Our Approach | Emerald

Capital. Commitment. Collaboration.

Count on us to empower you on your journey as an innovator.

At Emerald, our entrepreneurs come first. We're more than investors — we get to know your company on a deep level and provide you with personalized support to achieve and accelerate your goals. Our team shares with you the insights, discipline, and critical thinking that comes from hands-on experience in the development, ownership, and operation of outstanding, high-value companies and projects.

Learn more about what it means to work with Emerald as a tech founder below.

When we invest in you, we’re invested in you.

We aren't like other hands-off venture firms — we're active investors who get involved early.

With most venture firms, 1% to 2% of funding comes from their general partners. At Emerald, a substantial portion of the capital we invest comes from our own partners. We’re personally committed to your success. If you do well, we do well. It’s a win-win.

None but the bold.

We believe in transformative technologies. We’re on the lookout for the pioneers, the trailblazers, the trendsetters who have the creativity and technical know-how to bring their ideas to fruition. But true innovation doesn’t happen overnight, and often other investors will push companies to sacrifice their long-term vision to achieve short-term results that align with their own timelines. At Emerald, we’re not forcing or timing exits in order to boost returns and make a follow-on fund easier to raise. We guide our entrepreneurs towards smart decisions that will serve them well not just today, but into the future.

You’ve got our attention.

We know that even the most motivated and talented entrepreneurs need more than just capital. We provide you with expert coaching at every milestone and through every challenge, so you can stay the course and achieve the business outcomes you envision. We’re selective about the companies we invite into our portfolio and only do a handful of new deals each year. But once you’re in, we’re in it with you for the long haul. Emerald can transform your company into a front-runner through multi-stage financing, ongoing mentorship, strategic guidance, and operational structuring.

We understand how hard it is to build a company.

Our managing partners, Neil and Charles, have been through the entrepreneurial journey themselves and have helped many others through it.

With a successful track record and collective decades of experience in nurturing early-stage startups across multiple sectors, we help you build a solid foundation for growth — today and into the future.

Through direct mentorship, we’ll help you manage early-stage day-to-day operations and grow a high-value company. We’ll provide you with advice on how to transform cutting-edge research into commercially viable products, financing growth successfully and responsibly, successfully negotiating contracts, managing governance, and navigating relationships with board members, investors, and other stakeholders.

Rally our resources.

As a company in our portfolio, you’ll have access to our vast professional network: top academic research institutions (Johns Hopkins University, MIT, Columbia, and NYU), researchers, founders, operating companies, and consultants. Through these long-standing relationships, we can help you identify potential customers, accelerate your go-to-market strategies, and connect you with potential investors, partners, or executive talent.