Exclusive: Sydney Thomas, San Diego VC Talks Raising $13M for Symphonic Capital
Sydney Thomas and Shruti Shah joined forces to launch Symphonic Capital, a new VC firm focused on backing early-stage digital health and fintech startups across the U.S.
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Sydney Thomas, got her start working at Precursor Ventures as its first hire in 2016, she didn’t expect to stick around. Ms. Thomas was at Precursor for seven years, before launching a fund of her own in 2022. She moved to San Diego from the Bay Area a little more than a year ago — returning to the city where she grew up, after many years building a track record as a rising venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
With Bank of America’s support alongside other top LPs, Ms. Thomas and Shruti Shah made headlines in April, announcing their $13.5 million first fund to invest in digital health and fintech startups, as well as other verticals.
“I launched Symphonic Capital because I wanted to return to the original mission of the VC industry, which is to support and empower founders,” said Sydney Thomas, Founding General Partner at Symphonic Capital, whose informal title is the “conductor,” at the pre-seed VC firm.
“For us, that is generally early-stage founders who are solving for critical access gaps across fintech and healthcare – and many who have proximity to the problems that they’re solving,” said Thomas.
Founding Story
Prior to Symphonic Capital and Precursor Ventures, Ms. Thomas worked in the government sector for thirteen years and worked for several Bay Area-based startups.
“In college, I learned how critical a role the government played in closing access gaps for overlooked communities and so I decided to start in New York City government. Working in the Bloomberg Administration made me realize the power of having relationships and experience across both the public and private sectors; this felt core to making the impact I cared about,” said Thomas.
“Eventually, I joined a startup, which is where I really got interested in venture. I loved that I would be able to color outside the lines and enjoyed working in such ambiguous and uncertain spaces where I had more freedom of movement,” she added.
“The ingenuity of this space made me curious about how I could get to a decision-making role. That led me to an introduction to Charles Hudson at Precursor Ventures, which opened the door to my first role in VC.”
She later teamed up with business partner Shruti Shah, whose background includes working as an entrepreneur and chief operating officer. They have known each other for more than a decade, through Silicon Valley Bank’s entrepreneur-in-residence program back in 2016.
Shruti Shah is based in North Carolina, and Thomas splits her time in San Diego and travels back-and-forth to other cities including San Francisco when needed.
Now based in San Diego full-time, Thomas believes the firm is the culmination of her life’s work — meaning she’s channeling everything she’s learned into something new.
One of Few Women-led VC Firms
Despite a tightening venture capital fundraising environment, Symphonic Capital, a women-led venture capital firm, has successfully closed its first fund at $13.5 million, joining a small but mighty list of women VCs actively deploying capital into the U.S. startup ecosystem in 2025.
For context, roughly 14% of venture capital investors in the U.S. are women, according to a 2021 report published by All Raise. More notably, female founders receive 15 percent of all venture funding and it is one of the many female-focused non-profit organizations working to grow that percentage including Stella Foundation.
“We worked really hard to raise our fund and, while we may have had our sights set on a bigger number, we landed exactly where we needed to be, especially as early-stage investors,” Thomas said, who also advocated that venture success shouldn’t just be measured by big checks and billion-dollar exits.
“It should be about delivering meaningful impact in the communities we serve and generating strong returns for the LPs who back us,” said Thomas. “We’re not here to chase hype, inflate valuations, or follow the herd. Being a smaller fund forces us to be smart with every dollar invested. That means doing our due diligence for each investment opportunity instead of piling money into the next hype cycle.”
Investing in Diverse Founders, Companies
Symphonic’s primary goal is to work with founders who can bridge the gap of health and wealth disparities in the United States.
The firm has also fostered a community of diverse founders and ecosystem builders, mostly recently Thomas held its first annual Founders Day in the Bay Area bringing together founders from Los Angeles, San Francisco, among other cities.
“We’re proud to be supported by a group of institutional investors who are dedicated to backing founders that seek to build a more equitable future,” said Thomas.
Notable LPs in Symphonic Capital first fund include D.C. private equity firm Illumen Capital, Uplifting Capital Management, Oakland-based Candide Group, and New York-based Known Financial.
Thoughts on San Diego
Thomas noted that she is particularly excited about being back in San Diego.
“I knew I wanted to return to my roots,” said Thomas, adding that she is grateful for the time she spent in the valley, as that allowed her to learn quickly and build an incredible network.
“At Symphonic, we have a specific focus on investing beyond the coasts. We look for founders who have proximity to the problems they’re solving and, frankly, a lot of the problems that need solving exist outside of Silicon Valley.”
“My partner and I aim to bring our extensive Bay Area networks and knowledge to founders who are serving the most overlooked communities.”
The venture capital industry at large is in a rough period. There’s been few exits in 2025, and deal-making will continue to slow amid the volatility in the stock market.
To date, Symphonic has made 11 investments, with one exit so far, Rocket Doctor.