Lee Richards
Founder & Managing Partner
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- Full Name
- Lee Richards
- Title
- Founder & Managing Partner
- Firm
- Alerion Ventures
- Firm Type
- Evergreen venture capital firm (early-stage; also active as an angel/individual investor)
- Investment Stage
- Early stage — proof-of-concept through early revenue traction (described by aggregators as pre-seed through growth equity)
- Check Size
- Reported at ~$1M–$5M per deal, with initial checks around $2M–$4M (per aggregator SuperScout; not confirmed on the firm's own site)
- Target Company Profile
- Capital-efficient companies with a functional product and initial market/revenue traction following proof-of-concept; open to co-investing alongside experienced venture partners
- Sector Focus
- B2B software and technology-enabled services (primary); more selectively, healthcare software/services and energy-efficient technologies. Explicitly avoids consumer-facing companies, drug discovery, medical devices, energy production, and project finance
- Geographic Focus
- United States with a strong Southeast preference; open across North America
- Location
- Charleston, South Carolina
Background
Lee Richards is the founder and Managing Partner of Alerion Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm he established in 2014 and based in Charleston, South Carolina. He earned a degree in Economics from Auburn University. His operating background spans acquisitions, divestitures, international sales, and research & development — experience he applies to backing and advising founders of business software companies.
Alerion is structured as an "evergreen" fund, meaning capital from exits is recycled into new investments rather than being bound by a traditional fixed fund lifecycle. The firm targets roughly one new company investment per quarter and concentrates on B2B software and technology-enabled services, with more selective interest in healthcare software and energy-efficient technologies. Richards leads a small team that includes Partner Wiley Becker and Controller Adam Bush, with collective expertise across operations, sales, R&D, finance, accounting, and M&A.
Richards has been associated with several of the firm's board and investment relationships over the years, including CloudTags (a connected-retail technology company Alerion exited in 2018), which is why some databases list him under "Alerion Ventures Cloudtags LLC." Over its history, Alerion has built a portfolio of roughly 29 active companies and recorded multiple exits.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests primarily in B2B software and technology-enabled services; secondarily in healthcare software/services and energy-efficient technologies.
- Seeks companies past proof-of-concept showing "initial market and revenue traction" with a functional product — i.e., capital-efficient businesses, not pre-product concepts.
- Explicitly avoids consumer-facing companies, drug discovery, medical devices, energy production, and project finance.
- Operates as an evergreen fund, recycling exit proceeds into new deals and pacing to about one new investment per quarter.
- Favors co-investment alongside experienced venture partners and typically prefers deals with a Southeast connection, though it invests nationally.
Notable Investments
- Payzer — Cloud-based business/financial management software for field-services contractors (acquired by WEX, Oct 2023).
- Allbound — Partner relationship management (PRM) platform (acquired by Invictus Growth Partners, 2022).
- PhishLabs — Cybersecurity services against employee-targeted threats (acquired by HelpSystems, 2021).
- FSLogix — Desktop virtualization software (acquired by Microsoft, 2018).
- MemberSuite — Cloud-based association management system (acquired by GrowthZone, 2023).
- Biospatial — EMS data aggregation and predictive analytics (acquired by ImageTrend, Jan 2025).
- Slope Software — Actuarial modeling platform (acquired by Akur8, March 2026).
- Salesfusion — Marketing automation software (acquired by SugarCRM, 2019).
- Case Status — Client communication platform for contingency law firms (active).
- RepVue — Transparency/ratings platform for sales professionals evaluating software employers (active).
- Graylog — SIEM and log management for mid-market and enterprise (active).
- Ceterus — Automated accounting and business intelligence software for SMBs (active).
- OrbitalRx — Business intelligence for hospital pharmacy supply chain (active).
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