Lauren Kolodny

Who they are

Lauren Kolodny is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Acrew Capital — she co-founded the firm in 2019 with Theresia Gouw after leaving Aspect Ventures, holds an MS in Sustainable Design from Stanford, and sits on the board of Alumni Ventures.

Person

Lauren started at Brown University, graduating magna cum laude in International Relations and Economic Development — a foundation that explains her early move to the Clinton Foundation, where she worked on clean technology partnerships. From there she went to Google in product marketing, then into venture at Aspect Ventures as a Partner. In 2019, she and Theresia Gouw co-founded Acrew Capital from scratch — a multi-stage firm focused on fintech, data security, and digital health. Outside the fund she serves as an independent board member at Alumni Ventures and as Trustee Emerita and member of the President's Leadership Council at Brown. She holds an MBA and an MS in Sustainable Design from Stanford — an unusual dual degree that signals she thinks about technology with an eye on systems and impact. The through-line is institution-building with a mission edge: from development work at the Clinton Foundation to co-founding a firm with a 600+ person operator network. She speaks at SALT, Money 20/20, and the FT Partners Women in FinTech panel, and has appeared on the FinTech Silicon Valley podcast — her public voice centers on early-stage investing, fintech infrastructure, and financial inclusion.

Company

Acrew's most recent moves in early 2026 signal a firm leaning into AI infrastructure: in January 2026, Aliisa Rosenthal — formerly OpenAI's head of sales — joined as a general partner, the most notable team expansion in the firm's recent history. In early 2026, Acrew led an $8.5 million seed round for Veris AI, a platform for training and testing AI agents in simulated environments, and led a $30 million Series B for Moderne, a developer platform for AI-supported code refactoring. In April 2026, Acrew led a $20 million Series A extension for Nomad Homes, a software-enabled residential real estate marketplace in Europe and the Middle East. This comes after the firm closed $700 million in new capital as of October 2024, bringing assets under management to over $1.7 billion — alongside a portfolio track record that includes exits from Figma, Scale AI, and Vanta.

Market

Acrew plays across early- to growth-stage venture with a portfolio of 146 companies including 15 unicorns, 4 IPOs, and 32 acquisitions — investing primarily in Series A rounds in the US, competing with multi-stage generalist funds as well as sector-focused peers. Its portfolio anchor names — Chime, Coinbase, Bilt, Vanta, Gusto, and Klar — put it squarely in fintech and security infrastructure, sectors now being reshaped by AI tooling and tightening regulatory scrutiny. Geopolitical dynamics and data-localization rules are adding complexity to cross-border growth for portfolio companies, a theme that is shaping how venture firms construct and support their portfolios in 2026.

Network

Lauren's closest professional anchor is Theresia Gouw, with whom she co-founded both Aspect Ventures and Acrew Capital — a long-running partnership that predates the firm by years. The January 2026 addition of Aliisa Rosenthal, former sales leader at OpenAI, as a general partner is the newest named node in her immediate team. Beyond the partnership, Acrew's structured 600+ person 'Crew of Leaders' operator community gives Lauren broad reach into senior operators across fintech, security, and health.

Theresia Gouw· Co-founder, Acrew Capital
Aliisa Rosenthal· General Partner, Acrew Capital (joined January 2026)
Kevin Levitt· NVIDIA (co-panelist, Money 20/20 'Everything is Fintech')

How they likely show up

Co-founded Acrew from scratch with Theresia Gouw in 2019 → comfortable building institutions rather than joining them; likely has a strong opinion on firm culture and structure.
Dual Stanford degrees (MBA + MS in Sustainable Design) alongside a BA in Economic Development → brings a systems-level lens to problem-solving, not just financial returns.
Early career at the Clinton Foundation on clean tech partnerships before Google and venture → mission orientation is baked in early, not retrofitted; financial inclusion framing is genuine, not marketing.
Structured a 600+ person operator community ('Crew of Leaders') as a formal part of the firm's model → thinks in networks and communities, not just capital deployment.
Active on the conference circuit — SALT, Money 20/20, FT Partners Women in FinTech, multiple podcasts → comfortable being a public face; likely responds well to substantive, on-the-record conversation.
Possibly — Independent board roles at Alumni Ventures and Brown University alongside running a $1.7B+ fund → high capacity for parallel commitments, probably runs tight agendas.

Conversation tips

→ Anchor early on fintech or security infrastructure — her portfolio (Chime, Vanta, Bilt, Coinbase) and her public panels show these are the areas where she has the most developed conviction.
→ Ask about the Aliisa Rosenthal hire and what it signals about Acrew's AI thesis — it's the firm's most recent and newsworthy move and she'll have a considered view.
→ Reference her MS in Sustainable Design if the conversation touches on climate or impact — it's an unusual credential for a VC and she likely has a specific reason she pursued it.
→ Don't ask generic 'what's your investment thesis' questions — come with a specific company, sector dynamic, or portfolio company name and ask about that instead.
→ She has spoken publicly on financial inclusion; if that's relevant to your context, name a specific company or dynamic rather than the general theme.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the Aliisa Rosenthal hire — Lauren brought in OpenAI's former head of sales as a GP in January 2026, a pointed bet on go-to-market expertise inside the fund at a moment when most AI investment is still thesis-stage.
Reference the Veris AI seed lead — Acrew put $8.5 million into a platform for training AI agents in simulated environments in 2026, a specific and non-obvious bet that opens a conversation about where she sees AI infrastructure going.
Open on the Clinton Foundation → Google → Aspect → Acrew arc — it's an unusual path into venture (development work before product marketing before investing) and signals why financial inclusion keeps coming up in her public talks.

Discovery questions

You built Acrew with a formal 600-plus person operator network as a core part of the model — how does that community actually shape which deals you lead versus pass on?
Your portfolio spans Chime, Coinbase, Bilt, and Vanta — very different business models under one 'fintech and security' umbrella. How do you think about what connects them at the thesis level?
You led the Veris AI seed and brought in Aliisa Rosenthal from OpenAI in the same stretch — what does Acrew's AI infrastructure thesis actually look like, and where do you think the non-obvious gaps are?

Avoid

Don't lead with generic 'what's hot in fintech right now' questions — she's been in the sector for years across multiple funds, speaks at major conferences, and will disengage quickly from surface-level prompts.

Make it yours