For Align Ventures, 2025 wasn’t simply another successful fundraising year; it marked a turning point in the firm’s evolution. They registered as an RIA, expanded their team, grew Assets Under Management to over $2.4B, and scaled their infrastructure to support a rapidly growing portfolio and investor base.
In our latest Fundraiser Feature, we spoke with Grant Hosking (co-founder and Managing Partner) and Nik Kolluru (COO) about how the firm navigated a year of rapid growth, why institutional infrastructure matters more than ever, and where they see the next wave of AI innovation emerging.
Congratulations on being named a Top Fundraiser for the second year in a row. Tell us about 2025. Last year, you hypothesized that growth might make fundraising more challenging. What ultimately happened?
Hosking: We had strong conviction in our thesis, coupled with a continued strong track record. There were also definitely some macro tailwinds. Capital was gravitating toward emerging industries, and AI was obviously the dominant theme in venture throughout 2025.
At Align, we’ve built exposure across several areas. AI is a major focus, but we’re also active in defense technology and still maintain a strong consumer portfolio that’s performed well.
Another factor was the performance of our first fund. It ended up ranking in the top decile with 5.4x Net MOIC (based on Pitchbook and Carta VC fund performance data as of 1H 2025). On the back of that, we successfully launched and closed a second fund while continuing to see record deal flow and new investor interest, particularly from family offices.
None of this happens without the team we've built—Ben, Nik, and the group around them are the reason we've been able to scale and maintain our small-firm feel
Kolluru: Growth brought complexity. We’ve been expanding quickly—hiring new people, investing in new sectors, and launching additional funds. That required us to institutionalize across the board.
One major step was registering as an RIA last August. That process required auditing everything we’d done historically. At the same time, we were transitioning from using Juniper Square primarily as an investor portal to full fund administration. So we were effectively running audits while also upgrading our entire operating model.
We’re already seeing that momentum carry into 2026. We have multiple large investments underway and expect capital inflows to continue growing.
Why did you decide to become an RIA?
Hosking: We want to be the kind of firm that institutional LPs can write larger checks into with confidence. RIA registration was critical and the substance behind taking our fund to the next level.
How have you differentiated Align as a partner to AI companies, and how do you separate the wheat from the chaff when looking at investment opportunities?
Hosking: It’s an extremely competitive space right now. Everyone is starting an AI company, so the key is identifying areas with real defensibility. We think the base layer of LLMs will eventually become a commodity. Our view is that the next chapter is moving AI into the physical world.
One example is our investment in Figure AI, a humanoid robotics company building robots designed to perform real work in commercial environments. They already have a fully functional robot and a vertically integrated AI stack. We believe humanoid robotics could ultimately become one of the largest industries in the world.
Another area we’re excited about is AI-native hardware. One company we’re backing, HARC AI Labs, is building a personal AI device designed to function more like a digital companion—something that can perform actions across your digital life, not just retrieve information.
We believe this year will be the year of agentic AI, and a hardware device is the natural form factor to elevate AI in our everyday lives.
Internally, how is Align using AI tools in your own operations?
Kolluru: We’re actively experimenting with various tools and agents to safely test different workflows.
One of the biggest opportunities is connecting systems that don’t naturally talk to each other. Historically, you’d solve those problems with tools like Zapier. Now AI can operate across much larger datasets and build more sophisticated automations.
Align has also begun investing in defense technology. What attracted you to that sector?
Hosking: The US is increasingly recognizing that maintaining technological leadership—especially in AI and defense tech—is critical for national security. That’s creating enormous demand for innovation in this space. From an investment standpoint, it’s also a massive and durable market. The government is a large, long-term customer with consistent spending.
We’re focused on identifying teams building technologies that meaningfully improve military capabilities while also delivering cost efficiency. We believe defense technology will be a major investment category over the next decade.
How has Juniper Square supported your growth?
Hosking: We have been partners for about five years. Juniper Square’s software interface, ease of use, and customer service are the best we’ve seen. The platform has thought through the intricacies of capital raising and investor management. We use Juniper Square for emails, capital reports, and now fund administration. It feels like an in-house part of our team.
Kolluru: Juniper Square is a force multiplier for us when we were standing up 60+ SPVs for audit while onboarding fund admin simultaneously; having everything on one platform kept us from drowning. Being able to quickly set up new offerings makes life easier and allows us to stay relatively lean for our AUM.
Looking ahead, what excites you most about Align’s next chapter?
Hosking: The scale of opportunity. AI, robotics, and defense technology—these are all industries that could define the next generation of global companies. Further, we're already seeing AI transform operations, marketing, and productivity across our consumer portfolios in ways that are showing up in real returns.
We think we're in the first inning of a generational shift in how AI intersects with the physical world—defense, robotics, consumer, hardware. Align is positioned at that intersection, and we're building the firm to match the size of the opportunity.