WELCOME TO CHASELLA

CHASELLA is a results oriented private equity and early stage investment firm that is predicated on value-creation through entrepreneurship, innovation, and trust.

About US

At its core, CHASELLA is a multi-generational real estate investment and development firm. With over 50 years of experience in the industry, CHASELLA founders are responsible for countless innovations, and are now continuing that tradition by investing in promising young companies. In working with our portfolio companies, the CHASELLA team:

  • Accelerates growth in companies through network effects and by spending real hours engaging with its portfolio companies and founders
  • Provides strategic and tactical advice
  • Lends technology and data support
  • Invests up and down the capital stack through various equity and debt instruments to further support our partnerships

History

CHASELLA was founded in 2011 as a spinoff of traditional real estate investment and development.

  • Founded shortly after completing a successful development project – a residential lifestyle community, consisting of more than 1000 homes.
  • Principals have spent decades analyzing, designing, building, and managing hundreds of millions of dollars of prime real estate.
  • Custom design and construction of multiple residential development projects across the northeastern U.S.
  • Creatively structured joint ventures in both commercial and residential investments.
  • Principals now spend the majority of their time leveraging their experience to help scale various early stage companies in a wide range of industry verticals.

PHILOSOPHY

Honesty, transparency and fairness are central to CHASELLA’s investment philosophy. These are the principles that define our relationships with over 30 portfolio companies. We are known for our collaborative strengths, our ability to operate as integrated members of various teams, and our commitment to driving efficiency and fostering growth within fast-paced environments.

VISION

We set out each and every day to improve the overall health of our portfolio companies. Over time, we intend to leverage our team’s expertise in an effort to help all of our partners achieve their highest level of success.

We are problem solvers. We seek out inefficiencies in your organization and remedy the situation as you continue down the road to significant growth. Our principals wish to enrich the lives of others and give back to the community as often as possible.

WE ARE INVOLVED IN

Technology

Seeking out and integrating with the latest and greatest technological advancements

Startups

Working alongside the brightest minds as we look to a more efficient future

Real Estate

Making debt and equity investments across the United States, becoming a strategic partner for many developers and landlords

Sports & Leisure

Passionately working with several major and minor league sports teams throughout the U.S. and abroad

Philanthropy

We would love to hear more about your charitable endeavors and help out whenever possible – with a concentration in our local community

WHY US?

Sharp People
CHASELLA goes above and beyond to recruit the best young founders, motivated entrepreneurs and technical gurus to its team. Most importantly, everyone on the CHASELLA team has been in the founder’s seat multiple times, which is something we know can make all the difference in the world.
Industry Experience
As real estate developers and problem solving managers, CHASELLA has more than half a century of combined experience across a select group of industries. Our backgrounds span a variety of disciplines that include finance, marketing, programming, data science, and operations. The breadth of our team’s capabilities enable us to process information at an incredible pace, while remaining diligent in our decision-making process.
A "DYT" Culture
A mantra often used by Managing Partner Jim Kaplan, “do your thing” is the best summation of the CHASELLA culture, which is largely driven on the ideal that smart, motivated people will always find a way to make things work. The CHASELLA culture revels in exploration, iteration and experimentation. In addition to cross-linked workflow across the team, individuals are granted full autonomy over their projects.
Transparency
CHASELLA believes in open and honest collaboration. We believe our partners and clients are entitled to the utmost in clarity for their business and investment dollars.

Our portfolio

We were also the first to realize that the real estate world was changing, and we needed to change with it to continue innovating. Now we are investors, founders and developers behind some of the most intriguing companies in the business. Contact us to learn more.

View All

Our Principals

Jim Kaplan

Co-Founder, Managing Partner

With 20+ years experience in real estate development and investment, Jim co-founded CHASELLA in 2011, specifically focused on the intersection of real estate, hospitality and emerging technology. He is an advisor to several early-stage companies, including Bevi, EquityZen and TripleMint, working closely with their teams to help maximize efficiency and growth.

Steve Kaplan

Co-Founder, Special Advisor

Steve Kaplan is widely regarded as an innovator in the commercial and residential real estate industry, with over 40 years of development and investment experience. At CHASELLA, Steve serves as a co-founder and Special Advisor to the team and portfolio companies.

What Our Partners Say About Us

Benjamin Krall – CEO Urban Umbrella

Benjamin Krall – CEO Urban Umbrella

Jim, cannot thank you enough for the support. I remember sitting in your office with a rendering and foam replica of an Urban Umbrella back in 2016. You guys committed the largest check at the time and I certainly pimped out the Chasella name after that to help raise more money.
Sean Grundy – CEO of BEVI

Sean Grundy – CEO of BEVI

Simply put, Jim Kaplan is the man! We have been fortunate enough to have him as a key advisor/investor to our team. We always hope to have folks like the CHASELLA team on our side, but it's almost always too rare. .
Melissa Mash – CEO – of DAGNE DOVER

Melissa Mash – CEO – of DAGNE DOVER

Jim was an early supporter of Dagne at a time when our initial supporters and investors were from our friends and family network. He quickly embraced our team and our brand. He has continually demonstrated an eagerness to help us grow our brand and support us
Atish Davda – CO-FOUNDER & CEO of EQUITYZEN

Atish Davda – CO-FOUNDER & CEO of EQUITYZEN

“Jim has been a pleasure to work with during our time together building EquityZen. He is a well-networked and down-to-earth mentor who helps me focus on the big picture. During major (sometimes turbulent) partnership negotiations, Jim acts as a voice of reason, a calming force, and a valuable advisor to help get the deal done. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend working with Jim.” –

LATEST NEWS

Suffolk Technologies Closes $110 Million Inaugural Construction Fund

July 11, 2023

The Boston-based construction company, which has $5 billion in annual revenue, raised the vehicle to invest in software that can aid the building process.

Read More

KiDS NEED MoRE to Host Holiday Cheer Bus Kickoff Event on October 29

October 25, 2023

The kickoff event will feature remarks from Babylon Town Supervisor Richard Schaffer, as well as the announcement of exciting elf missions…

Read More

Training the next generation of elite athletes in rural Ohio: Geneva’s Spire Academy

Mar. 06, 2023

While they make their cases for their G.O.A.T., they eat sandwiches and salads between classes and training sessions.

Read More

ENGAGE WITH US

  • Partners
  • Startups
  • Invest
  • Data
  • Causes

Partners

CHASELLA is always looking to develop relationships that yield reciprocal value for all parties involved. We work with a number of strategic partners across various industries, including but not limited to manufacturing, software, real estate, hospitality, branding and business intelligence.

Startups

CHASELLA has investments in over 20 early stage companies and is passionate about driving big ideas beyond the boundaries of the impossible, while working alongside dedicated entrepreneurs. We are actively seeking to capitalize, provide support, and accelerate business at the seed and Series A investment levels.

If you are seeking investment in your early stage company, please complete the form below and our team will review your application and reach out to you if there is a foreseeable fit with Chasella.

Invest

We are currently in the process of screening new limited partners for some off market equity acquisitions at the intersection of real estate, hospitality, technology and data.

Data

Data is one of the CHASELLA team’s specialties. It has played an instrumental role in keeping our companies competitive in an ever-changing business landscape. We engage in cutting edge market research that utilizes a broad range of data discovery, mining, analysis and forensic techniques. We also believe in the power of automation and create efficiencies for our companies with custom programs that we develop in-house.

Causes

CHASELLA is passionate about providing support to meaningful philanthropic causes and groups such as Kids Need More, MHS Hall of Fame, LI Bike Challenge & The Feinstein Institute @NSLIJ, Memorial Sloan Cancer Center.

CHASELLA believes in building and inspiring the future innovators of tomorrow. We embrace our support of student communities and have enjoyed engagements with students across a variety of academic institutions. This summer a member of the CHASELLA team is serving as a mentor for the Global Founders’ Skill Accelerator Program at MIT.

Request a call back

If you’d like to learn more about our organization or explore ways in which we may be able to work together, please reach out to us.