Alex Niehenke
Partner
Scale Venture Partners
Alex Niehenke is a partner at Scale Venture Partners who backs software for vertical markets where established companies have not invested in modern technology. Born in Germany, he led Scale's 2020 investment in Proscia, a digital pathology software company that Agilent agreed to buy in October 2026.
Growing Up Across Three Countries
Niehenke moved often as a child, living in New York, Southern California, and Austria, and attended seven different schools before college, according to his Scale profile. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in legal studies from UC Berkeley.
He traces his interest in vertical markets to watching his father's transportation businesses deal with nearly every other industry.
Investing in Vertical Software
He has worked in venture capital for more than 20 years and joined Scale in 2012. His first venture investments were in financial technology and trucking, and his portfolio includes Motive, formerly KeepTruckin, Root Insurance, which went public, and Scout RFP, which Workday acquired, as well as Range, Sixfold, and Archipelago.
He also writes a series called History Lessons about what he is learning from long-established vertical market giants.
Backing Proscia
In December 2020, Niehenke announced that Scale was leading a $23 million investment in Proscia, whose Concentriq platform gathers, stores, and shares pathology slide images from different scanners. He wrote that "systems of record in software are like beachfront property in California," mostly developed already, and that Proscia was a rare exception. Because of the pandemic, he had never met the founders, David West, Coleman Stavish, and Nathan Buchbinder, in person, and he looked forward to the first face-to-face board dinner.
On October 13, 2026, Agilent agreed to acquire Proscia for $240 million in cash plus up to $30 million in milestone payments. Proscia serves more than 4,000 laboratories, hospitals, and clinics and 16 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, and it won 2026 Best in KLAS for digital pathology, according to the Agilent announcement.
Swimming, Coaching, and Winemaking
Outside work, Niehenke swims in any pool or body of water he can find, coaches his sons' sports teams, and makes wine as a hobby in Sonoma, California, using an old basket press.