Notation Capital is a pre-seed venture fund based in New York City. The firm focuses on backing founders at the earliest possible stage, often before a product exists or a team is fully formed. Notation operates with a thesis that the most important work a seed investor can do happens in the first meeting, not the follow-on round.
The fund was founded by Nicholas Chirls, a former partner at betaworks, and Alex Lines. Both built their careers in the New York technology ecosystem before launching Notation around 2015–2016. Chirls has been a vocal advocate for the pre-seed category and has written publicly about fund construction and portfolio theory. Public information about total AUM or fund sizes is limited, as Notation has not disclosed these figures openly.
The firm's geographic focus is primarily the United States, with a particular concentration in New York. Notation has invested across software, infrastructure, and consumer categories. Its exposure to crypto and blockchain projects reflects a broader interest in decentralized protocols and developer tooling rather than a dedicated crypto mandate.
Notable investments
Notation's portfolio spans early-stage technology companies. Within the crypto and Web3 space, the firm has backed projects focused on developer infrastructure and consumer-facing applications. Specific confirmed crypto portfolio names from public sources are limited at the time of writing. The firm's Crunchbase profile lists 13 portfolio companies in the venture category, though deal sizes and co-investors are not consistently disclosed.
- Public information about individual crypto portfolio company names is limited. Notation has not maintained a fully public portfolio page.
- The fund is known for writing small initial checks at pre-seed, then selectively following on in later rounds.
- Several portfolio companies have gone on to raise Series A and Series B rounds from top-tier funds, though Notation rarely announces these publicly.
For a partial view of disclosed investments, see Notation Capital on Crunchbase.
Team
Nicholas Chirls is the most publicly visible member of the team. Before Notation, he worked at betaworks, the New York studio and fund known for building and investing in early-stage internet companies. He has spoken at conferences and published writing on seed-stage investing, portfolio construction, and the pre-seed market. Alex Lines co-founded the firm alongside Chirls. Public biographical detail on Lines is limited beyond his role as co-founder.
Recent activity
Public information about Notation Capital's deal activity in 2024–2026 is limited. The firm does not issue regular press releases and rarely appears in funding announcements. This is consistent with its pre-seed focus, where many investments are made before companies are ready to announce publicly. No fund closes or major strategic pivots have been reported in the 12–18 months leading up to mid-2026.
Notation operates in a segment of the market that remains active despite broader venture slowdowns: pre-seed checks into very early companies tend to be less sensitive to rate cycles than later-stage growth equity. The firm's New York base positions it well within a startup ecosystem that has grown steadily as an alternative to Silicon Valley. Whether Notation has deepened its crypto exposure or pulled back in line with wider Web3 market conditions is not publicly documented.