Amidst crowded landscapes, Elizabeth Weil's graffiti adventure shows that networks are still important

In an era where hundreds of new corporate funds emerged, just facing a narrow market, as exports proved slippery, Elizabeth Weill’s graffiti venture capital stands out in case studies of deep network importance.

Weil violated the contraction of many newcomers, just earning $80 million for Scribble's third fund, its largest capital raising. This milestone underscores the market confidence of Stanford graduate Weil, whose resume includes Andreessen Horowitz’s partner role, Twitter’s corporate development (now X), and a position at Silicon Valley Warts Warts IVP and Menlo Ventures.

“Everyone told me that it would be the hardest to raise,” Weal said on Monday's call after completing a five-30 run and swimming. She said eventually, the company exceeded the $75 million hard cap after extending the fundraising period by three weeks.

In many people believe that graffiti success is emerging in estimates of the venture capital industry, especially for new managers who emerged during the 2020-2021 fund boom, meaningful distribution of earnings to investors (DPIs).

“Being a harvester is also part of venture capital,” Will observes. “There are so many emerging managers who have never experienced this part.”

What sets Tuya apart is what Weil calls the “Tuya Network”, a well-educated ecosystem of operators and executives who not only provide help with transaction traffic and due diligence, but also invest with the company. The network includes figures like Maggie Hott, who led the market at Openai; Jim Everingham, Vice President of Meta Engineering; and Sheila Vashee of Figama CMO.

Will's husband Kevin Weil added another powerful dimension to the company's network. As Chief Product Officer of OpenAI and a member of the Cisco Board of Directors, his technical and product expertise complements Elizabeth’s investment and company development background.

“We told our founders, ‘Who do you want to meet the extension network?’” “When they looked at that market list and menu, they said, ‘Can I text this person?’ That was incredible.”

This approach helped Tuya successfully make successful early bets on companies like live auction platform Whatnot, which hit a valuation of nearly $5 billion in January; Atmo is a suit founded by former Googlers focusing on AI-powered hyper-professional weather forecasts; poolside.

Other portfolio companies that now have $216 million in asset management include SpaceX and Figma.

Scribble usually writes checks of $750,000 to $1.5 million, avoiding strict ownership goals that may not be able to work with other investors.

“I think the way to say 'we have to get 14% or walk' is not the way to start a relationship,” Will not.

Weill said the first fund the company raised in 2020 has already shown strong performance in multiples of four, thanks in part to the early allocation of cryptocurrency positions at Mysten and Aptos.

With the current focus on AI changing startup landscape, Weil sees the clearest opportunity to adopt a Scribble collaboration approach.

“I think this is the best time to be a startup, but it’s the most difficult time because there’s so much noise,” she said. “Everyone knows how to crack the channel, find the product market fit and go public more than ever.”

Above, from left to right, the graffiti risk team, including Christen O'Brien (operating partner); John Smothers (partner); Elizabeth Will; and Kevin Weil (resident operator).