DFX Intelligence
Venture Capital Intelligence
Firms, funds, partners, companies and rounds from sworn filings, firm sites and announcements, kept as a graph with a date and a source on every edge. Facts, inferences and estimates are labelled as such. A fund target is never a close, GAV is never dry powder, and a round size is never an investor’s check.
Firms / Positive Sum Advisors LLC
Positive Sum Advisors LLC
We back founders pursuing their life’s work.
venture manager, reported GAV $101M across 6 vehicles
Importance
39
elevated
Active deployment
55
elevated
Emerging
0
low
Completeness
63
high
Freshness
100
high
Research priority
21
moderate
Identity and regulatory footprint
- Headquarters
- Greenwich, CTadviserinfo.sec.gov
- Office address
- 47 ARCH STREET, Greenwich, CT, 06830-6512adviserinfo.sec.gov
- Business phone
- 203-208-8365adviserinfo.sec.gov
- SEC adviser type
- exempt reporting adviseradviserinfo.sec.gov
- SEC exemption claimed
- venture capital fund adviseradviserinfo.sec.govItem 2.B(1): advises solely venture capital funds
- Latest Form ADV
- Mar 27, 2026
- Private funds reported
- 5 (5 venture capital funds)adviserinfo.sec.gov
- Private fund gross assets
- $820Madviserinfo.sec.govreported GAV of the funds, the adviser's own number; not fund size, not dry powder
- business phone
- (210) 857-8557adviserinfo.sec.govpublished by the subject
- business phone
- 203-208-8365adviserinfo.sec.govpublished by the subject
Stated thesis versus observed behaviour
27 observed deals
Stated (the firm’s website)
- Sectors
- not stated or not yet read
- Stages
- not stated or not yet read
- Geography
- not stated
- Check size
- not stated; DFX does not estimate checks from round sizes
Observed (from deals on record)
Stage at participation: no observed deals yet
Stage at first entry: no observed deals yet
Sectors
unknown 85%Other 7%Other Technology 7%
lead rate n/afollow-on rate n/anew logos, 12 months 27
Funds and vehicles
6 reported
| Vehicle | Type | Vintage | Lifecycle | Reported GAV | Owners | Form D sold | Latest Form D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive Sum EAI Holdings, LLC | Fund | 2026 form d first sale | Newly closed | unknown | unknown | $42.5M of $42.5M | Mar 13, 2026 |
| Positive Sum SR Holdings, LLC | Fund | 2025 form d first sale | Newly closed | unknown | unknown | $5.3M of $5.3M | Mar 24, 2026 |
| Positive Sum Capital III, L.P. | Fund | 2024 form d first sale | Newly closed | unknown | unknown | $185M of $400M | Dec 12, 2024 |
| Positive Sum Capital II - Aa, L.P. | Fund | 2022 form d first sale | Active deployment | $1.5M Mar 6, 2024 | 7 | $8.5M of $100M | May 23, 2022 |
| Positive Sum Capital, L.P. | Fund | 2020 form d first sale | Mature | $67.1M Mar 6, 2024 | 45 | $63.5M of $125M | Oct 14, 2020 |
| Positive Sum Capital II - Qp LP | Feeder or parallel | unknown | Unknown | $31.9M Mar 6, 2024 | 34 | unknown | unknown |
GAV is the gross asset value the adviser reported on Form ADV for the vehicle, never the fund’s committed size and never dry powder. Form D sold is the amount sold as of the latest filing, never a final close.
Investment team
2 current, 0 departed
Patrick Walker O'Shaughnessy
Founder or executiveChief Executive Officer · since Jun 1, 2020
Samuel Blake Cates
PartnerManaging Director · since Nov 1, 2020
Investments on record
27 edges, 27 companies, 0 partner-attributed
“This investor” is the amount disclosed for this investor alone; it is unknown unless a source said it. The round size is the whole round.
Co-investors
40 relationships from shared deals, counted for the whole firm
137 Ventures Management, LLC 4 shared · strongAvenir Management Company, LLC 4 shared · strongLUX Capital Management, LLC 3 shared · recurringKhosla Ventures, LLC 3 shared · recurringSouth Park Commons Management 2 shared · recurringVelvet Sea Ventures 1 shared · one timeCanaan Partners 1 shared · one timeEmergence Equity Management, Inc 1 shared · one timeVillage Global Management, L.L.C. 1 shared · one timeMotley Fool Ventures 1 shared · one timeUpslope Venture Fund I, LLC 1 shared · one timeRadical Ventures 1 shared · one timeScribble Ventures Management, LLC 1 shared · one timeG Squared Equity LLC 1 shared · one timeEastlink Capital Management, LLC 1 shared · one timeDiagram Corporation 1 shared · one timeAz-Vc, LLC 1 shared · one timeElefund Management Company, LLC 1 shared · one timeAlleycorp Advisers, LLC 1 shared · one timeSpero Management Company, LLC 1 shared · one timeFactorial Funds Management LLC 1 shared · one timeSolari Capital Management LLC 1 shared · one timeBrewer Lane Management, LLC 1 shared · one timeAmplify Partners 1 shared · one timeHummingbird Ventures V US GP LLC 1 shared · one timeMontage Ventures 1 shared · one timeAdverb Ventures Management, LLC 1 shared · one timeUpper90 1 shared · one timeValor Equity Partners 1 shared · one timeInfinity Investment Management Holdings, LLC 1 shared · one timeRosecliff Venture Management, LLC 1 shared · one timeDenver Angels 1 shared · one timeMenlo Ventures 1 shared · one timeShrug, LLC 1 shared · one timeMV Advisers LLP 1 shared · one timeTrive Capital Management LLC 1 shared · one timeK5 1 shared · one timeScout Vc, LLC 1 shared · one timeCity Light Capital Management III, LLC 1 shared · one timeNyca Management LLC 1 shared · one time
Limited partners
0 disclosed
No LP commitment on record. An LP edge needs a public disclosure with a quote: a pension report (see Limited partners for the plans read), a fund announcement naming the LP, or a Form ADV owner. The fund page carries the LP’s reported performance.
Timeline
6 dated events
- Sep 12, 2026Passthrough: acquired by iCapital on or before 2026-09-12 (no date published), per Positive Sum Advisors LLC's portfolio page
- Sep 12, 2026Tegus: acquired by AlphaSense on or before 2026-09-12 (no date published), per Positive Sum Advisors LLC's portfolio page
- Dec 8, 2022Positive Sum Advisors LLC first filed Form ADV (ERA, venture capital fund adviser exemption)First SEC adviser filingOrganizationFactSEC Form ADV filing data 2011 to 2024 (every filing, Schedule D 7.B.(1) private funds, Schedules A/B)
- Dec 8, 2022Positive Sum Capital II - Qp LP first reported on Form ADV by Positive Sum Advisors LLC (Venture Capital Fund), GAV $31,947,000Fund first reported on Form ADVFundsFactPositive Sum Capital II - Qp LPSEC Form ADV filing data 2011 to 2024 (every filing, Schedule D 7.B.(1) private funds, Schedules A/B)
- Dec 8, 2022Positive Sum Capital, L.P. first reported on Form ADV by Positive Sum Advisors LLC (Venture Capital Fund), GAV $67,148,000Fund first reported on Form ADVFundsFactPositive Sum Capital, L.P.SEC Form ADV filing data 2011 to 2024 (every filing, Schedule D 7.B.(1) private funds, Schedules A/B)
- Dec 8, 2022Positive Sum Capital II - Aa, L.P. first reported on Form ADV by Positive Sum Advisors LLC (Venture Capital Fund), GAV $1,505,000Fund first reported on Form ADVFundsFactPositive Sum Capital II - Aa, L.P.SEC Form ADV filing data 2011 to 2024 (every filing, Schedule D 7.B.(1) private funds, Schedules A/B)
Classification history
- Sep 15, 2026Institutional venture firm (confirmed, 95%, cls-1)venture manager, reported GAV $101M across 6 vehicles
- Sep 12, 2026Institutional venture firm (confirmed, 95%, cls-1)venture manager, reported GAV $69M across 5 vehicles
- Sep 12, 2026Institutional venture firm (confirmed, 95%, cls-1)venture manager, reported GAV $69M across 2 vehicles
Evidence
40 observations from 3 sources