Steven Dauphin

Steve Dauphin is a Birmingham, Alabama–based investor with more than two decades of venture-capital experience in underserved capital markets domestically and abroad. He is a co-founder and partner (one of the principal owners, alongside William Edward Reiser, Jr. and John Stanley Stein, III) of Fidelis Capital, LLC, and the founding partner of its affiliated venture firm, Bonaventure Capital, LLC, where he directs all private-market activity. He co-founded Bonaventure Capital in 1998 and, in 2003, joined Murphree Venture Partners as a general partner when the two firms merged their operations.

Dauphin's path into investing was unusual. Before finance, he served as a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Phoenix (1991–1994), and earlier spent a year as an Anglican lay minister in Newfoundland, Canada (1990–1991). He began his career as an associate at Citicorp and later worked as a director and managing director at Harbinger Group (1994–1998) before founding Bonaventure.

He is also a founding member of Kirchner Group's Impact Private Asset and Fund Optimization team, where he develops equity-investment approaches for historically underserved regions — an approach he has described as "the Peace Corps meets venture capital." Through the Kirchner Impact Foundation, he has helped direct investments in the U.S., Mexico, and Nigeria. He additionally serves on the Stimson Center's Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council.

Dauphin holds a BA in Economics and Religion from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Invests primarily at the venture and growth stage, providing growth equity to companies with demonstrated product-market fit, customer adoption, and revenue traction.
• Thematic focus on "smarter infrastructure, cleaner energy, and solutions for rural communities," with particular attention to power generation, power consumption, sustainable agriculture, and environmentally responsible fertilizers.
• Strong impact-investing orientation — building "customized impact portfolios for families and institutions" and backing enterprises serving underserved markets in the U.S. and abroad.
• Looks for "passionate management teams committed to excellence" and companies capable of "organic growth on a clear pathway to profitability."
• Reported deal size of roughly $10M–$50M through Bonaventure Capital (per aggregator data).