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Empire Angels
Empire Angels is a Millennial investment collective running a dual fund-and-network early-stage vehicle from New York and London.
Empire Angels
Empire Angels, headquartered in New York, was founded by a group of friends to train a new generation of angel investors. The firm describes itself as a diverse collective of Millennials backing early-stage ventures, with an emphasis on supporting young entrepreneurs. It operates with a stated philosophy of transparency, collaboration, and a long-term return horizon, vetting members carefully to preserve cultural cohesion. The firm deploys capital through two parallel tracks: a network that lets members invest directly in companies they find compelling, and funds that make decisions via majority vote. This dual structure lets Empire Angels aggregate larger check sizes than a typical angel group. The portfolio indicates a stage focus on seed and startup rounds across sectors including enterprise software (Socure, Enertiv, Imperative), mobility (Superpedestrian, Zoomcar), and consumer technology (The Infatuation, Zest Tea, Popsy App). The firm maintains a London chapter, giving portfolio companies access to investors on both sides of the Atlantic. Empire Angels operates with a lean, member-driven model; total assets and headcount are not publicly disclosed. Portfolio support follows a roll-up-your-sleeves ethos: members serve as active users, facilitate introductions to future investors and customers, and support M&A outcomes. The firm's website indicates a track record that ranges from consumer brands like Mah Ze Dahr bakery to Broadway productions, including the musical The Prom. A structural differentiator is its hybrid format as both a fund and a direct-investment network. Unlike a standard venture firm that decides allocations through a partnership committee, Empire Angels lets individual members vote with their own capital on a deal-by-deal basis, while also pooling capital for majority-rule fund investments. This architecture aims to accelerate decision speed and broaden sector coverage by tapping the diverse professional expertise of its membership.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Additional offices
London, United Kingdom
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Empire Angels structure its investment decisions?
Empire Angels uses a hybrid model. The firm operates funds that invest based on a majority vote of the membership, while also maintaining a direct-investment network where individual members can write checks into companies they choose. This allows the group to combine disciplined group underwriting with the flexibility and passion of personal angel investing, with the goal of writing larger cumulative checks into portfolio companies.
What is the composition of Empire Angels' membership?
The firm describes its membership as a diverse group of Millennial professionals. The group is curated for trust and cooperation, with every member expected to support the portfolio regardless of their personal investment in a given company. Membership is selective, but the firm has not publicly disclosed the exact number of members or specific professional backgrounds.
What investment stages does Empire Angels typically target?
The firm's website indicates a focus on early-stage ventures, explicitly tagging seed and startup rounds. Its portfolio supports this, listing companies at the point of product launch or initial scaling, such as AI-powered classifieds app Popsy, micromobility platform Superpedestrian, and health-tech patch developer Kenzen.
Does Empire Angels have a geographic mandate?
While headquartered in New York, Empire Angels has a London Chapter and explicitly describes itself as global. The portfolio reflects this with investments in U.S.-based companies like Socure and The Infatuation, as well as international bets such as Zoomcar in India. The dual-city presence is designed to give members and portfolio companies transatlantic deal flow.
How does Empire Angels support its portfolio companies post-investment?
The firm states that its members act as vocal, active users of portfolio products and provide operational support. This support includes following on in subsequent rounds, facilitating introductions to other investors and potential customers, and assisting with M&A processes. The model is built on the premise that the membership often represents the target demographic for the consumer and enterprise technologies it backs.
Is Empire Angels structured as a venture capital firm or an angel network?
Empire Angels operates as both. It is organized as an asset manager that runs pooled investment funds, but it simultaneously maintains a direct-investment network. This differentiates it from a pure venture capital firm, as members retain the autonomy to invest independently, and from a standard angel group, as it also aggregates capital for majority-rule fund decisions.
What sectors does Empire Angels explicitly avoid?
The firm has not published a list of excluded sectors. However, its portfolio and stated focus on supporting young entrepreneurs and Millennial consumers skews toward digital-native companies in enterprise software, consumer apps, mobility, and health tech. There is no disclosed interest in traditional heavy industry, life sciences beyond digital health, or financial infrastructure outside of fintech applications.
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