U&I Ventures Closes Oversubscribed $32.237M Debut Fund, Taps 1,800 Tech Leaders to Shape Its Investment Strategy to Secure AI
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Founded by investor Kim Moore, the firm has already backed nine AI-native engineering and security software startups, helping founders build products informed by enterprise demand while accelerating their path to market.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- U&I Ventures today announced the oversubscribed final close of its $32.237 million debut fund to back seed-stage founders building AI-native infrastructure within security, engineering and IT. The firm is built around a community of 1,800 CIOs, CTOs and CISOs who understand where enterprise technology is breaking and help U&I-backed founders build what the enterprise needs.

The approach is already delivering results. U&I connected Pluto Security founder and CEO Shahar Bahat with 68 enterprise CISOs in less than 24 hours during the company's oversubscribed seed round. Another portfolio company in stealth that tests and evaluates autonomous AI agents in production environments secured initial pilot deployments at Fortune 20 enterprises through U&I's network.

"I spent years asking founders what they needed beyond capital, and the answer was always access to the right people," said Kim Moore, Founder and General Partner of U&I Ventures. "That is the foundation for U&I. Our network has a seat at the investing table and helps us understand what enterprises need before we invest. This value-add flywheel gives founders direct access to the people who can shape, validate, and ultimately adopt what they're building."

Turning Enterprise Challenges Into Investment Opportunities

U&I's investment model was years in the making. Before launching the firm, Moore spent more than a decade building relationships with enterprise technology leaders, learning firsthand about the infrastructure engineering gaps, security vulnerabilities and operational challenges they faced.

Today, U&I convenes weekly, closed-door discussions with technology leaders across San Francisco, New York, Tel Aviv and London. Its network includes nearly 650 CISOs and security executives, 850 CTOs and more than 300 CIOs, whose insights help inform investment decisions while giving founders access to product feedback, industry expertise and prospective customers.

These longstanding relationships give U&I an advantage at both ends of the investment process, helping the firm identify opportunities grounded in real-world needs while enabling startups to develop products with early input from potential customers.

Fund I plans to back 40 to 45 pre-seed and seed-stage companies, with initial checks ranging from $250,000 to more than $800,000. The firm has made nine investments across AI security, agent reliability, compliance and enterprise infrastructure, including:

- Pluto Security: Securing enterprise adoption of AI coding and application-building platforms (seed round led by TLV Partners). Pluto Security has raised a total of $42 million across two funding rounds as it emerged from stealth in October 2026.

- ZeroDrift: Real-time visibility and control for every AI compliance decision. Monitor, approve, block, and export evidence across all AI communication surfaces (backed by a16z speedrun).

Seven additional stealth investments address autonomous vulnerability remediation, agentic digital forensics, identity management, security operations, testing and evaluating autonomous AI agents in production environments, and AI data infrastructure.

"U&I has been by far our most helpful investor," said Kumesh Armoogan, Founder and CEO of ZeroDrift.

"As companies deploy more autonomous AI systems, they're facing security challenges that existing tools weren't designed to handle," said Alex Stamos, Chief Security Officer at Cognition and former Chief Security Officer at Facebook and Yahoo. "The technology leaders responsible for securing these systems know firsthand where the gaps are. By bringing those leaders together with founders early, U&I is helping turn real-world security challenges into solutions enterprises actually need."

Before launching U&I, Moore spent over a decade at Glynn Capital and Innovation Endeavors, backing enterprise infrastructure companies including Chronosphere and Drata. She was employee No. 23 at Asana . Her earlier investments include security startups Fig Security and Mate Security, which subsequently raised Series A financing. Read more on why Moore founded U&I here.

About U&I Ventures

U&I Ventures is a San Francisco-based seed-stage venture capital firm investing in AI-native infrastructure across security, engineering and IT. Founded in 2025 by Kim Moore, the firm manages a $32.237 million debut fund and draws on a network of 1,800 CIOs, CTOs and CISOs to identify emerging enterprise needs and help portfolio companies build, validate and bring their technologies to market. Founding Operating Partner Kim Cooper leads the firm's operator community and value creation platform. For more information, visit uandi.vc. Connect with us on LinkedIn at U&I Ventures.

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by U&I Ventures. Any such offer may be made only through definitive offering documents to qualified investors. References to portfolio companies are for illustrative purposes only, do not represent all investments made by U&I Ventures, and should not be considered an indication of future results.

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SOURCE U&I Ventures

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<p>Founded by investor Kim Moore, the firm has already backed nine AI-native engineering and security software startups, helping founders build products informed by enterprise demand while accelerating their path to market. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- U&amp;I Ventures today...</p>

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