Defy Partners

Defy Partners is a Woodside, California-based early-stage venture capital firm focused on seed and Series A investments in enterprise software and SaaS businesses, founded by Neil Sequeira and Trae Vassallo, who bring backgrounds from General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins respectively. The firm invests with initial checks from $1 million to $5 million and takes an active, hands-on role with portfolio companies, working closely with founders on product strategy, enterprise sales, and operational scaling. Defy focuses on companies building enterprise software that addresses large structural inefficiencies in how organizations operate, with particular interest in compliance and risk management, developer tools, real estate technology, and security. Portfolio companies include A-LIGN, the IT audit and compliance assessments firm for enterprise cybersecurity compliance; Blameless, the site reliability engineering and incident management platform for software engineering teams; Digs, the real estate technology platform for home improvement and renovation project management; and Flashpoint, the risk intelligence platform providing business intelligence and threat data for enterprise security and risk teams. Beyond its original investments in A-LIGN, Blameless, Digs, and Flashpoint, the portfolio includes additional enterprise software companies.