Equal Ventures
Venture capitalActively deployingNew York · Pre-Seed–Series A · 7 people tracked
Also known as EQUAL VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC
Investment thesis
Equal Ventures backs early-stage founders building companies that transform legacy industries. The firm emphasizes concentration over diversification, choosing to lead early-stage rounds rather than spread capital thinly across many companies. Its investment focus spans several sectors, including climate, insurance and benefits, retail, and supply chain and logistics.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 7, 2026.
Team · 7 people
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What they invest in
from 16 of 39 portfolio companiesSaaS ×7Energy ×5Cleantech ×4AI & Machine Learning ×3B2B Marketplaces ×3Climate Tech ×3InsurTech ×3Logistics & Supply Chain ×2
HQs:United States×12
Investments · 39 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathDavid Energy builds technology to enable electricity grids powered by 100% clean, renewable energy.
CleantechClimate TechEnergyHardwareNew York, US
James McGinniss(Executive Officer, Director)Ahmed Salman(Executive Officer)Brian Maxwell(Executive Officer, Director)
Board seatRick Zullo· per SEC Form D
Chicago, US
John Cowgill(Director)Jared Golden(Director)Amish . Tolia(Executive Officer, Director)
Board seatRick Zullo· per SEC Form D · $15M raise · filed Mar 2026
MVMNT is a freight brokerage platform that automates workflows and operational processes for freight brokers.
Logistics & Supply ChainSaaS
Board seatRick Zullo· per SEC Form D
EnergyBoulder, US
Piyush Mathur(Executive Officer, Director)Emily McAteer(Executive Officer, Director)Catherine Zoi(Director)Morgan DeFoort(Director)
BoardNick Grossman(Director)
Board seatRick Zullo· per SEC Form D · $15M raise · filed Dec 2024
New York, US
Board seatRick Zullo· per SEC Form D · $7.7M raise · filed Feb 2025
New York, US
Patrick Ali Javid(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Richard Kerby(Director)Hesham El-Nahhas(Executive Officer, Promoter)Naysawn Naji(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Board seatRichard Kerby· per SEC Form D · $3.5M raise · filed Mar 2020
Marina Del Rey, US
Jesse Forrest(Executive Officer, Director)Matthew Reilly(Executive Officer)Anna Barber(Director)Jessica Chang(Executive Officer, Director)Richard Kerby(Director)
Board seatRichard Kerby· per SEC Form D · $17M raise · filed Feb 2022
Block Renovation is a residential and commercial construction platform that connects homeowners and builders with vetted contractors and provides project management, pricing transparency, and buyer protections for renovation and new build projects across the United States.
B2B MarketplacesConstruction TechPropTech
Bluefields is a technology-first insurance platform that builds specialized insurance programs for underserved market niches, combining loss control, program structuring, and proprietary data to accelerate time-to-market and improve underwriting outcomes.
InsurTech
Chord provides a unified data layer and AI agents for commerce brands, combining reliable data infrastructure with autonomous tools that operate across the full business stack.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureE-commerceMarketing Tech
Bryan Mahoney(CEO & Co-Founder)Henry Davis(President & Chairman)
Denver, US
James L. Long(Director)Lauren Greene(Director)Jason Greene(Director)Adrian Perez(Director)Tristan D. Willey(Director, Promoter)Mark W. Byrne(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Isomer is an AI-powered platform that ingests and analyzes inbound communications for property & casualty insurance carriers to detect compliance deadlines, demand letters, bad faith indicators, and other critical signals before they result in leakage, fines, or litigation exposure.
AI & Machine LearningInsurTech
Leap operates a platform that launches and manages retail stores for consumer brands, providing location selection, store design, operations management, and data analytics to reduce expansion risk and cost.
B2B MarketplacesRetail Tech
Shadow Power deploys, owns, and manages distributed energy resources such as onsite batteries, aggregating and synchronizing them with grid operations to provide flexible, resilient power.
CleantechClimate TechEnergy
New York, US
Rick Zullo(Director)Victor Quinn(Executive Officer)Nicholas Brown(Executive Officer)Sanjiv Sanghavi(Executive Officer, Director)
Upwards operates a technology-driven marketplace that connects families with childcare providers and partners with government entities to offer subsidized care.
B2B MarketplacesConsumerFuture of WorkHR TechSaaS
Jessica Chang(Co-founder)Jesse(Co-founder)Matt(Co-founder)
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Equal Ventures invest at?
- Equal Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What is Equal Ventures's typical check size?
- Equal Ventures typically writes checks of $2M.
- What sectors does Equal Ventures focus on?
- Equal Ventures focuses on Climate Tech, Consumer, E-commerce, Energy, InsurTech, Logistics & Supply Chain, Retail Tech.
- Where is Equal Ventures located?
- Equal Ventures is headquartered in New York, US.
- Does Equal Ventures lead rounds?
- Yes, Equal Ventures leads investment rounds.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamAI Revolution ft. Equal Ventures Founder & Managing Partner Rick Zullo
Grace Gong · Rick Zullo
Rick Zullo, Equal Ventures MP on Vertical SaaS, Energy & Logistics
Grace Gong · Rick Zullo
The Secrets to Scaling Startups with Rick Zullo of Equal Ventures
Five to Fifty Podcast · Rick Zullo
Rick Zullo on Building Equal Ventures, Why Traction is Overrated, Advice for Emerging Managers
The Peel with Turner Novak · Rick Zullo
#116 - Consultative VC, Developing Networks for Your PortCos, & More w/ Rick Zullo (Equal Ventures)
Silas Mähner · Rick Zullo
Images
Co-investors · 34
Union Square Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York City that invests in companies at the edge of large markets being transformed by technological and societal pressures.
Fika Ventures is an operator-first seed fund where co-founders Eva Ho and TX Zhuo leverage their startup operating experience to provide deeply embedded support to B2B founders through weekly working sessions and hands-on help with hiring, pricing, and go-to-market rather than pursuing a high-volume portfolio model. The firm deliberately backs "non-central casting" founders—optimizing for responsiveness, grit, and execution over pedigree—while focusing on B2B companies using data and AI to solve systemic workflow problems across industries like fintech, vertical SaaS, and healthcare.
Eniac Ventures is a seed-stage venture firm that positions itself as founder-friendly and focused on helping early-stage companies achieve product-market fit.
Costanoa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that backs a select group of founders solving large, difficult problems, positioning itself as a long-term, operationally engaged partner from a company's earliest days through later milestones.
Hyde Park Venture Partners (HPVP) is an early-stage venture fund investing in AI, software, and tech-enabled services companies connected to the Midwest, Toronto, or the Southeast.
Jetstream is a San Francisco-based venture fund run by Tommy Leep that backs startups at the pre-seed stage. It emphasizes quick decisions and helps portfolio founders with customer introductions, strategy, and raising follow-on rounds through its community of founders and investors. Its investments include companies in areas such as disaster recovery, fintech, health, and EV charging.
Gutter Capital is a venture fund co-founded by a former WeWork executive who sold his company for $220M and a computer scientist turned professional gambler who built software to predict athlete performance, with both partners having invested their own exit proceeds and gambling winnings into over 100 angel investments before raising their institutional fund. The fund focuses on "advancing the American experiment" through investments in affordability, economic mobility, and sustainability, while operating with an unusually hands-on, blue-collar approach that treats portfolio support—especially recruiting—as a core systematized product rather than occasional help.
Sozo Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in technology-enabled companies and supports their global expansion, particularly into markets such as Japan.
ERA positions itself as New York City's largest accelerator with 1,000+ mentors (roughly split between 500+ alumni founders and 500+ expert mentors) and accepts only about 1% of applicants into small cohorts that work daily from its Manhattan space with continuous in-person mentor and investor interaction. The program includes ERA Global, a dedicated arm helping international startups enter the U.S. market, and has evolved beyond pure acceleration into broader venture activity including climate-focused investing through its managing partner's associated funds.
GV (formerly Google Ventures) is a venture investment firm that backs founders across many industries, aiming to build long-term relationships and support companies across multiple stages and milestones.
Accel is a venture capital firm that partners with exceptional founding teams, positioning itself as a first partner to startups globally.
FJ Labs is a venture capital firm specializing in marketplaces and network-effect businesses, having built a large portfolio of marketplace startups with over 30 becoming unicorns.
▶22 more co-investors
BoxGroupEverywhere VenturesB Capital GroupPlug and Play VenturesSlow VenturesScale Venture Partners8VCFlatiron HealthGoodwater CapitalLightbankCausalTribeca Venture PartnersWildcat Venture PartnersCoinFundBrand Foundry VenturesBlue Owl CapitalAZ-VCVersion One VenturesPaladin Capital GroupAlkeon CapitalR136 VenturesTeachers' Venture Growth
Firms observed investing alongside Equal Ventures, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Equal Ventures's recorded portfolio.
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