Relevance Ventures describes itself as the first independently owned Native American venture firm in the U.S., building its investment approach around a prevention-first health thesis and a proprietary Native-designed impact measurement system called TER (Traditional, Empirical, Revealed), alongside an internal Native Impact Council that evaluates every investment for relevance to Native communities. The firm also treats partnerships with tribal nations as core business strategy rather than philanthropy, co-founded the nonprofit NACIA to train and connect Native founders to venture financing, and uses a reverse barbell portfolio strategy that targets both early seed bets and scaling companies in the $1M–$10M revenue range.