Ian Rountree

About

Ian Rountree is the visionary Founder and Managing Partner of Cantos Ventures, a San Francisco-based pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm he launched in 2016—now managing substantial funds including a $50M third vehicle—to back audacious "near frontier" startups transforming the physical world through breakthroughs in climate tech, aerospace, computational biology, next-generation computing, defense, and advanced manufacturing, with portfolio standouts like Solugen, Astranis, Radiant, and Twelve aiming for $10B+ outcomes that mitigate existential risks and elevate humanity. Shaped by a lifelong fascination with science fiction and existential challenges, Rountree studied international relations at Vanderbilt University, gained operational experience at SoFi and startups like Invisible Technologies, then bootstrapped his VC path by angel investing personal savings—forgoing business school for a "street MBA"—before building Cantos into a leading deep tech investor ranked among Insider's top seed VCs. A thoughtful writer on Medium, podcast host interviewing frontier founders, and advocate for long-term invention over short-term software plays, he champions entrepreneurs building commodities cheaper and cleaner, advancing democratic defense, and improving billions of lives through hardware and wetware innovation.