SoCal’s Sunstone Announces Strategic Partnership with TiE Los Angeles
Sunstone, TiE Los Angeles Plan Collaboration In Entrepreneurial Arena
Two powerhouses in the Southern California venture capital world – TiE Los Angeles (formerly TiE SoCal) and Sunstone Investment Group, Inc. – are formalizing a partnership through a memorandum of understanding.
This collaborative partnership will foster entrepreneurship, support early-stage companies, and create economic opportunities and beyond. The planned multifaceted strategic partnership will take advantage of each entity’s strengths and expertise to create an even stronger support system for portfolio companies and startup founders.
TiE Los Angeles is one of 65 chapters in TiE Global. TiE Los Angeles recently laid out its plans for the future at Vision 2036 in Long Beach.
Jasmine Jiang, Sunstone’s Senior Vice President of Investment Operations, spoke at the Vision 2036 conference, providing details about Sunstone’s own vision for the startup ecosystem. Sunstone and TiE Los Angeles have worked together in the past.
“It is an honor to partner with TiE Los Angeles,” said Jasmine Jiang. “Our organizations bring highly complementary strengths, and together we are well positioned to broaden our impact across Sunstone’s ecosystem, the Sunstone Startup Venture & Innovation Center – our founder-first innovation platform – and the entrepreneurial community throughout Southern California.”
Sunstone leverages deep expertise across public, private and educational sectors to create innovative public-private partnerships that drive economic expansion. The firm provides direct venture capital and comprehensive founder support with operational guidance and connections to strategic resources. It includes the not for profit Sunstone Community Fund, which has demonstrated commitments to the University of California and California State University entrepreneurial ecosystems and other programs serving the founder community.
TiE Los Angeles works through five strategic program verticals; delivering customized mentorship engagements, a focus on gender equity with support of women-led enterprises, a six-month accelerator program, mentorship and specialized education programs for secondary school students, and the TiE Los Angeles Angels, a membership driven angel investment network.
“We’re excited to partner with Sunstone Investment Group, Inc. to strengthen Southern California’s startup ecosystem by combining TiE Los Angeles’ mentorship and angel network with Sunstone’s innovative approach to venture development and university engagement,” said TiE Los Angeles | SoCal President, Venkatesh Sankaran. “Together, we’re opening critical pathways for founders to access the capital, expertise, and networks they need to scale successfully.”
Plans for the partnership include integrating their investment ecosystems. That means Sunstone facilitating participation in portfolio company events, and co-investment opportunities. TiE Los Angeles will reciprocate with access to qualified deal flow for Sunstone from its program pipeline and network.
TiE Los Angeles will open its mentorship program to qualified Sunstone portfolio companies, as well as provide its experts as judges, mentors and speakers at Sunstone- and university-affiliated programs. Sunstone and TiE Los Angeles will work together on maximizing founder outcomes in various ways as well.
There are four more areas of collaboration, ranging from university-based programs and women founder advancement to brand positioning and capital formation.
“One of Sunstone’s core values is community, and this collaboration clearly builds community,” said John Keisler, CEO of Sunstone Investment Group, Inc. “It’s a pleasure to work with the great professionals at TiE Los Angeles. We share a great passion for entrepreneurs and innovation. It’s hard to ask for more than that.”
For more information about the partnership or the founder community, contact community@sunstoneinvestment.com.
About Sunstone
Sunstone Investment Group, headquartered in southern California, is the holding company for the Sunstone family of entities, including: Sunstone Investment Management Services, responsible for administrative services; Sunstone Advisors, an SEC-registered investment adviser, which oversees Sunstone Venture Partners LLC, a private capital fund manager; Sunstone Cities, a government economic development consulting firm; and Sunstone Community Fund, a charitable organization that supports entrepreneurship. Sunstone is dedicated to enriching lives through investment, entrepreneurship, and community. Email us at contact@sunstoneinvestment.com.