Sterling.VC

Sterling.VC

Sterling.VC operates as the venture-investment arm of the broader Wilpon-Katz family enterprise, Sterling Equities — the private holding company Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz built from a modest accounting practice into a multi-billion-dollar real estate, sports, and media conglomerate. Jeff Wilpon, Fred's son, co-founded Sterling.VC with Farzam Kamel, creating a distinct entity that sits outside the legacy single-family-office structure. The firm targets early-stage companies, deploying capital directly rather than through fund commitments. Its investment thesis draws on the family's proprietary assets: a portfolio that includes 4 World Trade Center office space, the Willets Point mixed-use development in Queens, and SNY's broadcast infrastructure. Confirmed positions include blockchain-infrastructure firm ConsenSys and metaverse platform The Sandbox, alongside other enterprise-software and fintech names that align with the family's operational real-estate and media footprint. The geographic focus is primarily North America, with selective exposure to digital-asset ecosystems that bypass traditional jurisdictional boundaries. Sterling.VC's partnership group blends Wilpon family members with external operators. Farzam Kamel serves as Partner and President, running day-to-day deal flow alongside Rohit Gupta and Scott Wilpon, while Jeff Wilpon and the founders of Sterling Equities sit on the partnership committee. The firm does not publicly disclose assets under management or total deployment. Adjacent structures include the Iris & Saul Katz Family Foundation and the Judy & Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, which operate as legally distinct philanthropic vehicles. The family's aviation assets — a Gulfstream III and Gulfstream IV — support executive travel but are not folded into the venture entity. What distinguishes Sterling.VC structurally is the direct pipeline from a mature real-asset balance sheet into early-stage venture, with no intermediary fund structure or external LP base. The family's willingness to offer portfolio companies physical infrastructure access — data-center-ready commercial space, broadcast and media reach through SNY, construction-scale development partnerships at sites like Willets Point — constitutes a sourcing and value-add model that pure venture managers cannot replicate.