Channel Equity Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Channel Equity Partners ("Channel" or "CEP") is a San Diego-based Early Growth Equity firm founded in 2022 by Andrew Albert and Jensen Bryant, who spent eight years together at TVC Capital, a San Diego software growth equity firm. Channel's thesis is that a category of capital-efficient, AI-first/native B2B software companies exists that is underserved by both traditional venture capital and traditional growth equity: too capital-efficient and too early (in ARR terms) to need a $15M+ growth equity check, but too far along and too de-risked on product-market fit to fit a power-law venture portfolio. Channel positions "Early Growth Equity" as a distinct category between VC and Growth Equity, explicitly built for founders who have already found PMF and want a partner to help them scale to an exit "where everybody wins," rather than an all-or-nothing venture outcome.
Stage Focus
Channel invests in companies with $2M-$8M in annual recurring revenue growing 40%+ annually, with 85%+ gross retention and 100%+ net retention. In venture terms this maps roughly to Seed through Series A, though Channel avoids VC stage labels; its own deals have ranged from a $4.3M seed round (Euler) to a $6M-$8.6M Series A (Endear, Mappedin). Target companies are lightly funded or fully bootstrapped.
Check Size
Typical deal size is $4M-$10M, structured as minority investments where Channel typically leads or co-leads the round.
Lead Tendency
Channel leads. It led Mappedin's $8.6M Series A (Feb 2023), Endear's $6M Series A (Jan 2025), and Euler's $4.3M seed round (Aug 2026).
Recent Activity
Channel completed the first close of its debut Fund I (~$20M, per SEC Form D) in April 2024 after operating for about 18 months as an independent, deal-by-deal sponsor. Pre-fund and Fund I deals include Mappedin (Series A, Feb 2023), Bucketlist Rewards (Dec 2023), Megadata Health Systems (2023), Endear (Series A, Jan 2025), and most recently Euler, an agentic partner relationship management (PRM) platform, which Channel led a $4.3M seed round for in August 2026 — its most recent disclosed deal. Fund I remains in active deployment.
Portfolio Highlights
Channel's own portfolio (as opposed to the partners' prior TVC Capital track record) currently includes five companies:
- Endear (endearhq.com) — AI-powered retail CRM and clienteling platform, NYC-based, Series A
- Euler (eulerapp.com) — Agentic PRM / partner relationship management software, San Diego-based, seed
- Mappedin (mappedin.com) — Indoor mapping platform, Waterloo, ON-based, Series A; went on to raise a $24.5M Series B led by Edison Partners in April 2026
- Megadata Health Systems (getmegadata.com) — Data analytics for senior housing and long-term care operators, Lakewood, NJ-based
- Bucketlist Rewards (bucketlistrewards.com) — Employee rewards and recognition software, Vancouver, BC-based
Separately, the firm's website highlights Andrew Albert's and Jensen Bryant's track record from their eight years at TVC Capital (Funds III and IV, ~$400M AUM), where they worked on or sourced investments including SimpleNexus (exited to nCino, NASDAQ: NCNO, 2021), mPulse Mobile (exited to PSG, 2021), BitTitan (exited to Idera/Partners Group, 2021), SmartAction (exited to Capacity, 2024), MediaPlatform (exited to Barshop Ventures, 2024), Docupace, Celigo, Perspectium, CreatorIQ, eVisit, and SpotHopper. These are track-record credentials for the partners, not Channel Equity Partners fund investments.
Team
- Andrew Albert, Managing Partner / Co-Founder — Spent ~8 years at TVC Capital as head of research and sourcing, deploying Funds III ($115M, 2015) and IV ($150M, 2018) and sitting on portfolio boards. Before that, 15 years in New York public equity markets as a long/short buy-side tech investor, including leading the tech segment at Merus Capital Partners and being the third employee at Invicta Capital Management (grew AUM from $30M to $400M+ in under 3 years). BS in Economics from The Wharton School, CFA charterholder (2005).
- Jensen Bryant, Managing Partner / Co-Founder — Interned at TVC Capital in 2015 while a senior at the University of San Diego, then joined full-time, spearheading deal sourcing/execution and portfolio management. San Diego native (raised in Palm Desert).
Decision Process
Two-person partnership (Andrew Albert and Jensen Bryant, both Managing Partners/Co-Founders) — deals are evaluated and executed jointly rather than through a formal solo-GP or investment-committee process.
Founder Preferences
Channel prefers capital-efficient, product-led B2B software founders (often bootstrapped or lightly funded) who have already de-risked product-market fit and want an investor-partner for the next stage of scale, rather than founders chasing venture-style hypergrowth at all costs. Testimonials from founders (Mappedin's Hongwei Liu, Megadata's Shalom Reinman, Bucketlist's Jason Lindstrom, SpotHopper's Aleks Ivanovic, eVisit's Bret Larsen, CreatorIQ's Igor Vaks, and others) consistently emphasize hands-on SaaS-metrics support, board/observer involvement, and help with senior hiring and strategic introductions.
Geographic Focus
United States and Canada. Channel is headquartered in San Diego/Del Mar, CA, and has invested in companies across NYC, San Diego, Waterloo (ON), Vancouver (BC), and Lakewood (NJ). It has co-invested alongside La Jolla-based Blueprint Equity.