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

Crown Heights Young Entrepreneurs, an organization that has spent more than a decade supporting frum business founders, is launching an investment arm through a new partnership with three experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

CHYE has partnered with Daniel Cotlar, Danny Fishman and Levi Sudak to establish Crown Ventures as an independent investment fund targeting founders with yeshiva or seminary backgrounds. The fund plans to deploy between $50,000 and $100,000 across approximately 10 to 20 early-stage companies, offering portfolio founders mentorship and guidance alongside capital.

The move builds on CHYE's track record over 13 years, during which the organization has mentored more than 1,100 entrepreneurs, helped launch over 200 businesses and hosted more than 320 educational and networking events.

Under the partnership structure, CHYE will serve as a source of potential investment opportunities by introducing Crown Ventures to founders from its network. However, investment decisions remain entirely independent, with Crown Ventures' leadership making all funding determinations. Founders not selected for investment can still access CHYE mentorship.

According to Cotlar, a General Partner at Crown Ventures, the fund was created to address a gap observed among early-stage entrepreneurs. "It has never been easier to start a company. AI, cloud technology, and online education have dramatically lowered the cost of building a business," 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 prioritizes technology-enabled businesses and companies use artificial intelligence in healthcare, financial services, logistics, education, manufacturing, professional services and the nonprofit sector. One recent investment is OneFlo, a platform automating post-acute healthcare transitions.

Crown Ventures targets founders at the earliest building stages who can show industry knowledge, a clearly defined problem and evidence of market demand through customer conversations, pilots or early commercial traction.

Fishman stated: "Our vision isn't simply to fund companies. 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." Sudak added: "We believe the next generation of transformative companies can come from our community, and we're excited to help make that happen."