Stefanie Thomas-Martin

Partner at zeal-capital-partners

Reviewed Updated Apr 25, 2026

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Location Washington, DC
Check Size $250K-$500K (BBFI pre-seed); larger via Zeal Fund II
Last Verified Investment Debbie (Seed) — Apr 13, 2026
Social @TECHnLY_SpeakN LinkedIn
Stage Focus
pre-seed seed
Sector Focus
fintech financial-inclusion future-of-work health-equity edtech insurtech dei-tech

Background

Stefanie Thomas-Martin is a Partner at Zeal Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based mission-driven venture capital firm founded by Nasir Qadree that focuses on financial technology and inclusion, the future of learning and work, and health equity 1 2. She was promoted from Managing Director to Partner in March 2025 and joined Zeal’s Founder and Managing Partner Nasir Qadree in overseeing the execution of the firm’s portfolio strategy and on the Investment Committee across all mandates 1 3.

Thomas-Martin joined Zeal in 2023 to lead the Barclays Black Formation Investments (BBFI) initiative, a $50 million pre-seed investment vehicle launched by Barclays Principal Investments in October 2023 and managed by Zeal Capital Partners that invests in pre-seed Black-led companies focused on narrowing the wealth and skills gaps 4 5. Under her leadership, the BBFI team has screened over 1,000 companies, deployed capital to pre-seed companies for their first institutional funding, and launched the firm’s inaugural scout program for diverse venture capitalists 3 6.

Before Zeal, Thomas-Martin was a founding member and investor at Impact America Fund (IAF), where she joined in 2015 7 8. Over roughly eight years at IAF she helped grow the firm from $7 million to over $100 million in assets under management, evaluated more than 1,500 companies, and led deal work on 25 financings spanning pre-seed through Series B, including a portfolio company that subsequently raised a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz 9 7 4. Earlier in her career she served as Vice President in Citigroup’s global banking division, managing more than 50 institutional investor relationships and finance transactions totaling over $1 billion in assets 7 9. She also co-founded Women Who Launch, an entrepreneurship platform she started after observing a lack of community resources for aspiring women founders 4 9.

Thomas-Martin holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan 4 9. She has served as a North America jury member for the Cartier Women’s Initiative 10 and is based in Washington, D.C. 11.

Stated Thesis

Thomas-Martin and Zeal publicly frame their work as “Inclusive Investing™” — a strategy of backing diverse management teams reimagining the building blocks of wealth across financial inclusion, the future of work, and health equity 2 11. In her own words, this is what attracted her to Zeal:

“Zeal is a very mission-driven organization. They really care about narrowing the wealth and skills gaps across the country through investment.” 11

She has self-described her remit as building on her career-long focus on capital access:

“I’m thrilled to join Zeal Capital Partners to support the mission of democratizing capital access so that the most talented teams and business ideas can thrive.” 4

Thomas-Martin has stated her approach explicitly views inclusion as an alpha-generating strategy rather than a separate impact track, telling AfroTech that the BBFI opportunity was “a culminating of everything I’ve done in my own lived experience” and emphasizing alignment with Zeal’s core sector areas of “health equity, future work, and fintech” 11.

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on a verified subset of investments where Thomas-Martin’s involvement at Zeal can be confirmed via primary or contemporaneous press citation. Because Zeal does not publicly attribute most deals to specific partners, the table below counts rounds that closed during Thomas-Martin’s tenure (2023-present) and where Zeal participated. It does not assume she personally sourced or led each one. The BBFI vehicle, by contrast, is explicitly hers — she “spearheads” it and BBFI’s portfolio reflects her direct sourcing and underwriting work 3 4.

Sector distribution (8 verified Zeal-era investments since her 2023 arrival): Fintech / financial inclusion is the largest single category, with Debbie (B2B savings/debt rewards), Stratyfy (AI for fair lending), Sigo Seguros (bilingual auto insurance for working-class Hispanic drivers), and Highnote (referenced as a BBFI portfolio company) accounting for 4 of 8 (50%) 12 13 14 5. Future-of-work and HR tech accounts for 2 of 8 (25%) — Humanly (AI recruiting) and Rising Team (leadership development) 15 16. Health equity accounts for 2 of 8 (25%) — Seven Starling (maternal mental health) and Primary Health (BBFI) 17 5. The full BBFI portfolio additionally includes EdVisorly (community-college transfer edtech), GigEasy (gig-worker insurance infrastructure), Rowm (logistics/automotive), Muse Tax, and ViuHealth (autoimmune care) 5 18 19.

Stage distribution: The verified Zeal-era subset is dominated by pre-seed and seed rounds, consistent with Thomas-Martin’s stated mandate of leading “the firm’s strategic growth in pre-seed investments” 4. Of the 8 verified rounds, 5 are seed or pre-seed (Debbie seed, Sigo pre-Series A, Seven Starling seed extension, Stratyfy “Series A” but functionally seed-stage at $11.8M total, Rising Team Series A) and 1 is Series B follow-on (Humanly Series B, where Zeal had also led Humanly’s $12M Series A in June 2023) 15. BBFI itself prefers initial checks of $250K-$500K into companies that have not earned more than $150K in trailing 12-month revenue — a strict pre-seed mandate 19.

Geographic focus: Verified portfolio companies span Miami (Debbie), Texas (Sigo Seguros), Washington DC (Seven Starling), Bellevue WA (Humanly), and New York (Stratyfy, Highnote) 12 13 14 15 17. This is consistent with Zeal’s broader rejection of Bay Area / NYC concentration; Qadree has stated the Inclusive Investing framework intentionally targets “geographic markets with lower institutional capital saturation” 20.

Founder profile patterns: The verified Zeal-era portfolio shows a strong skew toward immigrant, Black, Latino, and women founders building products for similar communities — Debbie, Sigo Seguros, Esusu (a 2020 Zeal seed predating Thomas-Martin), and Stratyfy (founded by Laura Kornhauser, a woman CEO) 12 13 14 21. BBFI is explicitly a Black founder mandate. Thomas-Martin has described the diligence pattern as identifying founders with “direct, lived experience within the communities they serve” 22.

Co-investor patterns: Across verified Zeal-era rounds, recurring co-investors include Truist Ventures (Stratyfy co-lead), Listen Ventures (Sigo Seguros co-lead), Chingona Ventures (Sigo), Revolution’s Rise of the Rest (Sigo), Fiat Ventures (Sigo), TruStage Ventures (Debbie lead), Reseda Group (Debbie co-lead), One Way Ventures (Debbie), Rethink Impact (Seven Starling lead), Pear VC (Seven Starling), Magnify Ventures (Seven Starling), Drive Capital (Humanly Series B), and SEEK Investments (Humanly) 13 14 12 17 15.

Notable patterns vs. stated thesis: Stated thesis emphasizes equally fintech, future-of-work, and health equity. Verified portfolio confirms this balance directionally, with fintech slightly over-indexed. The BBFI mandate’s hard pre-seed cap (≤$150K revenue) is unusually strict for an institutional vehicle and represents the most differentiated part of Thomas-Martin’s actual practice — most “diverse-founder” funds invest later, not at company formation.

Caveat on attribution: Zeal portfolio company press releases prior to Thomas-Martin’s promotion (e.g., the March 2023 Stratyfy round, July 2023 Sigo Seguros round) explicitly attribute the deal commentary to Andy Will, a Principal at Zeal — not to Thomas-Martin 13 14. Her direct deal leadership is most clearly documented for BBFI portfolio companies (October 2023 onward) and for her board seat at Stratyfy (assumed 2024-2025) 1 3.

Portfolio

The table below lists Zeal Capital Partners investments where Thomas-Martin’s involvement (either through BBFI leadership, post-2023 Zeal Fund II deployment, or her Stratyfy board seat) is documented or contextually evident. Portfolio companies of Zeal that closed prior to Thomas-Martin’s November 2023 arrival (e.g., the original 2020 Esusu seed) are excluded from the personal-attribution table even though Zeal continued to support them. Companies on the BBFI portfolio list that lack independent primary-source funding announcements are noted in italics.

Company Year Stage Source
Stratyfy 2023-03-29 Series A (Zeal co-led; Thomas-Martin later joined the board) 13 1
Humanly 2023-06 Series A (Zeal led; Thomas-Martin tenure begins late 2023) 15
Sigo Seguros 2023-07-11 Pre-Series A (Zeal co-led with Listen Ventures) 14
Seven Starling 2025-09-21 $8M round (Rethink Impact lead, Zeal participated) 17
Rising Team ~2025 Series A ($8M; Zeal Fund II initial deployment) 16
Debbie 2026-04-13 Seed ($5.3M; Zeal Fund II) 12
Humanly 2026-04-08 Series B ($25M; Zeal participated) 15
Highnote post-2023 BBFI portfolio 5
Primary Health post-2023 BBFI portfolio 5
Rowm post-2023 (latest tracked 2025-01) BBFI portfolio 5 19
EdVisorly post-2023 BBFI / Zeal portfolio 18
GigEasy post-2023 BBFI portfolio 5
Muse Tax post-2023 BBFI portfolio (Techstars ‘22) 5
ViuHealth (formerly DrugViu) post-2023 Zeal portfolio 5

This table represents 7 confirmed funded rounds plus 7 BBFI-listed portfolio names without independently verified standalone funding announcements (italicized). Zeal Capital Partners has made 73 total investments across all funds and 40+ portfolio companies are referenced in firm communications 23 24 — the table here captures the subset where Thomas-Martin’s involvement is most defensible. Zeal Fund II had made 5 investments by mid-2025 24, indicating Thomas-Martin’s deal velocity is meaningful but not yet fully indexable from public sources.

In Their Own Words

“My work and life experiences have helped me to see investment opportunities beyond a traditional investing lens, and I’m looking forward to using that experience to identify founders with unique and important ideas that will unlock value for both our industry and the world.” — Stefanie Thomas-Martin, on joining Zeal Capital Partners as Managing Director, November 2023 4

“Zeal is a very mission-driven organization. They really care about narrowing the wealth and skills gaps across the country through investment.” — Stefanie Thomas-Martin, AfroTech profile, 2023 11

“Our work in sourcing, underwriting, and scaling category-leading businesses across the venture capital ecosystem is more crucial than ever.” — Stefanie Thomas-Martin, on her promotion to Partner, March 2025 6

“I’m thrilled to join Zeal Capital Partners to support the mission of democratizing capital access so that the most talented teams and business ideas can thrive.” — Stefanie Thomas-Martin, Essence interview, 2023 9

“I like to call us a boutique fund because we’re small but mighty.” — Stefanie Thomas, Knowledge at Wharton podcast (during her Impact America Fund tenure) 22

“We’re really looking at carefully crafting a portfolio that reflects our thesis but also allows us to be able to work together with our founders.” — Stefanie Thomas, Knowledge at Wharton podcast 22

“[They’re] building in a fast-paced environment. They’re leveraging technology. They’re really solving for these market inefficiencies that also tie very much to the social disparities that we see in communities of color.” — Stefanie Thomas, on what her fund looks for in founders, Knowledge at Wharton podcast 22

“If you look at our team, the Impact America Fund story is really a story being told from inside the circle.” — Stefanie Thomas, Knowledge at Wharton podcast 22

“[The opportunity at BBFI is] a culminating of everything I’ve done in my own lived experience.” — Stefanie Thomas-Martin, AfroTech, 2023 11

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Public Zeal portfolio company press releases (Stratyfy, Sigo Seguros, Seven Starling, Humanly, Debbie) include CEO quotes about the round but do not contain quotes specifically describing Thomas-Martin’s working relationship with founders. After dedicated searching of portfolio company blogs, founder Twitter/X accounts, podcast transcripts, and press coverage, no first-person founder commentary about working with Thomas-Martin specifically was located. Her board seat at Stratyfy is recent enough (announced as part of her March 2025 promotion) that founder reflections may appear in future coverage 1.

Connections

  • Board member, Stratyfy — assumed a board of directors role at the AI fair-lending fintech in conjunction with her March 2025 promotion to Partner 1 3
  • Co-founder, Women Who Launch — entrepreneurship platform she co-founded earlier in her career to support aspiring women founders 4 9
  • Founding investor, Impact America Fund (2015-2023) — joined in 2015 as one of the early team members under General Partner Kesha Cash; helped scale AUM from ~$7M to >$100M 7 9
  • Prior employer, Citigroup — Vice President in global banking division, managing 50+ institutional investor relationships and >$1B in transactions 7 9
  • Jury, Cartier Women’s Initiative — North America regional jury member for the global women-founder award program 10
  • Education — Wharton School (B.S. Economics) and Ross School of Business at Michigan (MBA) 4 9
  • Zeal team peers — works alongside Founder/Managing Partner Nasir Qadree and team members including Richard Odior (former Meta), Bianca Phillip (former Goldman Sachs sustainable finance), Susannah Burrage, Tom Muscarella, Emily Zhen, and Andy Will (Principal who led the Stratyfy and Sigo Seguros deals) 11 11 13 14

Sources

  1. Zeal Capital Partners, “Announcing Stefanie Thomas-Martin as Partner at Zeal Capital Partners,” accessed April 2026. https://www.zealcapitalpartners.com/press/stefanie-thomas-martin-promoted-to-partner/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Business Wire, “Zeal Capital Partners Closes $82 Million Zeal Fund II, More Than Tripling Assets Under Management in Five Years,” May 28, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250528777357/en/Zeal-Capital-Partners-Closes-$82-Million-Zeal-Fund-II-More-Than-Tripling-Assets-Under-Management-in-Five-Years↩↩

  3. People of Color in Tech, “Zeal Capital’s Stefanie Thomas-Martin Becomes Partner After Leading $50M Fund,” March 2025. https://peopleofcolorintech.com/front/zeal-capitals-stefanie-thomas-martin-becomes-partner-after-leading-50m-fund/↩↩↩↩↩

  4. Business Wire, “Zeal Capital Partners Appoints Stefanie Thomas as Managing Director, Overseeing the Firm’s Strategic Growth in Pre-Seed Investments,” November 7, 2023. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231107274268/en/Zeal-Capital-Partners-Appoints-Stefanie-Thomas-as-Managing-Director-Overseeing-the-Firm%E2%80%99s-Strategic-Growth-in-Pre-Seed-Investments↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. Barclays, “Barclays Black Formation Investments” program page, accessed April 2026. https://home.barclays/who-we-are/innovation/barclays-black-formation-investments/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  6. AfroTech, “After Successfully Steering Zeal Capital Partners’ $50M Investment Fund, Stefanie Thomas-Martin Has Been Appointed Partner,” March 2025. https://afrotech.com/stefanie-thomas-martin-promotion↩↩

  7. Signal by NFX, “Stefanie Thomas’s Investing Profile — Impact America Fund Senior Associate,” accessed April 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/stefanie-thomas↩↩↩↩↩

  8. Just Economy Institute, “Stefanie Thomas Fellow Profile,” accessed April 2026. https://justeconomyinstitute.org/all_fellows/stefanie-thomas/↩

  9. Essence, “Zeal Capital Partners, A $60M+ VC Fund, Has Appointed A Black Woman To Lead,” 2023. https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/zeal-capital-partners-stefanie-thomas/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  10. Cartier Women’s Initiative, “Stefanie Thomas — North America Jury,” accessed April 2026. https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/jury/stefanie-thomas↩↩

  11. AfroTech, “Wall Street Vet Stefanie Thomas To Oversee Zeal Capital Partners’ $50M Commitment To ‘Inclusive Investing’ As Managing Director,” 2023. https://afrotech.com/wall-street-vet-stefanie-thomas-to-oversee-zeal-capital-partners-50m-commitment-to-inclusive-investing-as-managing-director↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  12. PitchBook / Crunchbase summary via Zeal Fund II reporting; Debbie $5.3M Seed announcement, April 13, 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/debbie↩↩↩↩↩

  13. Stratyfy, “Stratyfy Raises $10 Million to Advance AI-Driven Lending Solutions,” March 29, 2023. https://stratyfy.com/stratyfy-raises-10-million/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  14. Sigo Seguros, “Sigo Seguros Raises $5.1 Million in Pre-Series A Funding,” July 11, 2023. https://sigoseguros.com/blog/en/sigo-seguros-raises-5-1-million-in-pre-series-a-funding/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  15. GeekWire, “Humanly raises $25M to put AI to work for job seekers, not just the companies hiring them,” 2026 (also referencing June 2023 Series A). https://www.geekwire.com/2026/humanly-raises-25m-to-put-ai-to-work-for-job-seekers-not-just-the-companies-hiring-them/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  16. UrbanGeekz, “Zeal Capital Partners Grows to $186M With Close of $82M Fund,” May 2025 (names Rising Team Series A as Fund II investment). https://urbangeekz.com/2025/05/zeal-capital-partners-186m-82m/↩↩

  17. MedCity News, “Seven Starling Raises $8M to Expand Access to Maternal Mental Health Support,” September 2025. https://medcitynews.com/2025/09/seven-starling-mental-maternal-health/↩↩↩↩

  18. Crunchbase, “EdVisorly Company Profile” (lists Zeal Capital Partners as investor), accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/edvisorly↩↩

  19. PitchBook, “Barclays Black Formation Investments: Fund Performance” (latest BBFI investment Rowm, January 13, 2025), accessed April 2026. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/fund/25736-14F↩↩↩

  20. Seedlist Nasir Qadree profile, citing Inclusive Investing framework. (Internal cross-reference, see /Users/EricRies2/Projects/seedlist/data/investors/nasir-qadree.md) ↩

  21. TechCrunch, “Esusu becomes unicorn with SoftBank Vision Fund 2-led $130M funding,” January 27, 2022 (lists Zeal Capital Partners as prior seed investor). https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/27/esusu-becomes-unicorn-with-softbank-vision-fund-2-led-130m-funding/↩

  22. Knowledge at Wharton podcast, “A ‘Small but Mighty’ VC Firm Invests in Equity,” accessed April 2026. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wharton-podcast/a-small-but-mighty-vc-firm-invests-in-equity/↩↩↩↩↩

  23. CB Insights, “Zeal Capital Partners — Investments and funds,” accessed April 2026. https://www.cbinsights.com/investor/zeal-capital-partners↩

  24. TechCrunch, “Zeal Capital Partners announces close of $82M Fund II,” May 29, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/29/zeal-capital-partners-announces-close-of-82m-fund-ii/↩↩