Lenore Karafa is a former Marine Corps officer who served seven years including deployments to Iraq, and now works as an Operating Partner at First In focused specifically on organizational management and leadership development within portfolio companies rather than traditional finance-first investing. She bridges combat leadership experience with roles as a former managing partner at McChrystal Group and Head of People at Citadel, while serving as a national voice on veteran leadership through her role as former President/Chair of Bunker Labs and frequent Fortune articles on translating military leadership lessons for business audiences.
About their Fund
Sectors
Cybersecurity, Defense, Data, Deeptech / Hardware, AI
Rounds
Seed
Avg Check Size
$500K - $2M
Notable Investments
First In is a venture capital fund led by former Marine Corps officers, CIA operatives, and defense-tech operators who apply military systems thinking to invest in early-stage security technologies across cyber, defense, data, and critical infrastructure. The firm targets founders comfortable building at the intersection of national security and commercial markets, backing companies like Anduril and Shift5 that directly shape national defense capabilities rather than typical enterprise software tools.
Notable Fund
Investments
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Sheets they're in
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Sheets they're Fund is in
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Popular Investors
investor name
Active in
Rounds
Avg. Check
Links
Deeptech / Hardware
Robotics
Biotech
+
12
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$400K - $2M
Unknown
Defense
Deeptech / Hardware
Energy
+
7
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Series A
Unknown
$100K - $5M
Unknown
Defense
Deeptech / Hardware
Energy
+
7
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Series A
Unknown
$100K - $5M
Unknown
Biotech
Health
Deeptech / Hardware
+
2
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$250K - $2M
Unknown
Climate
Deeptech / Hardware
Materials
+
4
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$400K - $1.5M
Unknown
Deeptech / Hardware
Robotics
Biotech
+
7
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
$400K - $2M
Unknown
Deeptech / Hardware
Robotics
Biotech
+
2
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Seed
Unknown
~$750K
Unknown
Fintech
Deeptech / Hardware
Devtools
+
2
View more in profile...
Unknown
Pre-Seed - Series A
Unknown
$250K-$1M
Unknown
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