401KARAT

401KARAT

Alex Baum founded 401KARAT in 2022, directly following the 2021 sale of Cake, the sexual wellness brand he co-founded in 2018, to the Connecticut-based personal-care holding company High Ridge Brands. The exit, terms undisclosed, generated the primary capital base for the family office. Baum operates 401KARAT from Miami, Florida, maintaining the same entrepreneurial tempo that defined his operating career — board-adjacent, thesis-concentrated, and indifferent to fund-cycle convention. 401KARAT deploys capital across early-stage venture, pre-seed to Series A, with a pronounced tilt toward the consumer and health ecosystems Baum navigated as a founder. Asset classes include direct venture equity, select SPVs, and occasional fund commitments to emerging managers. Confirmed portfolio positions include sexual health platform Rosy and skincare line Dieux, alongside placements in fintech and enterprise software startups sourced through the alumni networks of Techstars and Y Combinator. Geographic focus spans the United States, predominantly coastal startup hubs, with opportunistic exposure in Latin America. The office remains lean, with Baum as the sole named investment principal and no known professional staff. In May 2024, Baum publicly co-invested alongside Serena Ventures and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC in a health-and-wellness round, signaling an active posture in the post-Dobbs femtech surge. Adjacent vehicles include Baum's ongoing role as a limited partner and mentor within the Techstars network, which functions as an informal sourcing pipeline for the family office, though no separate foundation or 501(c)(3) entity is publicly associated with the structure. The structural differentiator is the office's singular decision-making architecture — Baum is the investment committee, underwriter, and post-close advisor, making 401KARAT function more like an active angel syndicate backed by permanent capital than a conventional single-family office. No institutional capital has been raised, and the vehicle carries no external reporting obligations, allowing it to move at founder speed on deals that larger family offices or venture funds might process through multi-week diligence cycles.