Human Ventures is not a conventional venture fund — it is a business creation platform comprising a venture fund, a startup studio and an entrepreneur-in-residence programme. Founded around 2015 in New York City by founding partner and CEO Heather Hartnett, the firm builds and backs companies that meet what it calls fundamental human needs.
The firm's thesis centres on the Human Needs Economy: health and wellness, the future of work, food and sustainability, and community and media. Human Ventures invests primarily at the pre-seed and seed stages, and — unusually — also co-builds companies from zero through its studio, supplying the tools, network and financing for founders to create. Hartnett describes the core arbitrage as identifying talent ahead of the market, backing founders with grit and an underdog mentality.
On fund size, Human Ventures has not publicly disclosed a figure, so the profile focuses on what is verified: the platform, the portfolio and the network. The firm is reported to have co-built and invested in more than 65 companies, and its investor base for the platform itself has included names like Ray Dalio, David Solomon and James Murdoch.
Portfolio names verified from the firm's own site and credible interviews include Headspace, Current, Tia, The Skimm, Tiny Organics, Capsule, Evvy, Groundswell, Paloma Health and Parento — a roster concentrated exactly where the thesis says: care, community and the daily infrastructure of modern life.
Heather Hartnett — a Kauffman Fellow named among Entrepreneur's 100 Women of Influence and one of the 50 Most Influential Women in America by Hearst — remains the driving force as CEO and General Partner. Her venture career spanned Lightspeed Venture Partners, CityLight Capital and Claremont Creek Ventures before she founded Human on the conviction that New York founders needed places to build together.
Programmes are central to the model. The firm runs Humans in the Wild, its entrepreneur-in-residence programme, alongside the studio's co-building work and a heavy investment in community-building across New York's tech ecosystem. There is a dedicated platform function for founders covering network access, portfolio support and events. Like many early-stage firms, Human Ventures publishes no standardised startup-credits catalogue — its offer is the studio machinery and the network itself.
Why it matters for founders
If your startup serves a genuine human need — health, care, work, food, community — Human Ventures offers something rare: investors who will help you build the company, not just fund it. For pre-seed founders who want a co-builder rather than a cheque-writer, this is one of New York's most distinctive options.