Refactor Capital

Refactor Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in teams solving fundamental human problems. It backs companies at seed through Series B and later, concentrating on biotech, digital health and climate, and is run as a solo general partner practice by Zal Bilimoria, who brings product experience from Google, Netflix and LinkedIn, along with early roles on YouTube's monetization team and as Netflix's first head of mobile. The firm was one of Andreessen Horowitz's first spinouts, and Bilimoria invested in bio and hard technology there before leaving to start it.

The discipline is in the sizing. Refactor has raised five funds since 2015, each around $50 million, writing first checks of $1 million to $2 million. Fund II closed at $30 million in 2019, Fund III at $50 million in 2021, Fund IV at $50 million in 2024 and Fund V at $50 million in 2026, all fully sold. Rather than scale the fund to chase later rounds, the firm files single-company vehicles to follow its winners, which keeps the core fund small enough that a genuine outcome still returns it.

Its distinguishing screen is difficulty. Bilimoria describes the mandate as backing the hard but not impossible, and favors businesses built from physical atoms, manufacturing, biology and materials, over pure software, which is where the portfolio of Zymergen, Perfect Day, Apeel Sciences and Mammoth Biosciences comes from. That puts the firm in the small group of seed investors underwriting technical and regulatory risk at the first check rather than waiting for the science to derisk.