Scott Stanford
Co-Founder and Partner
ACME Capital
Co-Founder and Partner at ACME Capital, with prior experience as a technology investment banker and co-founder of Sherpa Capital and Silicon Foundry.
ACME Capital is a conviction-driven deep-tech venture firm that backs founders building ahead of market consensus at major platform shifts. It is strongest from Seed through Series B, especially in technically ambitious companies that can translate hard science or frontier engineering into production systems, enterprise deployments, and scalable market positions.
Evaluation weights
How much weight this firm places on each dimension. Totals 100%.
Team-led · 31%
Metrics
13%
Revenue, growth, and unit economics
Market
30%
Size, timing, and competitive landscape
Team
31%
Founder experience and execution ability
Product
26%
Differentiation and technical quality
- Non-consensus bets over consensus themes
- Hard traction over vanity metrics
- Systems and infrastructure plays over lightweight apps
- Founders who can execute through complexity over pure visionaries
Pitch difficulty
How hard it is to get a meeting and close funding from this firm.
Funded / yr
12
Deals closed in a typical year.
Led / yr
6
Rounds led in the last 12 months.
Pitches / yr
~780
Decks reviewed in a typical year.
Acceptance rate
1.5%
Share of pitches that get funded.
Estimated — public data is not fully disclosed.
Why it's hard
- Strong bias toward deep-tech and platform-shift companies excludes most conventional software startups
- Requires decisive, technically credible founders who can execute in complex markets
- Looks for hard proof points like backlog, pilots, or deployments rather than narrative alone
- Avoids incremental or weakly differentiated businesses even in popular categories
ACME is open to backing ambitious frontier companies early, but it is highly discriminating about founder quality, real technical differentiation, and evidence that the company can survive complex operational or regulatory environments. Its preference for non-consensus, category-defining businesses narrows fit significantly even though it invests across multiple stages.
Green flags
What drives a yes for this firm.
- Technically ambitious founders with decisive execution and clear ownership of hard problems
- A company positioned at a real platform shift before broader market consensus forms
- Evidence of real-world traction such as contracted backlog, enterprise pilots, or production deployments
- Defensible systems-level advantage through vertical integration, proprietary tech, or difficult execution
- A credible path to scaling into a large transformative market with plausible strategic or public exit routes
Red flags
What kills deals and gets a fast no.
- Incremental me-too software pitches with little true differentiation
- Reliance on hype metrics instead of evidence of real customer adoption
- Founders who underestimate regulation, manufacturing, procurement, or deployment complexity
- Weak or unclear route to building a large business in a transformative market
- No plausible strategic or public exit pathway despite high capital intensity
How to win
Patterns that lead to successful pitches.
- Frame the company as a platform-shift winner, not a feature-layer startup
- Show concrete proof of traction through contracts, pilots, deployments, or procurement progress
- Demonstrate why the team is uniquely equipped to navigate technical and operational complexity
- Highlight defensibility through vertical integration, proprietary tech, or systems control points
- Present a credible path to scale and a realistic long-term exit outcome
Fund strategy & identity
Who they are and how they operate.
- Primarily invests from Seed to Series B while supporting companies from Pre-Seed through Growth
- Leads a high share of early-stage rounds and writes concentrated initial checks
- Uses opportunity fund capital and SPVs to double down on breakout companies
- Focuses on U.S. companies with a selective allocation to Europe
- Prefers category-defining systems businesses over incremental point solutions
Firm identity
Deep-tech and platform-shift orientedOff-Broadway, non-consensus investorExecution-heavy and founder-conviction drivenComfortable with technical, regulatory, and operational complexityAble to lead early rounds and concentrate capital behind winners
Investment focus
Industries, themes, and typical ARR expectations.
Industries
AI/MLEnterprise SoftwareHealthcareSemiconductorsDefense & AerospaceIndustrial TechSpace Tech
Investment themes
Physical AI and industrial automation systemsEnterprise Intelligence and AI-native operating softwareFrontier Health infrastructure and clinical operations platformsNext-generation compute including quantum, analog, RF, and enabling componentsAerospace, defense, and dual-use systemsAdvanced manufacturing and vertically integrated industrial systems
Typical check by stage
Pre Seed$0.5M-$1M
Seed$1M-$7M
Series A$5M-$10M
Series B$8M-$20M
Series C$5M-$15M
Growth$10M-$50M+
Typical ARR by stage
Pre Seednot disclosed
Seednot disclosed
Series Anot disclosed
Series Bnot disclosed
Series Cnot disclosed
Growthnot disclosed
Investment thesis
Core beliefs and strategy behind their investing approach.
Decision patterns
How they evaluate and make investment decisions.
Notable investments
Key portfolio companies and why they fit the thesis.
Co-invested with
Other firms in this catalog who've backed the same companies.
Partners
Full firm roster — key partners, partners, and the wider team.
Key partners
Hany Nada
Co-Founder and Partner
ACME Capital
Co-Founder and Partner at ACME Capital, previously a co-founder and long-time Managing Partner at GGV Capital.
Alex Fayette
Partner
ACME Capital
Partner at ACME Capital focused on frontier technology companies tackling technically complex problems.
Aike Ho
Partner
ACME Capital
Partner at ACME Capital focused on frontier health, biology infrastructure, and selective consumer investments.
Christian Tang-Jespersen
Partner
ACME Capital
Partner at ACME Capital with more than 20 years of global operating experience scaling technology companies.
Public voice
Notable statements and public positions.
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