionally founder-focused investor. He's been a founder and an operator. He's the type of investor and person I'd want on any cap table, and I'd highly recommend him to any founder.”

Fynn Glover

Co-founder & CEO of Schematic

“Pat shows up like someone who's built before, not just invested before. He'll challenge a narrative, pressure-test assumptions, and help tighten the plan without draining momentum. The operator lens is real.”

Ashley Rose

CEO of Living Security

“Active Capital was in our seed, and they are the most founder-centric VC we could have ever hoped to work with. For any early stage company that reads this…call Pat Matthews at Active Capital.”

Chris Cochran

Founder of ProsperOps

“Pat is the first person you want to share news with, good or bad. He's the perfect blend of coach, problem solver, cheerleader, and introduction machine that every founder looks for in an investor.”

Bethany Stachenfeld

Founder of Sendspark

“I won't be able to say this enough to you specifically Pat but thank YOU. I genuinely appreciate all the help and trust you have given us. Please count me in as an LP in the next fund!”

Rami Essad

Founder of Finmark

“I'm a huge fan of Pat and what he can bring to a company outside of purely capital. He's the type of person you want on your side, fighting the good fight. I'm now excited to be an investor in him!”

Zac Mauris

Founder of Favor