Former YC Continuity Head Anu Hariharan Launches $350M Fund And Mentorship Program

Anu Hariharan, who led Y Combinator (YC) Continuity, has partnered with two former colleagues and former Brex executive Lucas Fox to launch a new fund, Avra.

Helping founders scale their companies 

YC Continuity was an investment fund supporting founders as they scaled their companies. But this year, it scaled back growth stage investment and cut nearly 20% of its staff before being discontinued.

According to TechCrunch, Hariharan finalized plans for launching Avra two months after YC shut the Continuity fund.

She draws on her years of experience supporting founders as a Partner at Y Combinators’ Continuity Fund, where she led investments in several businesses.

She is also passionate about global technology investing across the US, China, India, and Latin America.

Previously, she was also a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she focused on consumer internet growth investments and worked actively with the management teams of several portfolio companies, including Airbnb.

Hariharan also sits on the board of directors at Brex – an American financial service and tech company, Faire and Whatnot.

The Avra Fund

The Avra fund aims to raise about $350 million and operate a program that, according to TechCrunch, some peg as “YC for growth.”

It plans to operate an eight-week program with a cohort of about a dozen post-Series A startups each quarter.

As an invite-only program, it will pick startups with solid product-market fit and generate at least a few million dollars in revenue.

The initiative aims to connect startup founders with experienced entrepreneurs at the late stage.

With Avra’s partners – Hariharan and Fox and two other former YC executives – business leaders will guide the newer CEOs through various challenges.

These will include how to mature in the leadership role and assist them in steering clear of common mistakes.

According to TechCrunch, Avra recently concluded its maiden eight-week program with the first cohort of startups, including Runway, Supabase, Roboflow, and Hex Technologies.

“The thing that sold me on Avra was the caliber of guests they had come in to speak with us,” co-founder and chief executive of Hex, Barry McCardel, told TechCrunch.

“It was remarkably useful and inspiring to hear from other founders, CEOs, and operators about how they built their companies.”