Pre-consensus investment firmNew York City
Pre-consensus.
Pace Capital leads Series A rounds for founders building before the market catches up — from New York, with conviction and deep, hands-on partnership.
The firm, in plain text
We invest before
it’s obvious.
Pace Capital is a New York venture firm founded in 2019 by Chris Paik and Jordan Cooper. It leads pre-consensus Series A rounds in AI-native software, developer tools, and consumer — roughly $400M across two funds. We lead, stay concentrated, and go deep with a small number of founders for the whole arc.
Two GPs, no committee. A partner can simply say yes.
Fund I ~$150M (2019), Fund II ~$250M (2021).
Selectively seed; occasional follow-on into Series B for our own.
Concentrated, high-conviction bets we can stay close to — the whole way.
The thesis · Chris Paik
Software is becoming free.
We back what happens next.
The whole argument in five steps — the same worldview that led us into the interface layer, agent infrastructure, and, literally, the router.
- 01
Software is becoming free.
Large language models are driving the marginal cost of creating software toward zero. The thing that used to be scarce — the ability to build — is becoming abundant.
The cost of creation is going to zero.
- 02
So software gets a Cambrian explosion.
The same thing that happened to media when the internet zeroed out creation and distribution happens to software: not fewer high-margin winners, but many purpose-built ones, made for a moment and a person.
Not fewer winners — many, purpose-built.
- 03
Companies become constellations.
A software company stops being one monolith and becomes a constellation of purpose-built applications, each competing for a slice of user intent.
Constellations of purpose-built apps.
- 04
So the moat moves.
When the software itself is cheap, value shifts to whoever controls distribution and routes user intent effectively. Distribution and intent-routing become the new moat. (Openness doesn't win on principle — it wins when it's more convenient.)
Distribution and intent-routing are the new moat.
- 05
So we invest pre-consensus.
We back these ideas before they're obvious — with urgency, conviction, and a small number of founders we can go deep with. We optimize for alignment rather than outcomes.
We invest before it's obvious.
The signature · Intent-routing
Pachinko is a routing machine.
Drop a ball, it routes to a slot — that’s the whole thesis, and it’s Pace’s own board. Pick what you’re building. Watch your intent route to the company that proves we already get it — then to a partner who can say yes.
What are you building?
The thesis, literally. We backed the layer that routes intent across every model.
then to a partner who can say yes. Two GPs, no committee.
Portfolio · The thesis in action
Interfaces, agents,
and, literally, routing.
Roughly two dozen companies across two funds. The throughline is one idea: whoever routes user intent wins.
OpenRouter
One API that routes any prompt to any model — intent-routing as a business.
LatestTypesense
Open-source search. The oldest way software routes human intent.
The Browser Company
Arc and Dia — the interface layer, where every intent begins.
Acquired · AtlassianAltStore
An alternative app store. Distribution, wrested open.
ComfyUI
Open-source node graphs for generative AI workflows.
Cline
An autonomous coding agent living inside your editor.
Daytona
Secure, elastic sandboxes for AI agents to actually run in.
NetBird
Open-source, WireGuard-based network security. We led the Series A.
Led · Series ATrolley
The platform for paying people across borders.
Dework
Coordination and contribution tooling for open communities.
Holobiome
Mapping the gut–brain axis of the human microbiome.
Tophatter
Live, real-time discovery commerce — routing attention to product.
Mulberry
Product protection, embedded into the checkout.
Selected investments. Notable outcomes include The Browser Company (acquired by Atlassian).
The partners · Two GPs, no committee
A partner can simply say yes.
Pace is two general partners who read every deal themselves. No committee, no gauntlet — a fast, direct conversation with the person who writes the check.
Chris Paik
Co-Founder & General Partner
Previously a partner at Thrive Capital, where his track record includes early bets on Twitch, Unity, and Patreon. He thinks in frameworks — compressing messy reality into clean, provocative distinctions — and invests with urgency in pre-consensus ideas.
“My ideas, typed and said.”
Jordan Cooper
Co-Founder & General Partner
A former founder (Wildcard) with a long history in New York venture. He writes plainly, doesn't spell-check (“deal with it”), and built Pace around a single belief: a firm is the community it keeps, not the marketing it runs.
“The brand is the aggregate of the community it builds. Everything else is just hype.”
Writing · Frameworks
The thinking behind
the checks.
Both partners write in the open. The frameworks below are the clearest way to know how we see the world — read them before you pitch.
Questions, answered
The plain-text version.
Who runs Pace Capital?
Pace Capital is run by its two co-founders and general partners, Chris Paik and Jordan Cooper. Chris was previously a partner at Thrive Capital (early Twitch, Unity, and Patreon); Jordan is a former founder with a long history in New York venture. There is no investment committee — a partner can commit directly.
What stage and check size does Pace Capital lead?
Pace leads and co-leads primarily at Series A, and selectively at seed. It runs a low-volume, concentrated model — a small number of high-conviction investments per fund — and will follow on into Series B for existing portfolio companies.
What does Pace Capital invest in?
Pace backs pre-consensus, AI-native software: the interface layer, developer tools, agent infrastructure, and — literally — intent-routing (it backed OpenRouter). The throughline is Chris Paik's thesis that as software becomes free, value shifts to whoever controls distribution and routes user intent.
How do I pitch Pace Capital?
Email a partner directly — chris@pacecapital.com or jordan@pacecapital.com — with a short note on what you're building and why now. Two GPs, no committee, fast decisions. Send the idea, not the ceremony.
Who has Pace Capital backed?
Portfolio companies include OpenRouter, The Browser Company (Arc/Dia, acquired by Atlassian), ComfyUI, Cline, NetBird, Daytona, Typesense, Trolley, AltStore, Dework, and Holobiome, among roughly two dozen investments across two funds.
Where is Pace Capital based?
Pace Capital is based in New York City, at 6 West 9th Street. It was founded there in 2019 and invests globally.
Contact · Pitch
Send the idea,
not the ceremony.
We lead Series A rounds, and seed when the conviction is there. Email a partner directly with what you’re building and why now. No form, no committee — just a fast, direct read from someone who can say yes.
At Pace, we believe you make your own luck.