Hatzimemos / Libby (H/L Ventures)

H/L Ventures (Hatzimemos/Libby) is a New York City-based venture capital firm and company-building platform founded in 2009 by Eric Hatzimemos and Oliver Libby, headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. H/L was among the first modern venture studios and among the earliest company-building firms focused on startups at the nexus of growth, impact, and diversity. The firm operates through affiliated funds including H/L Studio and CityRock Venture Partners, and leads rounds with a typical investment of approximately $1 million per deal. CityRock Fund I ($17 million, closed 2021) is fully deployed across 15 companies including Andie Swim, Aunt Flow, BlocPower, Group Black, Loliware, Sealed, and Sorcero. CityRock Fund II ($24 million, closed July 2024) focuses on early-stage startups addressing challenges in climate and energy, healthcare, fintech, protective industries, and the future of work. Nearly 85% of CityRock portfolio founders come from underrepresented backgrounds, defined broadly to include gender, race, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and military service. The firm has made 117 investments in total, with five acquisitions including Memory Lane, which was acquired by Storied in January 2025. H/L Ventures operates under a model it calls Daily Active Engagement — an unusually intensive level of institutional portfolio support in which the team maintains virtually daily, open-ended contact with every portfolio company. Rather than reserving access to partners for quarterly board meetings, H/L integrates itself into the day-to-day work of building each business, providing strategic guidance, operational support, and network access alongside its capital commitments.