According to TechCrunch, Masha Bucher founded Day One Ventures in 2018 after a career in PR and marketing, aiming to combine venture investment with integrated communications support. She argues the traditional PR agency model is “misaligned” for startups, criticizing retainers of $10,000 to $30,000 per month for slow results. Her firm, which closed its $150 million Fund III last year, has grown from $11 million to over $450 million in assets under management in six years. Day One’s portfolio includes early bets on Sam Altman’s Worldcoin, Superhuman, and Remote.com, boasting at least 12 unicorns and over $115 billion in portfolio value. The firm recently co-led a $130 million round into nuclear reactor startup Valar Atomics, and Bucher emphasizes backing founders with a strong moral compass, citing investments in companies like reproductive health tech firm Orchid, accessible healthcare platform Superpower, and law-enforcement software maker Abel.
The PR model is broken for startups
Bucher’s core thesis is pretty straightforward: the standard PR retainer is a bad deal for early-stage companies. And she’s got a point. Paying a giant monthly fee for six months just to maybe land one announcement? That’s a huge cash burn for a seed-stage startup that might pivot next quarter. The incentives are totally wrong. An agency on a retainer gets paid to keep the clock running, not to move fast and get results. For a startup, speed is everything. You need someone who’s aligned with your success, not just your monthly check. This is where her model flips the script.
Investing in the story, literally
Here’s the thing that makes Day One different. By being an investor first, Bucher claims she gains “the right to introduce [a company] to reporters with much higher integrity.” That’s a powerful angle. She’s not just a hired gun; she’s a believer who’s put money where her mouth is. It also gives her insane access—to the cap table, the investor deck, the real data room. That means she understands the business stakes at a level most PR people never will. So her pitches aren’t just fluff; they’re grounded in business reality. It turns PR from a cost center into a strategic extension of the funding round itself. Basically, she’s selling the vision she bought into.
The moral filter and the portfolio
But it’s not just about any story. Bucher talks about a “moral compass” filter, which is interesting coming from a VC. She passed on the hype around an AI startup with a “cheat on everything” marketing campaign. Instead, she points to hard tech like Valar Atomics (nuclear reactors) or sensitive fields like reproductive health with Orchid. That’s a conscious positioning. She wants to back “the most important and ambitious ideas of our time.” It’s a narrative that serves both her brand and, she’d argue, her returns. Backing founders you’d trust with “literally life-and-death” decisions is a high bar. Does it limit the fund? Probably. But it also creates a focused, defensible thesis that resonates in a noisy market.
Can this model scale?
The big question is whether this is a niche strategy or a scalable venture firm model. Integrating deep PR with investing is hands-on. It doesn’t delegate easily. With $450 million AUM and a growing portfolio, how does Day One maintain that intimate, integrated support for every company? The answer might be in the specialization. By focusing on specific, mission-driven sectors, the comms strategy might become more repeatable. And let’s be real, in a world where storytelling is currency for every startup, having that expertise in-house from day one is a compelling value proposition. Other VCs offer “platform” support, but rarely is it so core to the founding partner’s identity. Bucher isn’t just adding PR services; she’s building a fund on the principle that the story and the investment are inseparable. That’s a story in itself.
