First Leaf Capital

Mark Aardsma, the founding investor and Managing Partner, runs investment decisions. He previously founded three startups and led them as CEO before shifting to full-time investing. Aardsma also authored Investing With Purpose in 2016. The firm's website lists Venus Walker and Lori DeLuca in bookkeeping and accounting roles, not on the investment committee.

First Leaf Capital is directly backed by capital from the Mark Aardsma family office. That permanent capital sits alongside outside capital raised for the firm's FLC II institutional fund. The dual structure lets the firm anchor deals with family-office capital while still deploying institutional commitments.

First Leaf Capital does direct deals exclusively, based on its disclosed investment activity. The firm structures its own positions using convertible notes, venture equity, venture debt, partnership interests, revenue-based financing, bridge notes, term loans, and business lines of credit. No fund-of-funds or LP commitments to outside managers are mentioned in its portfolio or strategy disclosures.

The firm operates across early-stage venture — including seed and start-up rounds — as well as growth lending and micro-private-equity transactions. Its portfolio spans equity positions with board-observer or director roles, production-run loans to small businesses, and outright ownership of operating companies such as ATS Acoustics.

The firm does not publish an explicit avoidance list. Its portfolio concentrates on enterprise software, digital health, medical devices, ag-tech, cybersecurity, and consumer products. The common thread is hard-to-imitate advantages and lean market validation rather than sector exclusions.

The firm does not describe a formal co-investment program, but its portfolio includes council-capital-led rounds — GeoH's $30 million raise with Council Capital in 2024 is an example. First Leaf served as an early investor in GeoH in 2022 and maintained a board-observer seat into the later institutional round.

First Leaf Capital actively uses debt. The firm lists venture debt, term loans, bridge notes, business lines of credit, and revenue-based financing as available structures. Multiple exited positions — including SNOOZ, Hopscotch Cakes, and Virtual Auditor — were lender roles where the firm financed production runs, facility renovations, or growth and was repaid.