The Best Founders Don't Need AI. They Wield It.

About Ciao Capital

The word “ciao” originates from the Venetian “schiavo vostro”: “I am your servant.” What began as an expression of humility between Venetians became one of the world's most universal greetings. We took the name literally: we exist to be in service of our founders. We are kinetic investors who activate our networks, whether that means opening doors to new customers or helping them recruit A-players to their team.

Where We Invest

We focus on areas where we have deep conviction, personal experience, and strong networks:

AI for the Real Economy. We back founders applying AI to industries that still run on phone calls, spreadsheets, and manual processes: home services, logistics, real estate, and specialty distribution. These markets are massive, underdigitized, and ripe for intelligent automation.

Unlocking Trapped Capital. We invest in platforms that create liquidity where none existed, enabling access to illiquid assets, opening up new ownership models, and powering underserved financial markets. The $100T generational wealth transfer is just the beginning.

Agentic Knowledge Work. We back companies that are making knowledge work agentic, building autonomous systems that don't just assist professionals, but replace entire workflows. Some sell that infrastructure to incumbents; others own the outcome entirely. We're excited about both, but especially the neofirms: a new breed of professional services company built from the ground up around AI agents.

Portfolio

AI for procurementIntent-driven rental discoveryAI for home appraisalsAI expense allocation for PE fundsCross-generational inheritance platformFranchise discovery marketplaceHealth layer for built environmentAI for logistics and freightSPVAgentic contracts for real estateEnterprise AI coworker

Team

Jay Sehgal

Founder & GP

Jay has sourced and supported over 40 early-stage venture deals representing over $20M deployed. He was most recently an Investor and Chief of Staff at MetaProp, and previously worked at Ardent Venture Partners and Stripes Group.

Beyond investing, Jay brings experience in management consulting and startup operations. He was a founding member of the Brooklyn office of BCG and started his career at AlphaSights, where he helped scale the business into a category leader and unicorn over 5 years. Jay received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and BA from Wake Forest University. He is a first-generation American originally from Pittsburgh, PA.

Contact

We're always looking to meet exceptional founders, and people who aren't yet founders but know they will be. If you think you belong in our orbit, please get in touch.