Donna Fairfax
Managing Partner
42°14′30″N 70°45′55″WFl(1+4+3) 45s
First cheque.Ten years.
- Cheque
- $2M–$12M
- Position
- Lead, board seat
- Held
- Ten years
Cohasset Ventures leads seed rounds in ports, grids and factory floors, and backs founders who have run the terminal, the substation or the line. One partner owns the relationship for the life of the investment, and you hear back on a deck inside five working days.
- First fund
- 2011
- Companies
- 41
- Under management
- $520M
- Exits
- 9
The firm
Cohasset, Massachusetts.
And an investment team in Boston.
The physical economy runs on software nobody in venture had ever seen work.
We started in 2011, in a boatyard office on the harbour, because the companies rebuilding ports and grids were being funded by people who had never stood on a quay at three in the morning. Fourteen years later we still work from the same room.
We lead seed and Series A rounds with first cheques between $2M and $12M, and we take a board seat. One partner owns the relationship for the life of the investment — the person who backed you is the person you call, and nobody hands you to a deal team after closing.
Twenty-five people work here. Nine of them ran operations at industrial companies before they ran money, which is why our first question is usually about your maintenance schedule rather than your multiple.
We would rather be the only cheque in a hard round than the fifth in an easy one.
What we look for
A founder who has done the job
Someone who has stood on the quay, walked the substation, or run the line at 3am. Domain knowledge you cannot read your way into.
A customer who already pays
One signed operator, however small the contract. In this market a pilot that survives a winter tells us more than a forecast.
A decade of patience on both sides
Industrial sales cycles run in years. We hold for ten, and we say so before the term sheet, not after.
Team
Twenty-five people, and the watch is always stood by a partner.
- Headcount
- 25
- Offices
- 2
Ted Rettich
Managing Partner
Mary Hartley
General Partner
Samuel Marlowe
General Partner
Laura Dashwood
General Partner
Jessica Wexford
Partner
Gary Winslow
Partner
Jessica Delacroix
Partner
Gregory Middleton
Principal
Lisa Sherwood
Principal
Justin Wexford
Principal
Katherine Alden
Investor
Matthew Osgood
Investor
Michelle Ingram
Investor
Andrew Colvin
Investor
Jennifer Ellison
Head of Platform
Douglas Hathaway
Head of Talent
Elizabeth Trumbull
Head of Research
Robert Pemberton
Chief Financial Officer
Caroline Vance
General Counsel
Rachel Sandborne
Director of Data
Peter Ashcroft
Director of Communications
Nancy Whitcomb
Investor Relations
Thomas Prescott
Head of Operations
Susan Bellamy
Portfolio Controller
Open desk
We are hiring an investor for the grid practice, in Boston.
Four years in power markets or utility software, and a willingness to spend a third of the year on site. No banking prerequisite.