Olaf Sakkers targets a tough market for first-time fund managers

Sakkers founded RedBlue in 2021, after helping build Maniv Mobility’s investment operation. He closed RedBlue’s first fund with roughly $5 million in commitments in 2023. PitchBook counted just 81 first-time funds closed in the first nine months of 2026 and estimates the year is on track to be the worst for new managers in at least a decade.

Raised in South Africa, Sakkers studied anthropology at Princeton, writing his thesis on HIV in his home country. After graduation, he moved to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces. He says his desk job liaising with the U.S. military sparked an interest in autonomous vehicles. An introduction brought him to Maniv founder Michael Granoff, who hired him. The pair had not previously invested in venture capital and built a fund “almost by accident,” Sakkers says. He managed the investment process, backing Israeli founders applying cybersecurity expertise to automotive businesses before expanding into the U.S. and other markets.

By 2021, Sakkers says, he was an equal partner in Maniv’s economics, but wanted a more formal, scalable firm. RedBlue now backs what he calls the “real economy,” including robotics, logistics, manufacturing and energy. Its checks are typically $50,000 to $100,000, and it usually joins deals led by other investors. In return, the firm offers founders practical help, including introductions to lead investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital, as well as to customers.

Sakkers says 15 of RedBlue’s 28 investments have been marked up and puts the fund’s net internal rate of return “significantly above 50%.” There has been one exit, an acqui-hire, so most gains remain unrealized. Publicly reported financing rounds include HappyRobot’s $150 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation in August, and Humble Robotics’ $51 million Series A, announced earlier this month. Westmag raised an $11 million seed led by Andreessen Horowitz in June; Flai followed its 2025 seed with a $27 million Series A.

Institutional limited partners have been the hardest to win, Sakkers says, in part because their risk models are designed to “avoid getting a zero” and favor established brands. He argues that smaller checks and a record built over time can counter that perception. Carta data offers some support for small funds: funds of $1 million to $10 million have consistently outperformed funds of $100 million or more at the top end of net TVPI across recent vintages.

RedBlue’s operating approach is deliberately documented. Sakkers publishes investment thesis essays and built a custom database with Claude Code to record relationships, meeting notes and introductions. He and the firm’s sole full-time principal, based in New York, work asynchronously. Sakkers says long exit timelines for physical-world companies do not rule out selling stakes on the secondary market. “Life is short, and regrets last forever,” he says.