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Human Ventures operates as a business creation platform and venture capital firm, closely partnering with early-stage founders. It utilizes a Build Studio, developing nascent ideas into viable companies, deploys a dedicated fund for ventures addressing human needs, and runs an Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program. This integrated approach supports founders comprehensively from concept through market entry.
Established in 2015 by Heather Hartnett and Joe Marchese, Human Ventures originated from the insight of a human-first approach to investment and company building. Hartnett and Marchese founded the firm, driven by the conviction that directly addressing essential human needs across sectors is crucial for creating impactful and enduring businesses. Their shared vision underpins this philosophy.
The platform supports aspiring founders and early-stage ventures focused on meeting critical human needs in health, future of work, community, and personal enrichment. Human Ventures strives to be a strategic partner, nurturing companies that satisfy vital societal demands, ultimately fostering innovative solutions and generating long-term positive impact.
Key people at Human Ventures.
Human Ventures is a New York–based venture capital and business creation platform that takes a “human-first” approach to early-stage investing. Founded in 2015, the firm blends a venture fund, startup studio (Build Studio), and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program into a unified platform designed to support founders from day zero. Its mission centers on backing diverse, founder-led startups that address essential human needs—spanning health and wellness, work, community, and lifestyle—while prioritizing the founder’s journey as much as the company’s trajectory.
The firm focuses on pre-seed, seed, and early Series A investments across the U.S., with a strong emphasis on founder enablement and hands-on support. Human Ventures has built a collaborative ecosystem that helps founders refine ideas, validate markets, and scale quickly, making it a distinctive player in the early-stage landscape. Its portfolio spans sectors like biotech, fintech, food and beverage, and marketing/AdTech, reflecting a broad but human-centric thesis on where innovation can improve everyday life.
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Human Ventures was founded in 2015 in New York City by a team of operators and builders, most notably Heather Hartnett, who serves as CEO and General Partner. Hartnett, a serial entrepreneur and startup operator, brought a founder-first mindset to the firm from the outset, having experienced firsthand the challenges of building and scaling early-stage companies. The firm emerged from a desire to create a more supportive, integrated model for early-stage innovation—one that didn’t just write checks but actively helped founders build from concept to company.
Over time, Human Ventures evolved from a traditional early-stage fund into a hybrid business creation platform. It launched Build Studio, its startup studio arm, to co-create and spin out new companies, and expanded its EIR program to attract and develop entrepreneurial talent. This evolution reflected a growing conviction that the best outcomes come not just from selecting great founders, but from giving them the tools, network, and operational muscle to succeed in the earliest, most fragile stages of company building.
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Integrated Business Creation PlatformHuman Ventures stands out by combining three core components under one roof:- Venture Fund: Capital for pre-seed and seed-stage startups.- Build Studio: A startup studio that co-founds and launches new companies, often around emerging human needs.- EIR Program: A talent pipeline that brings in entrepreneurs to explore ideas, validate concepts, and launch ventures with full backing.
Human-First Investment PhilosophyRather than focusing solely on metrics or markets, Human Ventures prioritizes the founder’s vision, values, and lived experience. It invests in “humans as much as their companies,” backing diverse founders who are deeply connected to the problems they’re solving.
Hands-On Operating SupportThe firm provides active, day-to-day support in product development, go-to-market strategy, hiring, and fundraising. Build Studio, in particular, offers in-house design, engineering, and growth expertise, reducing the time and friction for early-stage teams.
Sector-Agnostic, Need-Centric FocusWhile active in biotech, fintech, food & beverage, and AdTech/MarTech, Human Ventures is united by a thematic lens: startups that improve fundamental aspects of human life—how we work, eat, connect, and care for ourselves. This allows the firm to identify opportunities at the intersection of behavior, culture, and technology.
Strong NYC Ecosystem TiesAs a New York–native firm, Human Ventures is deeply embedded in the local tech, media, and consumer ecosystems, giving founders access to a dense network of operators, corporates, and follow-on investors.
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Human Ventures is riding several powerful trends reshaping venture capital and startup creation. First, there’s a growing shift toward builder-led, operator-heavy funds—VCs that don’t just advise but actively build with founders. Human Ventures’ studio model and in-house capabilities align perfectly with this trend, appealing to founders who want more than capital.
Second, the firm is positioned at the intersection of consumer behavior, wellness, and the future of work—areas that have gained urgency in the post-pandemic era. As people rethink how they spend their time, where they work, and how they care for their health and communities, Human Ventures’ human-centric thesis becomes increasingly relevant.
Third, the rise of hybrid fund-studio models reflects a broader industry move toward de-risking early-stage investing. By validating ideas internally, testing demand, and building MVPs before external fundraising, Human Ventures can launch companies with stronger product-market fit and clearer paths to scale.
Finally, the firm plays an important role in diversifying the startup ecosystem by backing underrepresented founders and ideas that might not fit traditional VC molds. This not only generates differentiated returns but also expands the range of problems being addressed in tech.
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Human Ventures is well-positioned to continue shaping the next generation of early-stage innovation, especially as the lines between venture capital, startup studios, and talent platforms continue to blur. Its integrated model—capital plus creation—is likely to become even more valuable as early-stage risk increases and founders demand more hands-on support.
Looking ahead, the firm may deepen its focus on healthtech, longevity, and the future of work, where human-centric innovation is accelerating. It could also expand its studio model into new verticals or geographies, or increase its corporate innovation partnerships to source and scale ideas with real-world validation.
As the venture landscape becomes more competitive and crowded, Human Ventures’ emphasis on founder enablement, human needs, and collaborative creation will remain a compelling differentiator. In a world where many VCs talk about “backing founders,” Human Ventures is one of the few that has built an entire platform to actually *build with them*—a model that’s likely to influence how early-stage investing evolves in the years to come.
Key people at Human Ventures.
