SoGal Ventures Fund II

SoGal Ventures describes themselves as investing in “next-gen billion-dollar businesses that unapologetically benefit people, society, and the planet” with a focus on “the future of living, working, and staying healthy”. SoGal Ventures invests across consumer goods categories (including fashion, food and beverage, beauty), as well as in technology solutions for the creator economy and community building. 50% of SoGal Ventures’ Fund I portfolio companies are within creative industries and aligned with Upstart’s impact pillars of providing Access to Capital for BIPOC and Women Entrepreneurs, supporting Vibrant Communities, advancing an Inclusive Creative Economy, creating Quality Jobs, and enabling Sustainable Creative Lives. 

SoGal Ventures is a women-, BIPOC-, LBGTQ- and artist/designer-led fund, with the strategy objective of intentionally driving capital to diverse founding teams and helping reduce burden of fundraising by writing bigger checks at earlier stages. SoGal publishes an annual impact report.

The fund is led by GPs Pocket Sun and Elizabeth Galbut who have worked together since 2015, when they launched the SoGal Foundation, a platform for diverse entrepreneurs and investors across 6 continents. In addition to investing, Sun was a host for TV show Start-Up (the Shark Tank of Singapore) and launched SheVC, a community for female investors across Asia. Galbut was a consultant at Deloitte, a visiting professor of design at School of Visual Arts, and a founding partner of A-Level Capital, a student-led venture fund powered by Johns Hopkins University students.

Creative economy investment examples from Fund I include: Archer Roose, a beverage company working with winemakers around the world that approach winemaking as a craft with a deep respect for the environment; and ADAY, a sustainable and ethical fashion company built to encourage people to wear their clothes over and over.