About Venture Briefing
Independent startup investment research for institutional and angel investors. Founded 2022.
Our Mission
Venture Briefing exists to reduce the information asymmetry in early-stage technology investing. The best startup research has historically been locked inside venture capital firms with multi-billion-dollar AUM. We believe that high-quality, independent analysis should be accessible to any serious investor — from family offices to individual angels — who wants to make data-informed decisions about the technology companies shaping the next decade.
Since our founding in 2022, we have published over 300 research reports covering more than 400 startups across five technology sectors. Our analysis is read by institutional allocators, venture capital partners, corporate development teams, and sophisticated individual investors.
Our Methodology
Every startup we cover is evaluated using our proprietary risk-adjusted return framework, which we have refined over three years of market coverage. The framework assesses companies across four dimensions:
Technology Differentiation
We assess whether a startup's core technology represents a genuine innovation or an incremental improvement. This includes evaluation of patents, technical architecture, and defensibility against well-resourced incumbents.
Revenue Trajectory
We benchmark revenue growth, net retention, and unit economics against stage-appropriate cohorts. A seed-stage company growing at 300% is evaluated differently from a Series B company at the same rate.
Founding Team
Domain expertise, previous exits, technical depth, and go-to-market acumen. We place particular weight on founder-market fit — the alignment between a team's experience and the problem they are solving.
Institutional Backing
Investor pedigree and round dynamics provide signal about institutional conviction. A competitive round led by a top-decile fund carries different informational weight than an inside round.
Our Team
Our five-person team combines decades of experience across investment banking, venture capital, industry analysis, and operating roles at technology companies.
Michael Torres
Previously: Goldman Sachs TMTEditor-in-Chief
Former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he spent 18 years in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications investment banking group. Michael led or advised on over $40B in technology M&A and IPO transactions, giving him a deep understanding of what makes technology companies valuable at scale. He founded Venture Briefing in 2022 to bring institutional-quality analysis to the early-stage market, where he believed the information asymmetry was greatest.
Dr. Priya Ramanathan
Previously: Gartner VP Analyst, Stanford PhDHead of Cybersecurity Research
Former VP Analyst at Gartner, where she led coverage of the cybersecurity market for seven years and authored the Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms. Priya holds a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford, with her dissertation focused on adversarial machine learning — work that now informs her analysis of AI-native security startups. Her research has been cited by over 200 enterprise CISOs in vendor selection processes.
James Whitfield
Previously: a16z Operating PartnerSenior Analyst, AI/ML
Former operating partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he worked with portfolio companies on AI strategy and go-to-market execution. James spent the preceding decade at Google Research and DeepMind, giving him a rare combination of technical depth and commercial judgment. At Venture Briefing, he evaluates AI startups on defensibility, data moats, and the often-overlooked question of inference cost economics.
Rebecca Liu
Previously: Stripe Strategy, Wharton MBASenior Analyst, Fintech
Former strategy lead at Stripe, where she worked on embedded finance partnerships and international expansion. Rebecca holds a Wharton MBA with a concentration in finance and entrepreneurial management. Before Stripe, she spent four years at McKinsey serving financial institutions through digital transformation. Her fintech coverage focuses on unit economics, regulatory moats, and distribution advantages.
Marcus Webb
Previously: Breakthrough Energy VenturesContributing Analyst, Climate/Health
Former analyst at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bill Gates's climate investment fund, where he evaluated deep-tech decarbonization startups. Marcus also completed a fellowship at the Broad Institute, bridging his interests in climate technology and healthcare innovation. As a contributing analyst, he covers both climate tech and healthtech, with a particular focus on startups navigating complex regulatory environments.
Editorial Independence
Venture Briefing is not affiliated with any venture capital fund, startup accelerator, or portfolio company. Our analysts do not hold equity positions in companies we cover, and we do not accept payment from startups for inclusion in our research. Our revenue comes exclusively from subscriptions and our annual research reports. This independence is the foundation of our credibility, and we guard it carefully.
If you believe any of our research contains an error or a conflict of interest, please contact our editorial team at [email protected]. We take corrections seriously and publish amendments within 48 hours of verification.
Last updated: March 1, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about our research or methodology?