Emerging Ventures

Managing Partner David Mandel leads the investment process. He built his track record through four exits in insurance and finance and has personally angel-invested in over 500 early-stage companies since 2014. Partner Benett Cole, a 30-year financial services veteran with investment banking leadership roles at Wells Fargo Securities and Bank of America Securities, supports due diligence and portfolio construction.

Deal flow derives primarily from Mandel’s extensive personal angel network. He is an active member of several prominent angel groups and a frequent judge at startup pitch events. This network funnels seed-stage, B2B technology opportunities — many in Southern California but extending across North America and Israel — into the firm’s pipeline.

The firm is willing to lead rounds but primarily participates in priced seed rounds led by other credible institutional investors (per the firm, emerging.vc). It occasionally leads when doing so benefits both the company and the fund, suggesting a flexible posture that prioritizes alignment with existing lead investors.

Emerging Ventures writes initial checks of $100,000 to $500,000 into seed-stage, capital-efficient B2B technology companies. The firm focuses on startups it believes can raise a large institutional venture round within 12 to 24 months at a significantly higher valuation.

The firm publicly states a focus on B2B technology companies using emerging technologies to solve business challenges. Its website and portfolio disclosures do not list any direct-to-consumer (D2C) holdings or companies outside the technology sector, suggesting a deliberate exclusion of consumer-facing and non-tech business models.

Emerging Ventures is structured as an SEC-registered private equity fund open to external limited partners, including accredited individuals, family offices, and institutional investors. It is not a single family office, though its origination story stems from David Mandel’s personal angel investment activity.

While the firm concentrates its sourcing in Southern California, its portfolio companies span the United States, Canada, and Israel. In its initial fund, over 50% of the portfolio was based outside of California, with confirmed portfolio companies located in New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and Austin, among other markets.