Joyance Partners

Joyance Partners invests exclusively in early-stage companies whose core product creates, measures, or improves joy. The firm defines joy through eight science-backed dimensions—including connection, awe, vitality, and meaning—and only backs founders who can articulate a direct, measurable link between their product and improved well-being.

Managing Partner Mike Edelhart leads the investment committee. He is joined by General Partners Paige Craig and Scott Walchek. Edelhart previously ran the venture fund at Social Starts; Craig has a track record in early-stage consumer and marketplace companies; Walchek brings brand and consumer-product operating experience.

Joyance excludes any company whose business model depends on anxiety, jealousy, social comparison, or addiction—advertising-driven consumer platforms that monetize negative emotion do not fit the thesis. This effectively rules out much of the traditional social-media and free-to-play gaming landscape.

Yes. The firm operates as a traditional venture investor and regularly co-invests alongside generalist seed funds. Its thesis gives it a distinct sourcing lane, but it does not structure club deals or require exclusive access, and it welcomes syndicates with larger institutional funds.

The firm's sourcing relies heavily on connections to academic researchers in positive psychology, behavioral science, and human-computer interaction. It also draws from clinician networks and university incubators that produce founders working on sensing technology, digital therapeutics, and well-being platforms.