Meridian Ventures has closed a $35 million second fund targeting pre-seed and seed-stage companies led by MBA-deferred founders. The venture firm, founded by Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney, represents a contrarian bet against Silicon Valley's conventional wisdom that MBAs struggle as entrepreneurs.

Gethers and Haney connected in Harvard's MBA deferred admission program in 2020, bonding over their shared experience of delaying business school to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. Both founders come from non-traditional backgrounds—Gethers from poverty in Washington State and Haney from an Arkansas farm—bringing diverse perspectives to venture investing.

The pair initially raised a $2.5 million proof-of-concept fund in 2023, backing 45 companies while attending Harvard Business School. Their $35 million oversubscribed fund attracted institutional LPs including publicly traded banks and Fortune 500 executives, despite challenging market conditions.

Meridian will write average checks of $500,000 for pre-seed and $750,000 for seed rounds, focusing on enterprise technology across fintech, logistics, healthcare, and AI. The fund aims to deploy capital over three years, addressing what Gethers sees as a growing gap between ambitious founders and available venture capital.