Philosophy

Dolby Family Ventures formalizes the Dolby family’s ongoing multi-generational commitment to supporting talented entrepreneurs. We partner with best-in-class innovators, both in the U.S. and internationally, in conjunction with strong investment syndicate partners.

Investing Approach

The Dolby family is committed to continue the tradition of backing visionary entrepreneurs that has defined our own family’s successful history. Dolby Family Ventures embraces the process and best practices commonly associated with the venture capital industry while maintaining the flexibility to invest meaningfully at the seed and early stage. Dolby Family Ventures prioritizes opportunities that solve significant social problems to improve access to information, health, security, and quality of life through entertainment and communication.

Dolby Family Ventures believes in empowering talented innovators and providing them with constructive guidance, access to best practices, and appropriate oversight. We will only invest in companies as part of a strong syndicate of co-investors. Our willingness to actively support our company management teams is not constrained by formal board participation.

Through our Managing Directors’ prior experience, we are recognized as thought leaders in the venture capital field. We apply decades of pattern recognition ability in our investing and oversight. We understand that success does not usually occur without volatility. We take a long-term approach to our investments and intend to make several investments in our companies over their development cycles.

Investment Stage and Sector Focus

Dolby Family Ventures prefers to make its initial investment in new ventures at the seed stage or in the Series A financing round. We emphasize investments in best-in-class companies within four focal technology sectors—Digital Media, Security, Cloud Services, and Healthcare Technologies and Services. We will also invest in later stage companies in these and other sectors on a case-by-case basis.

Partnering With Entrepreneurs

Dolby Family Ventures reviews hundreds of business plans each year, but we only invest in a select few companies that meet our criteria. Depending on the stage of the company and our level of investment, Dolby Family Ventures may take a seat on a portfolio company’s board of directors. In all cases, we work constructively with our fellow board members, other investors, and senior management.

Investment Process

All potential portfolio companies go through a rigorous screening process. We typically add five to seven new portfolio companies per year and make follow on investments across a company’s development cycle. Our team of investment professionals has developed a well-established process for company review that begins and ends with aligning our interests with those of the entrepreneurs that we empower.