About Us

About
Team
Ethos

Special is a technology investment platform in search of the better, the greater, and the unusual.

We aspire for Special to be an organizing platform for raising capital, starting and investing in companies, and advancing important causes by inspiring others to take action.

It’s the best vessel we could think of to pursue what we love over the long term – creating and designing, making investments, advancing the ideas and causes we believe in, learning, spending time with interesting people, and being involved in special moments.

In the end, we aim to have positively impacted the lives of billions of people and built a lasting organization for the next generation to pick up the baton.

Nate Cavanaugh

Founder & CEO

Nate Cavanaugh

Nate is the Founder and CEO of Special.

Previously, Nate co-founded Brainbase, an enterprise SaaS company for intellectual property management. As CEO, Brainbase’s customers included globally recognized brands, including BBC, Hasbro, MGM, Mondelez, Netflix, Nissan, Sanrio, and UCLA. The company grew to 7-figures of annual recurring revenue and was acquired by Constellation Software in 2022.

In 2020, Nate co-founded FlowFi, an accounting and finance platform for small businesses. FlowFi has raised $10M from top VC firms including Blumberg Capital, Clocktower Ventures, Precursor Ventures and Special, and generated 7-figures of annual recurring revenue in its first year.

Nate was nominated to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Enterprise Technology.

It's hard to explain the feeling when you experience something special. Whether it's a person, place, product, or moment in time, you know it when you see it.

We aim to back ideas, people, and companies that invoke this feeling.

We believe special companies are started by people with a clear and unrelenting vision that most others have a hard time seeing. Building something special is nearly impossible. It requires immense effort, resilience and sacrifice, all while defying the odds and the naysayers.

Ironically, for founders of these companies, defying the odds is the norm. They understand it's okay to go against the grain, to be different. They are crazy and confident enough to think they can change the world, and they often feel like they have something to prove.

These are the exact people we want to back.

We know not everyone is wired this way. If this is you, you will know, and this message will resonate. If so, we would love to partner with you, because you are few and far between.

We are optimistic about the future but understand progress is not made without action. Our view is that if we won’t take the risks necessary for a better future, how can we expect others to?

That’s Special. Let’s make it happen.