Zeal Capital Partners — a D.C. venture firm that focuses on inclusive investing — has hired its first chief operating officer in an effort to expand its operations, portfolio and investment team.
It's a notable milestone for the Black-led firm, founded by Nasir Qadree just three years ago. He said he hopes his new COO, Jarron Smith, a former chief of staff to the COO of New York-based Fortune 100 financial services giant TIAA, can help take Zeal to its next stage of growth, in part to help its portfolio companies do the same. It plans to stretch its investments into the health equity sector, while also boosting its tech and product support for its current roster of startups.
“We have to [plan], thoughtfully, constantly, about post-investment value generation, building the best support systems for entrepreneurs to reach their next stage of growth,” Qadree said in an interview, citing this time as an "inflection point" for Zeal Capital. “To fully execute the fund strategy, we need someone that will strengthen our day-to-day processes and procedures, that being a chief operating officer.
At TIAA, Smith helped oversee business strategy for an enterprise with a $3 billion income statement and 1,300 employees. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a management consultant at EY. He's earned his bachelor's in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, MBA from Columbia University and a certificate in artificial intelligence from MIT.
He joins Zeal Capital as COO and managing partner to help lead recruiting and onboarding and build up formal human relations policies and operations, as well as managing the day-to-day and identifying more potential investments — duties that will help the firm "maintain efficient operations, an inclusive culture and a continued strategic focus on risk management," per Qadree. Smith brings Zeal Capital to four full-time staffers, with plans to add at least two more people by the end of the year, including someone with experience in early-stage, high-growth health care companies and an executive-in-residence centered on health care
To date, Zeal has invested in early-stage fintech and future-of-work entrepreneurs who are often overlooked by traditional investors because of background, gender, ethnicity, geography or experiences. It aims to prove its inclusive investing strategy, which homes in on ventures with diverse management teams, can bring about high returns for investors, while having a net positive effect on society.
Its 17 investments thus far include D.C. fintechs like Wellthi and EQL Finance Inc., as well as startups that hail from Dallas to Portland, Oregon, to New York. It was the latter city where Zeal Capital made its first-ever investment in 2020, in Esusu, which helps immigrants and people of color build up their credit and, in January 2022, raised a head-turning $130 million Series B round from the likes of SoftBank's second Vision Fund.
Zeal Capital is also finalizing investments from its first fund, which topped $62 million when it closed in July 2021, as it raises an undisclosed number of dollars for a second fund.
For Smith, he said the company's culture will be a big focus in his new role.
“I truly believe that culture wins championships, and it's very important that we create an environment where trust and wisdom compound,” he said, adding that he plans to hire and retain Zeal staff in the D.C. region. “That's why we're so focused on a culture and a team that’s anchored in as we grow.”
