VC Spotlight: Gabby Cazeau, Harlem Capital
It’s no secret that VC funding in New York keeps rising. In Q2 2024, venture capital funding in New York reached $7.72 billion — a 43% increase from Q1 2024’s $5.4 billion. And from January to July 2024, that number reached $13.1 billion — up 74% from the same point in 2023.
But while the New York VC ecosystem is strong, there’s still work to be done when it comes to diversity.
Black and Hispanic workers make up ~20% of NYC's tech workforce, double the level in San Francisco and Boston combined. But according to NYCEDC, in 2023, female-founded companies in New York City received 19% of VC funding, while Black and Latinx-founded companies in the city each received just 2.9%.
Enter: Gabby Cazeau, a Partner at Harlem Capital.
Harlem Capital’s mission is to “change the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1,000 diverse founders.” To date, they have made more than 60 investments ranging from FinTech to robotics to health and wellness companies.
Gabby is on the VC Council for the recently-launched Startup:NYC. As a member of the Council, she advises on the direction of the program, including helping to select participating founders and deciding on the themes of each cohort. (Our inaugural cohort focuses on health and wellness tech companies!)
We caught up with Gabby to discuss her career, what trends she’s seeing in the industry, and how Harlem Capital is working to “change the face of entrepreneurship.”
Tech:NYC: Where did your career start?
Gabby: I started my career first as an engineer building and launching new products. I love solving problems and building products that help people and meet their needs.
When did you join Harlem Capital? What was the catalyst for doing so? And when did you make a move to New York?
I first joined Harlem Capital as an intern. I was looking to find my place in the tech world and was open to how that might take shape. I love solving big problems and have always been drawn to those that are really personally frustrating and impact communities that I care about.
So learning about this massive market problem, of the challenges women and diverse founders face accessing VC capital, really frustrated me. And the more I learned, the more I wanted to solve that by backing those exceptional founders and helping them win. That mission is my north star each day and ties back to my values both personally and professionally. From those early days in 2018, we’ve closed two funds, invested in 60 (and counting!) companies, and have built so much along the way. We have big ambitions and this is still just the beginning.
While I’ve always been in and out of NYC with Harlem Capital, I finally made the move official in January 2024. It’s been a great year and I’m loving it.
What stage do you invest at and what's your average check size?
We’re an early-stage, diversity-focused venture capital firm. We’re seed stage investors and will lead and invest $1mm to $2.5mm into startups.
What's a trend you are watching closely?
To no surprise AI is at the forefront of everything these days. But I’m closely watching trends around verticalized AI - that is, AI natively built into software for specific industries. There’s an incredible race happening between large industry giants for who will win - and for many spaces it will likely be the incumbents with scale and distribution. But I have a belief that verticalized AI platforms who focus on more niche segments that have been underserved by software will be big winners. Their problems may have previously been too hard to solve, but now with AI software can better serve their needs. And we’re seeing this already play out in many SMB categories.
What's an investment from the last 12 months that you're especially excited by? Why?
I’m really excited about our investment in Fintary, a platform streamlining finance operations in insurance businesses. I’m excited about Fintary, first, due to the amazing founder Qiyun. This is her second company in the category and she brings so much expertise that’s helped them 10x revenue in only a few months. Second, they’re solving an incredibly big pain point for companies by streamlining their entire financial operations through their platform. It’s been remarkable to see the customers’ love and satisfaction as they start using Fintary and are able to unlock growth for their own businesses.
What are some of the top resources you recommend for founders who are beginning their startup journeys?
There’s a few I really love sharing that touch on different parts of the startup journey.
For overall insights about getting a startup from 0 to 1, I think First Round’s First Round Review is a great starting point. There are so many unknowns in the early days of the journey and they’ve done a great job sharing best practices to navigate them.
Raising VC capital can feel like a massive black box for founders thinking about fundraising. At Harlem Capital we’ve created a guide that gets readers into the mind of VCs, how and why they think the way they do, and what drives our decisions. With this, founders can better navigate the fundraising process.
Tied to fundraising, it’s so important to know and have the right data at your fingertips. So Carta’s Data Desk is one I always share for the most up to date data on the industry.
NYC is home to some of the most successful healthcare startups in the world. Why do you think health and wellness startups are finding success in NYC or what's an advantage to building in New York?
The NYC ecosystem is so special. There’s this almost perfect confluence of world class healthcare institutions and research centers, talent and expertise, and a matured startup ecosystem that enables healthcare startups to thrive. The best ideas are born here, best ideas are built here. Many companies can start with NYC residents as their target market and given the sheer population size of the city, you can learn and prove out so much even at an early stage. It’s a huge advantage to have a large group of potential customers and clients all in one place to learn and scale that much faster.
You have a founder or LP in from out of town… Where are you taking them?
It’s gotta be the High Line. I love the greenery and it’s a great place for a chat with the bonus of getting out of the office. After a good walk, grabbing lunch at Pastis!
Choose one: Power breakfast, power lunch, or work dinner. Where?
Power lunch! I love the food at Balthazar and it’s right near our office, so it’s my perfect lunch spot.
And, because we always ask our founders… What's the best slice of pizza in NYC?
This is a TOUGH question. But if I can cheat, I’d say a tie between L’industrie and Lucali.
