GEM Realty Capital

Jonathan Disner, the firm's founder and managing principal, leads investment decisions across both the real estate and venture capital platforms. Disner established the firm in 1993 and has maintained a hands-on role in portfolio construction, deal sourcing, and capital allocation. The firm operates with a lean senior team and does not publicly disclose a separate CIO or investment committee structure.

GEM sources real estate opportunities through a network of regional operators, property managers, and direct market relationships built across three decades of Chicago-based activity. Venture investments are sourced primarily through co-investment relationships with top-tier venture firms. The firm does not publicly disclose whether it accepts direct founder-led deal flow outside its GP network.

No — GEM's distinctive structure runs real estate and venture allocations inside the same pooled fund vehicles. Property income and sale proceeds cover venture capital calls, and venture distribution proceeds recycle back into real estate acquisitions. This cross-strategy capital recycling is rare among institutional private equity managers.

GEM targets value-add and opportunistic properties across office, retail, multifamily, hotel, and mixed-use sectors. The firm focuses on assets requiring repositioning, lease-up, or capital restructuring, primarily in major US metropolitan markets. GEM maintains its own property management capabilities for directly owned assets.

GEM focuses on growth-stage and late-stage venture capital, typically participating in rounds alongside established firms like Sequoia Capital and Accel. Sector exposure includes enterprise software, consumer internet, and select life sciences. The firm has held positions in Airbnb, Stripe, and Palantir, primarily through co-investment and secondary avenues.

GEM is an institutional asset manager, not a family office. It manages third-party capital through pooled discretionary funds in addition to any internal capital, and its dual real estate-venture strategy under a single vehicle is a structural choice, not a family wealth management structure. Jonathan Disner founded the firm, but the entity operates as a traditional private equity manager.

Yes. GEM raises capital from institutional limited partners including pension funds, endowments, and family offices through its commingled real estate funds. The firm does not publicly disclose its current LP base or minimum commitment size.