# Joseph N. Benevento

> Joseph N. Benevento is a seed investor at Virginia Venture Partners backing Artificial Intelligence. See 4 investments, round sizes, portfolio and contact…

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Virginia Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cit-gap-funds)
- Location: Richmond, United States
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: May 2025
- Lead investor: 50%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-benevento-55118a306/

Joseph N. Benevento is a seed investor at Virginia Venture Partners in Richmond focused on Artificial Intelligence and Energy. Joe Benevento is the current Chief Executive Officer and President of Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs as a Team Member. Joe Benevento attended Cornell University.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Joseph N. Benevento: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/joseph-n-benevento?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 | 75% |
| Energy | 1 | 25% |
| Nuclear | 1 | 25% |
| Hardware | 1 | 25% |
| Aerospace | 1 | 25% |

13 industries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rising Tide | Rising Tide is the first blockchain-enabled AI solution for the logistics and services industries, automating processes and empowering frontline personnel. | $1.2M | Seed | May 19, 2025 | https://www.risingtide.us/groundswell |
| NOVI | NOVI is solving some of the biggest problems associated with today’s Earth Observation (EO) services. NOVI’s on-board edge computing and low-cost multi-sensor satellites significantly reduce cost, complexity and latency associated with usage of space-based data, democratizing access for all to enable widespread adoption and usage of EOcapabilities. |  | Seed | Mar 12, 2025 | https://novillc.com |
| NearStar Fusion Inc. | NearStar Fusion is developing fusion power plants with a tritium-free pulsed impact fusion approach leveraging extensive experience with hypervelocity plasma railguns. The simplicity of the NearStar Fusion power plant reduces development time, construction, and operating costs, while improving operational reliability and longevity.NearStar's design heavily leverages existing materials and technologies thereby avoiding major investments in material science or complicated supply chains. |  | Seed | Feb 10, 2025 | https://www.nearstarfusion.com |
| Syntrillo | Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide, but it doesn’t have to be. We know that with the right kind of care, 8 out of 10 strokes could be prevented. Through a combination of digital health and AI, we are making expert-level care accessible to millions of at-risk patients. Our team of neurologists, rehabilitation experts, andpsychologists have made it our mission to improve your brain health and protect against stroke. |  | Seed | Oct 08, 2024 | https://syntrillo.com |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [AIN Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/academy-investor-network) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Ecosphere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ecosphere-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- Spirit Electronics Ventures — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- Tyger River Capital — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Virginia Venture Partners

VC Fund · Herndon, United States

Virginia Venture Partners is a family of seed-stage investment funds placing near-equity and equity investments in Virginia-based technology, life science, and cleantech companies. Virginia Venture Partners invests in companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating significant economic returns for entrepreneurs,co-investors, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. CIT’s family of funds includes:GAP Fund I is a vintage 2004 fund fully invested in a broad array of seed-stage technology companies. Portfolio.GAP BioLife Fund is a seed fund investing exclusively in life science companies.GAP Tech Fund is a seed fund investing in IT and technology companies.

5 contacts available at Virginia Venture Partners.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Alex Euler | Senior Investment Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alex-euler |
| Dan Henderson | Investment Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dan-henderson |
| Frank Taylor | Investment Associate | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/frank-taylor-3 |
| Jennifer O'Daniel | Investment Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jennifer-odaniel |
| Marco Rubin | GAP Funds Advisor | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/marco-rubin |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Joseph N. Benevento invest in?

Joseph N. Benevento invests primarily in Artificial Intelligence, Energy and Nuclear startups, most often at Seed stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Joseph N. Benevento?

Public channels for Joseph N. Benevento include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did Joseph N. Benevento last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Joseph N. Benevento closed in May 2025. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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