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“We are passionate about investing in authentic entrepreneurs, a phrase we use to describe founders who know their industry better than anyone, who are solving big urgent problems,” said Trae Vassallo, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Defy. “The relationships we build with these brilliantly talented entrepreneurs is what inspires us daily and is exactly what…

The Woodside, California, firm in late 2017 quietly raised $151 million for its maiden fund to make Series A deals on the West Coast. The majority of its investments are in the Bay Area; Defy has portfolio companies in Seattle and San Diego, too.

We’re proud to announce two long-time friends of the firm who have joined us as Sages: Brian Lee and Sujal Patel. We have known and worked with both over the years and are excited to work even more closely with them as we build our portfolio.

Patel told GeekWire that he joined Defy in part to get exposure to a set of early-stage startups in the Bay Area.

Defy, the early-stage venture investment firm founded by Neil Sequeira and Trae Vassallo, is putting a new twist on the venture partner model as it brings Brian Lee and Sujal Patel on board to help out with investing and guiding companies in the firm’s portfolio. Just don’t call them venture partners. Vassallo and Sequeira prefer…

Trae Vassallo is Co-founder and Managing Director of Defy, an early stage venture capital firm. She is an engineer, an entrepreneur, and an investor, and her passion is collaborating with the world’s best entrepreneurs. In addition to Defy, Trae is on the board of directors at Telstra, an international telecommunications company. Trae recently co-authored the study…

In a bid to strengthen real estate marketing, Agentology’s new Insights Dashboard shows lead sources and more Agentology, a company that fields and vets leads, has launched a new dashboard feature that it describes as a Google Analytics-like information stream for real estate marketing campaigns.

Elevate Security has raised $8 million in Series A funding. Defy Partners led the round with participation from return backer Costanoa Ventures. Based in Berkeley, California and Montreal, Elevate Security is a security behavior platform provider.

It’s well understood that many network breaches begin with phishing emails designed to trick users into giving hackers their credentials. They don’t even have to work to find a vulnerability, they can just waltz in the front door. Elevate Security, a San Francisco startup, wants to change that by helping employees understand phishing attacks better using…

It’s well understood that many network breaches begin with phishing emails designed to trick users into giving hackers their credentials. They don’t even have to work to find a vulnerability, they can just waltz in the front door. Elevate Security, a San Francisco startup, wants to change that by helping employees understand phishing attacks better using behavioral techniques. Today, the company announced an $8 million Series A round to build on this idea.