Henson Venture Partners

What Henson Venture Partners does

Henson Venture Partners is the public-facing brand of Ember Venture Capital, LLC, an early-stage venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneur Gregory Scott Henson and headquartered at 1 World Trade Center, 85th Floor, in New York City. The firm invests exclusively in US-based companies founded by US citizens, deploying founder-friendly SAFE notes ranging from $100,000 (pre-seed) to $500,000 (seed) in exchange for 5-25% equity. Portfolio companies also receive up to $250,000 in Microsoft Azure credits and access to Microsoft's enterprise ecosystem through the firm's membership in the Microsoft for Startups Investor Network, approved in November 2025. As of the most recent reporting, the firm has invested in 20+ portfolio companies spanning SaaS, AI, cloud infrastructure, consumer, healthcare, fintech, MarTech, creative economy, and Web 3.0 verticals, with a self-reported 95% portfolio survival rate.

The firm operates an operator-led model that bundles capital with hands-on mentorship through an Incubation Program for concept-stage founders, founder coaching on product-market fit and GTM strategy, and warm investor introductions for follow-on fundraising rounds. Deal flow is sourced through a public pitch deck submission portal (henson.vc/submit-your-pitchdeck), direct cold-pitch email ([email protected]), and Microsoft channel referrals, with investment decisions communicated within 2-4 weeks of initial meetings. Marketing channels include a regularly published blog, an email newsletter, social media presence, podcast/video content, and press coverage across Yahoo Finance, AP News, Morningstar, and other financial wires. The team is intentionally small — Managing Partner Gregory Scott Henson and Investment Manager Meredith Lu — positioning the firm as a boutique operator-led fund rather than an institutional VC.

Revenue is entirely dependent on portfolio equity returns upon exit, with no current product, service, or management fee revenues disclosed. There are no patents, proprietary technology products, or software platforms developed by the firm; the underlying "technology" is the firm's investment process, its Microsoft Azure credit allocation mechanism, and its operational support infrastructure. Customer segments are hybrid, organized by funding stage (pre-seed, seed, Series A and later), by vertical (SaaS/AI/Tech as primary), and by geography (US-only). The firm competes in the earliest-stage segment of US venture capital against other operator-led seed funds, with differentiation grounded in Henson's personal scaling track record and the Microsoft partnership.

Name

Henson Venture Partners

Legal name

Ember Venture Capital, LLC

Website

https://www.henson.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Henson Venture Partners is the public-facing brand of Ember Venture Capital, LLC, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests $100K–$500K SAFE checks in US-based, US-citizen-founded startups. The firm combines founder-friendly capital with operator mentorship, an incubation program, and Microsoft for Startups ecosystem benefits including up to $250K in Azure credits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Venture Studios / Company Builders (FSANAAAH)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Seed stage investing
• Pre-seed investments
• Startup incubation
• SAFE agreement investing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Portfolio equity returns: Henson Venture Partners generates returns through equity ownership in portfolio companies. As an early-stage investor writing SAFE notes (typically $100K–$500K per company) in exchange for 5–25% equity, the firm's revenue is entirely dependent on portfolio company exits (acquisitions or IPOs). There are no product or service revenues.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Henson Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests $100,000 to $500,000 per company via founder-friendly SAFE agreements in exchange for 5%–25% equity. The firm invests exclusively in US-based companies with US citizen founders, operating across pre-seed, seed, and follow-on stages. Beyond capital, it provides hands-on operator mentorship, an incubation program for concept-stage founders, warm investor introductions, and access to Microsoft for Startups ecosystem benefits including up to $250,000 in Azure credits over two years.

Product overview

Henson Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm and the public-facing brand of Ember Venture Capital. The firm provides a unified investment and support platform combining capital deployment through SAFE agreements (pre-seed $100K, seed $250K-$500K) with hands-on operational support including an Incubation Program for concept-stage companies, mentorship from experienced operators, and strategic access to a global investor network. Portfolio companies also receive up to $250,000 in Microsoft Azure credits and enterprise AI tools through the Microsoft for Startups Investor Network partnership. The firm is industry-agnostic with particular focus on SaaS, FinTech, MarTech, HealthTech, Creative Economy, and Web 3.0 startups.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pre-Seed Investment Early-stage funding of up to $100,000 provided to pre-revenue US-based startups for MVP development, product discovery, and user interviews via founder-friendly SAFE agreements with no interest rate and no maturity date.
• Seed Investment Growth-stage funding of $250,000 to $500,000 for seed-stage US-based companies with a developed product or early traction, providing capital for founder coaching, advanced MVP development, go-to-market strategy, early customer acquisition, team building, and technology consultancy.
• Incubation Program Collaborative development program for operators and founders from the concept stage, offering founder sourcing and team formation, idea validation, product build support, and operational partnership with VC portfolio companies, with up to $100K capital provision upon early traction.
• Mentorship & Coaching Hands-on mentorship and coaching provided by operators with decades of experience building and scaling technology companies, covering strategy, valuation, fundraising, and growth for portfolio company founders.
• Investor Network & Introductions

Quantifiable outcome

• 21 startups launched across the portfolio with a 95% survival rate (startups afloat)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Microsoft for StartupscoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 18 November 2025Henson Venture Partners was approved as a Microsoft for Startups Investor Network VC partner, granting portfolio companies up to $250,000 in Azure credits over two years, access to advanced and secure AI models, a dedicated Microsoft technical and GTM contact, and connections to Microsoft's global partner ecosystem and enterprise customers. This partnership extends Henson's value proposition to include enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure and technical guidance from day one.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Techstars: Techstars is one of the largest global accelerator networks offering mentorship-driven seed programs and follow-on fund deployment. Broad incumbent comparable on the mentorship-plus-capital value proposition for early-stage founders.
• 500 Global: 500 Global is a large global accelerator/seed VC that runs cohort programs and writes $100K-$500K checks into thousands of startups worldwide. Broader incumbent with a similar pre-seed stage focus and operator-support value proposition, but at significantly larger scale.

Direct peers

• Pioneer Fund: Pioneer Fund is a Y Combinator-affiliated pre-seed/seed fund that writes $100K-$500K checks and emphasizes operator support and rapid decision-making. Comparable on stage, check size, and the operator-network-led value proposition.
• Haystack VC: Haystack is an early-stage fund writing $100K-$500K checks focused on supporting first-time, underrepresented founders with operator mentorship. Comparable on check size, stage, and operator-led thesis targeting early-stage US founders.
• Visible Ventures: Visible Ventures is a seed-stage operator-led fund writing checks into tech-enabled startups with strong founder support. Comparable on operator thesis, seed stage, and founder-first positioning.
• Hustle Fund: Hustle Fund is a pre-seed/seed VC firm writing $100K-$500K checks globally with an operator-led thesis and a portfolio-first support model. Direct overlap with Henson on check size, stage focus, and the founder-friendly SAFE-led approach.
• Antler: Antler is a global early-stage VC and founder-generation platform that runs cohort-based incubation programs and writes pre-seed checks into newly-formed teams. Direct peer on incubation-then-invest model, though Antler operates at much larger global scale.
• Forum Ventures: Forum Ventures runs an early-stage VC fund and an in-house studio/incubation program for B2B SaaS founders, combining capital with operational build support. Highly comparable to Henson's hybrid investment-plus-incubation model.
• Right Side Capital Management: Right Side Capital is a pre-seed/seed fund writing $100K-$500K checks into a large volume of geographically distributed US startups with a thesis around portfolio construction. Comparable on stage, check size, and volume-based deployment model.
• Pear VC: Pear VC is a seed-stage VC founded by operators (Pejman Nozad, Mar Hershenson) that writes $250K-$1M checks and provides operator mentorship and a deep founder community. Closely comparable on operator-led seed positioning, stage, and check size.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hensonvc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Henson Venture Partners