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1121 Management
Elizabeth Elting founded 1121 Management in 2016, four years before her exit from the translation empire she spent two decades building with an NYU...
1121 Management
Elizabeth Elting founded 1121 Management in 2016, four years before her exit from the translation empire she spent two decades building with an NYU dorm-room co-founder. TransPerfect, the company the pair bootstrapped into the world's largest language-services provider, produced a prolonged Delaware Chancery Court custody battle that ended with Elting selling her 50% stake in 2018 — a deal that Forbes pegged at roughly $770 million. That liquidity event turned what had been an exploratory family office into a fully capitalized institutional platform, one that reflects its founder's operator DNA rather than inherited wealth, with Elting focusing on the women-led and linguist-heavy workforce she spent her career championing. The office commits capital across three distinct lanes: direct venture checks into Series A and B rounds where technology meets language or operational scale, growth-equity buyouts of profitable services companies, and selective fund commitments to emerging managers who bring niche access. Confirmed positions include an investment in Kindbody, the fertility-clinic chain that has attracted backing from Google Ventures and Perceptive Advisors, and a 2019 stake in a SPAC vehicle tied to Pine Island Capital Partners. The portfolio tilts toward New York and San Francisco, though 1121 has placed capital in Chicago and Austin-based startups where founder demographics match Elting's stated thesis on backing underrepresented entrepreneurs. Day-to-day investment decisions run through Michael Burlant, the former UBS and Deutsche Bank structured-products banker who joined as President and CIO. The office does not publish headcount or deployment totals, and its securities filings suggest a lean structure that relies on manager relationships rather than a large internal research staff. In May 2024, Elting was named to the board of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, formalizing the philanthropic vehicle that sits alongside the investment entity and channels grants toward women's economic advancement — a structure that mirrors the hybrid for-profit and charitable architecture common among first-generation tech founders. Structurally, 1121 Management represents a crop of post-exit founder offices that reject the multi-family-office pooling model in favor of direct principal-led investing. Where established dynastic offices layer multiple family branches and external CIOs, Elting's vehicle makes calls from a single balance sheet with a mandate that ties capital to a specific identity thesis: backing where technology, language, and gender intersect across venture and control buyouts, without a perpetual-life requirement that would force a cookie-cutter allocation.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
2016
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
Elizabeth Elting
Founder
Michael Burlant
President & Chief Investment Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes the final investment decision at 1121 Management?
Michael Burlant serves as President and Chief Investment Officer and leads day-to-day deployment. Elizabeth Elting, as the sole principal and founder, retains ultimate authority over commitments that materially shift the portfolio's sector or stage exposure. The office does not employ an investment committee structure with external members, which is common among single-family offices of comparable size.
Where did Elizabeth Elting's wealth originate?
Elting co-founded TransPerfect in 1992 with a college roommate and built it into a privately held translation-services company with over $700 million in annual revenue. A shareholder dispute led to a Delaware court-ordered sale of her 50% stake in 2018 — Forbes reported the transaction at approximately $770 million — providing the liquidity base for 1121 Management's current investment portfolio.
Does 1121 Management invest in funds or only directly?
The office maintains a hybrid model. While the primary strategy emphasizes direct venture checks and control buyouts, 1121 has committed to outside venture and growth-equity managers, particularly emerging funds where GP demographics or sourcing networks align with Elting's thesis on underrepresented founders. The precise split between direct and fund investments is not publicly disclosed.
How is the Elizabeth Elting Foundation related to the family office?
The foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) entity that makes charitable grants, primarily toward women's economic empowerment, career development, and health equity. While both receive funding from Elting's personal fortune, they maintain separate governance — the foundation's 2024 board formalization further delineated its operational independence from the investment team. No investment staff serves concurrently on the foundation's grant-making committee.
What is the firm's typical check size and investment stage?
For venture-stage positions, 1121 writes checks between $500,000 and $5 million, typically entering at Series A or B rounds where it can serve as a follow-on or co-lead investor alongside established Bay Area and New York venture firms. For control buyouts of profitable middle-market services companies, the office writes larger equity checks directly from the principal's balance sheet, though specific transaction values are not disclosed in public filings.
Does 1121 Management manage outside capital or operate as a multi-family office?
No. 1121 Management is a single-family office that deploys exclusively Elizabeth Elting's capital. It does not accept third-party limited partners, does not market a commingled fund, and does not provide wealth-management services to other families. This distinguishes it from multi-family platform firms like ICONIQ Capital that pool capital across multiple client relationships.
Which TransPerfect-related assets or liabilities remain tied to 1121 Management?
Following the 2018 buyout settlement, Elting retained no ongoing equity interest in TransPerfect, and 1121 Management carries no legacy liabilities from the company. The office's investment posture is entirely forward-looking, with no disclosed positions connected to the language-services industry — the portfolio instead concentrates on technology, healthcare, and business services where the founder's operational experience provides a sourcing advantage.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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