what we believe
Software, unless it is differentiated by data or by distribution, will find it hard to build not just a venture-scale business, but a sustainable one.
Code is getting cheaper by the month. The moat is moving to the things AI cannot copy overnight: the data you own, the distribution you command, and services rebuilt from the ground up. That is where we build and where we invest.
01
The slope of automation is only increasing, quarter after quarter. Services businesses rebuilt around AI ride that curve, delivering outcomes at a cost and speed that traditional firms cannot match.
in the portfolio: QuickAds, Creative Row, Easy Small Claims
02
Businesses with a data advantage, either upfront or one they are systematically building toward. Features get copied. Proprietary data compounds.
03
Distribution first, network second. Every new customer or partner makes the product more valuable for the next one, and that gap widens with time.
Four industries excite us most. They are a starting point, not a fence. We believe the best ideas come bottoms-up, so we follow the founder and the problem, not a sector map.
QuickAds, Creative Row
Easy Small Claims
especially in the US
Stripe, Parafin, AngelList
Dear reader,
I have spent my career on both sides of the table: early at two startups that became unicorns, advising large companies as a Partner at McKinsey, and now building QuickAds.
One lesson keeps repeating. Great businesses are rarely great because of the software alone. They win on the data they own or the distribution they command. AI makes that truer than ever, because code is becoming cheap and the moats are moving elsewhere.
88 Ventures is how I act on that belief: by building companies myself, and by backing founders who see it too. We are patient, and we are in this for the long run.
Nitin
Nitin Mahajan, Founder