Meridian Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Harvard Business School classmates Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney, has raised a $35 million fund focused on backing pre-seed and seed-stage startups founded by MBA graduates, particularly those from deferred MBA admission programs.
The firm emerged from the founders’ own experience in Harvard’s deferred MBA admission program, where Gethers and Haney first met in 2020.
According to Gethers, the pair built Meridian Ventures around the belief that MBA graduates can become successful startup founders despite long-standing skepticism within parts of Silicon Valley.
“Our thesis is going against a bit of the grain,” Gethers told TechCrunch, referring to the common argument that MBA programs prepare students more for corporate environments than startup building.
Founders Met Through Harvard’s Deferred MBA Program
Gethers, 29, grew up in poverty in Washington State before studying behavioral science and finance at the University of Utah. He later worked in private equity and eventually launched and exited his own company.
Haney, 28, grew up on a farm in Arkansas raising chickens and birds before studying industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas. He later worked as an investor at family office Stephens Group.
The two officially launched Meridian Ventures in 2023.
Before raising the institutional fund, Gethers and Haney first assembled a smaller $2.5 million proof-of-concept fund. According to Gethers, the pair relied heavily on cold outreach to prospective limited partners while building the firm’s early portfolio.
That initial vehicle backed 45 companies.
The founders then enrolled at Harvard Business School in summer 2023 while continuing to build the venture firm.
About a year later, they began fundraising for Meridian’s first institutional fund during what Gethers described as a difficult fundraising environment.
Despite the market conditions, the firm ultimately raised an oversubscribed $35 million fund supported by investors including publicly traded banks, family offices, and Fortune 500 executives.
Gethers and Haney graduated from Harvard Business School in 2025.
Fund Will Focus On Early-Stage Enterprise Technology
Meridian Ventures plans to invest primarily in U.S.-based enterprise technology startups.
According to Gethers, the firm is sector-agnostic within enterprise technology and has already invested in companies across fintech, logistics, healthcare, and artificial intelligence.
The firm expects average investment sizes of roughly $500,000 at the pre-seed stage and approximately $750,000 at the seed stage.
The capital is expected to be deployed over the next three years.
“We saw an expanding gap between ambitious founders building frontier technologies and the capital required to help carry those ambitions forward,” Gethers said.
“With this $35 million fund, our goal is to seal that gap,” he added.
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.