Former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu broke the news a month ago to disappointed Republicans in his home state: No, he would not be running for the US Senate after all.
Instead, Sununu, a former CEO of the Waterville Valley resort in the White Mountains, is heading back to the private sector after eight years as the New Hampshire state government’s top executive. And his first private-sector gig is with an old college pal, as a member of the investment committee of Scope Labs Capital, a newly formed venture capital firm in New York.
There, Sununu is teaming up with former MIT roommate Dave Sukoff to invest in clients of Scope Labs, which several MIT grads launched in 2022 to offer product design and engineering services to startups. Scope Labs Capital will also consider investments in startups that are in Scope’s incubator network, those launched through California accelerator Y Combinator, or by other MIT alums.
The VC firm’s investment committee, which evaluates all potential portfolio firms for investing, consists of Sukoff, Sununu, and Scope Labs chief executive Jack Phifer. Sukoff said the VC firm will focus on early-stage investments with its first $10 million fund; Sukoff is currently raising money for that fund and hopes to complete that process by the end of June.
Sununu, who is 50, said he’ll avoid any political jobs for now, and likely for the next five to 10 years — though he’ll continue to appear as a political commentator on national news programs.
“It’s just about having a break and putting my emphasis on family for now,” Sununu said in an interview. “With all the different offers coming in, this is one I homed in on.”
The work with Scope is a part-time gig. Sununu will largely work remotely, with occasional visits to the New York office.
Sununu added that he’s looking at other opportunities, including with corporate boards and private equity. The Scope job, he said, would be his only role in venture capital.
“He has a huge measure of credibility for a venture firm that’s launching its first fund,” said Sukoff, who will lead the fund. “Chris adds this credibility and gravitas that we might not otherwise have.”
Sununu said he’ll contribute expertise in government reviews as well as engineering, his focus early in his career. (“I’m pretty good with spreadsheets and math,” he joked.) Sukoff, though, said he expects his friend to provide advice on every aspect of company evaluation when the trio is trying to decide which startups to support.
“If Chris says, ‘I don’t like this company,’ we don’t invest in it,” Sukoff said.
Scope Labs recruited Sukoff to run the firm’s new VC fund late last year. Sukoff had led a broker-dealer firm called Arq Advisors, which helped hedge funds and small startups raise capital, before selling Arq in 2023. Sukoff has been talking about companies and politics with Sununu since their MIT days — Sukoff graduated in 1995, Sununu in 1998 — and have done some venture investing together before. This new role, Sukoff added, is a natural extension of that friendship.
“Talking to him about business is second nature,” Sukoff said. “We’ve been doing it for 30 years.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
