We need your help naming a growing part of venture.
"Emerging VC" gets used for almost every fund that isn't a mega fund. In practice, it usually describes funds that are still fairly large, often $20 million or more. The managers we work with run much smaller funds, around $10 million on average, and Start Funds are smaller still.
That segment keeps growing. More of these firms launch every year, many of them led by people who come from operating careers and know one sector deeply, and VC Lab has helped launch over 1,000 of them. Because it keeps growing, it needs its own name, one that doesn't get muddled with "emerging VC."
Our team narrowed the list down to eight. Now we want you to pick one.
The eight names on the ballot
Next-Gen VC: Plain and easy to remember. It describes the newest wave of fund managers without boxing them in by size.
Source VC: These firms are often the original source of great deals that larger funds back later.
Scout VC: Scouting is already familiar language in venture, and many of these managers find companies before bigger funds do.
Frontier VC: It sounds ambitious, though "frontier" already has a meaning in VC as a type of deep tech investing.
Agentic VC: Firms that run on AI agents from day one, with lean teams and modern tools.
Specialist VC: Many of these managers come from adjacent fields and invest in the sector they know best.
Agile VC: Smaller funds can commit, close and deploy capital faster than traditional firms.
Grassroots VC: Built from the community up, without the baggage of older VC labels.
Cast your vote
Pick the name you'd use to describe yourself or the managers you back, then share this with a GP or LP who'd have an opinion. We'll bring the results back to the community.