Fund to Invest $50K-$100K in Startups Led by Frum Founders

CHYE partnered with entrepreneurs and investors Daniel Cotlar, Danny Fishman and Levi Sudak to invest $50,000 to $100,000 in frum-led companies.

By COLlive reporter

Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs (CHYE), which has spent more than a decade mentoring frum entrepreneurs and helping launch businesses, is expanding its efforts into early-stage investment through a new partnership with three experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

CHYE announced that it has partnered with Daniel Cotlar, Danny Fishman and Levi Sudak to relaunch Crown Ventures as an independent investment fund focused on founders with yeshiva or seminary backgrounds.

The fund plans to invest between $50,000 and $100,000 in approximately 10 to 20 early-stage companies, while also providing founders with mentorship and guidance from experienced business operators and investors.

The initiative builds on CHYE’s work over the past 13 years. According to the organization, it has mentored more than 1,100 entrepreneurs, helped launch over 200 businesses and hosted more than 320 educational and networking events.

Under the new arrangement, CHYE will serve as a source of potential investments by introducing Crown Ventures to founders from its network. Investment decisions, however, will be made independently by Crown Ventures’ leadership, with CHYE playing no role in determining which companies receive funding.

Founders who are not selected for investment will still be able to receive mentorship and guidance through CHYE.

“The startup landscape has changed dramatically,” said Cotlar, a General Partner of Crown Ventures. “It has never been easier to start a company. AI, cloud technology, and online education have dramatically lowered the cost of building a business.”

Cotlar said the fund was created in response to a gap its organizers have observed among early-stage entrepreneurs.

“Over the years, we’ve seen many talented founders with great ideas and incredible determination,” he said. “What they often lacked was access to the mentorship and tech capability needed to get initial traction. Crown Ventures was created to help them with early-stage capital and guidance to validate their ideas and reach early milestones.”

The fund is particularly interested in technology-enabled businesses and companies using artificial intelligence to address problems in industries including healthcare, financial services, logistics, education, manufacturing, professional services and the nonprofit sector.

One of Crown Ventures’ recent investments is OneFlo, a platform designed to automate aspects of post-acute healthcare transitions.

Crown Ventures said it will focus primarily on founders at the earliest stages of building a company who can demonstrate industry knowledge, a clearly defined problem and some evidence of market demand through customer conversations, pilot programs or early commercial traction.

The fund is being led by Cotlar, Fishman and Sudak, who bring backgrounds in entrepreneurship, investing and company building.

Cotlar is an angel investor, advisor and former Chief Marketing Officer of Blinds.com, where he helped lead the company’s growth through its acquisition by The Home Depot.

Fishman is a healthcare entrepreneur, strategic advisor and co-founder of TeDan Surgical Innovations, with experience building and commercializing medical device companies.

Sudak is an entrepreneur and investor who founded Etico Parking, which was later acquired by USInfravest, and currently mentors founders on fundraising, operations and scaling.

“Our vision isn’t simply to fund companies,” Fishman said. “It’s to help build an ecosystem where talented founders can access the capital, mentorship, and network they need to build world-class businesses while staying true to their values.”

“We believe the next generation of transformative companies can come from our community, and we’re excited to help make that happen,” Sudak added.

Crown Ventures is independently owned and has no common ownership with CHYE.

Frum entrepreneurs seeking early-stage investment, as well as accredited investors interested in learning more about the fund, can obtain additional information at crownventures.vc

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