Valor Ventures
Technology Focus Areas (Top 4): Autonomy; Food; Detection & Sensing; Infrastructure
Series: Seed
Location: Atlanta, GA
Valor Ventures: Complete History and Impact
The Atlanta Pioneer Story
Valor Ventures has a pretty remarkable founding story. Back in 2015, Lisa Calhoun launched what would become the first woman-led institutional VC fund in Georgia. Based in Atlanta, Valor started with a clear mission: pair capital with courage to back extraordinary founders, particularly those who might be overlooked by coastal VCs.
The firm's geographic focus is intentionally different – they concentrate on the U.S. Southeast, with about 90% of their portfolio coming from that region. This isn't just about being regional; it's strategic. The Southeast is home to 40% of the U.S. population and a growing tech ecosystem that was massively underserved by venture capital when Valor started.
From day one, Valor embraced what they call an "Inclusion Premium" philosophy – the idea that investing in underrepresented founders can unlock outsized returns. This wasn't just feel-good investing; it was based on data showing that diverse founding teams deliver 30% higher returns than homogeneous teams.
Building the Fund Portfolio
Valor's fundraising journey shows steady, impressive growth across three funds:
Fund I (2016): $5 Million Their debut fund was small but mighty, backing 8 companies over three years. This was Lisa Calhoun proving the concept that you could build a successful VC fund outside of Silicon Valley while focusing on underrepresented founders.
Fund II (2019-2021): $21 Million The second fund was centered around financial inclusion, investing in startups that expand access to financial services. Despite targeting $25 million, they closed at $21 million – still more than four times their first fund. This showed that institutional investors were buying into Valor's thesis.
Fund III (2025): $27 Million The latest fund is about 28% larger than Fund II, focusing on seed-stage B2B AI and SaaS companies in the South. What's impressive is that they raised this during one of the most challenging VC fundraising environments in years. Fund III includes new institutional LPs like pension funds and banks alongside returning investors, plus notable backers like Delta Air Lines and Georgia Tech Foundation.
Their typical check sizes range from $500K to $3M depending on the round, and they primarily lead or co-lead seed rounds. Across all funds, they've participated in about 37 deals with 13 as lead investor.
The Team
Valor's leadership brings together an impressive mix of venture experience, operational expertise, and deep community connections.
Lisa Calhoun – Founding Managing Partner Lisa is the driving force behind Valor's success. She's been recognized as Atlanta's Investor of the Year 2024 and named one of Business Insider's top 30 women early-stage investors. Before VC, she was a successful tech entrepreneur who founded a digital marketing agency that HubSpot ranked in their top 10 for startups.
Lisa is also a Kauffman Fellow and frequent speaker at industry events, recently appearing at NASDAQ, SuperReturn, and KPMG conferences. She co-hosts the Atlanta Startup Podcast and founded the nonprofit Startup Runway to connect underrepresented founders with investors. Her combination of operational experience and community building has been crucial to Valor's success.
Gary Peat – General Partner Gary brings 25+ years of venture experience in the Southeast. He was previously General Partner at Council Capital since 2000, leading dozens of early-stage deals including some notable successes like investing in TurboTax at seed stage. At Valor, Gary focuses on sourcing and evaluating seed deals, bringing deep expertise in cloud/SaaS investments in the region.
Robin Bienfait – Operating Partner Robin is a seasoned technology executive who joined as a founding partner in Fund II. She's a former CIO/CTO at BlackBerry and Chief Enterprise Innovation Officer at Samsung, holding 15 technology patents. Robin leads Valor's technical diligence process and connects portfolio companies with enterprise partnerships.
She also founded Atlanta Tech Park, a 45,000 sq.ft. innovation center that serves as a startup hub and one of Valor's platform resources. Her corporate leadership experience and network have been instrumental in guiding founders on tech strategy and enterprise sales.
Lynne Laube – Operating Partner Lynne's addition to the team in late 2022 was a major coup. She co-founded Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX) and as its COO/CEO took it public in 2018, becoming one of the few women to lead a tech IPO. During her tenure, she raised over $1 billion in capital while scaling Cardlytics into a global leader in purchase analytics.
After stepping down from Cardlytics, she chose to "pay it forward" by investing in and advising Valor's portfolio. Having been an LP in Fund II, she officially joined as an Operating Partner for Fund III. Her presence gives Valor founders access to someone who's actually built and scaled a public company.
Jean-Luc VanHulst – Operating Partner (CTO) Jean-Luc is a serial software entrepreneur who leads Valor's internal tech platform "Vic" – an AI-augmented system that Valor uses for sourcing and operations. He previously built and sold a software development firm and now oversees fund administration and technical diligence. His work on "Vic" shows how Valor innovatively uses AI in their own operations.
Extended Network Valor has built an impressive network of 11 venture partners across Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Notable venture partners include former Mailchimp VP Sean Cook (who helped scale Mailchimp to its $12B exit), former Cardlytics executives, and successful entrepreneur George Azih (whose company LeaseQuery became FinQuery – more on that success below).
Media
Despite being a relatively small fund, Valor punches well above its weight in media and thought leadership.
Press Coverage Valor regularly gets covered in startup and venture news, especially in the Southeast. Hypepotamus (Atlanta's startup news site) has profiled all their fund launches, and national outlets have taken notice too. In 2023, NASDAQ's Top Quartile podcast featured Lisa Calhoun discussing VC trends and finding value in overlooked markets.
Lisa's recognition extends beyond just media coverage – Startup Atlanta honored her as Investor of the Year in 2024, reflecting Valor's growing impact on the regional startup ecosystem.
Speaking Circuit Lisa is a frequent speaker at major industry events, delivering keynotes at conferences like SuperReturn and the Kauffman Fellows Summit. She's even spoken at Nasdaq's MarketSite about venture innovation. In panels, she advocates for greater transparency and inclusion in VC, sharing how collecting feedback from founders and creating content builds better LP relationships.
Original Content Valor actively publishes thought leadership through their blog called "The Real Deal," offering venture capital perspectives from Atlanta. These posts cover startup best practices, industry research, and Valor's investment philosophy. Lisa has written pieces like "Our Inclusion Premium Investing Philosophy" and annual Venture Capital Impact Reports highlighting the firm's demographic and regional impact.
They also produce multimedia content. Lisa co-hosts the Atlanta Startup Podcast, which has become a go-to source for Atlanta's tech community. The firm occasionally shares video content, like Gary and Lisa's seminar "Lessons Learned in 100 VC Financings in the Southeast."
Portfolio Success Stories
Valor's mission goes beyond just returns – they're trying to make a positive impact on the startup ecosystem by funding diverse founders in underserved markets. Their track record speaks for itself.
The Inclusion Premium in Action By 2020, over 50% of Valor's portfolio companies had a female founder and 40%+ had a founder of color. For context, industry averages in 2019 were only around 11.5% female-founded and less than 1% Black-founded, so Valor's portfolio was dramatically more diverse.
Through their Startup Runway program, they've connected nearly 100 underrepresented founders to their first investors, helping those founders raise almost $100 million in aggregate follow-on capital. This platform is the largest pitch forum in the U.S. for women and minority founders.
Notable Exits While Valor's funds are still relatively young, they've already seen some impressive exits. The Gathering Spot (TGS), a private membership club for Black professionals that Valor backed, was acquired by Greenwood Inc. in 2022 in a deal reportedly valued around $50 million. This was heralded as a significant "Black-on-Black" M&A milestone in Atlanta's ecosystem.
Another major success is LeaseQuery (now FinQuery), an Atlanta-based fintech SaaS company led by CEO George Azih. Valor was an early seed investor, and LeaseQuery became one of Atlanta's biggest B2B success stories. The company achieved 708% revenue growth from 2017-2019 and raised a $40 million Series A led by Goldman Sachs in 2019.
Portfolio Recognition Many Valor-backed startups have distinguished themselves with industry awards and recognition:
Saile, a Charlotte-based AI sales startup, was named to G2's Top 100 Fastest Growing Technology Companies for 2025
STEMuli, a Dallas-based edtech company, won the United Nations' global "AI for Good" competition in 2024
Visalaw.ai received the 2024 American Legal Technology Award for AI Innovation
Arpio made CRN's list of the 10 Hottest Data Storage Startups of 2024
FinQuery was rated G2's Best Real Estate Software for 2025
Follow-on Success Many Valor companies have attracted follow-on funding from prominent VCs, showing that Valor's early picks are gaining broader investor confidence. Notable co-investors and follow-on investors include Jeff Bezos's Expeditions, Draper Associates, Blumberg Capital, Google, Mastercard, and the Gates Foundation.
This pattern shows how Valor acts as a springboard – their initial capital plus strategic guidance enables startups to gain traction, win customers, and then "graduate" to larger coastal VCs or strategic acquirers.
Regional Impact Valor's impact extends beyond individual companies to the broader Southeast ecosystem. Their presence has coincided with a surge in Southern venture activity. According to Carta's data shared at Valor's 2024 meeting, the U.S. South is now approaching the Northeast in share of VC rounds and even surpassing it in M&A activity.
Programs like the Atlanta Startup Podcast and Startup Runway have provided platforms for Southern founders to gain exposure, increasing deal flow and inclusion in the ecosystem. Valor also partners with local corporates like Cox Enterprises and Georgia Power to channel resources to underrepresented entrepreneurs.
The Valor Difference
What makes Valor special isn't just their focus on underrepresented founders or their regional approach – it's how they combine these elements with genuine operational support and community building.
Their team brings real operational expertise. Lynne Laube took a company public and raised over $1 billion. Robin Bienfait was a Fortune 500 executive with 15+ patents. Gary Peat has 25+ years of venture experience in the region. This isn't just capital – it's guidance from people who've actually built and scaled companies.
Valor's "Inclusion Premium" philosophy has proven prescient. Their portfolio demographics were ahead of industry trends, and those diverse teams are now delivering results. The firm's mantra, "Courage is the currency of innovation," reflects how they back courageous founders while showing courage themselves in carving out a new regional venture model.
Their use of technology, like their AI-powered "Vic" platform, shows they're not just talking about innovation – they're implementing it in their own operations. And their commitment to transparency and community building through content, events, and nonprofit work has created a virtuous cycle that strengthens the entire Southeast ecosystem.
Looking Forward
Valor Ventures represents something important in the venture world – proof that you can build a successful fund outside traditional tech hubs while focusing on underrepresented founders. Their three funds show steady growth, their team combines venture expertise with operational experience, and their portfolio is delivering both returns and impact.
With Fund III's $27 million now being deployed into seed-stage B2B AI and SaaS companies across the South, Valor is positioned to continue leading this regional transformation. They've shown that innovation thrives far beyond Silicon Valley when given the right support, and their model of combining capital with courage is creating lasting change in the startup landscape.
The firm's history from 2015 to present is one of steady growth and significant impact – from Lisa Calhoun breaking barriers as the first woman to launch a VC fund in Georgia to building a portfolio that's validating the power of inclusive investing while strengthening the entire Southeast tech ecosystem.
