Foundation Phase · New York, NY
Substratum
Capital
Access. Impact. Returns.
A multi-strategy alternative asset management firm being built to invest in growth-stage technology companies where the business model and the impact are the same thing.
01 · The Thesis
Why the firm exists
Two problems in alternative asset management, and why they’re actually one problem.
Most institutional capital is managed by firms that hire from a narrow set of schools, backgrounds, and networks. They optimize for pedigree over potential, continuity over character. The result is homogeneous teams making homogeneous bets, and missing opportunities outside their line of sight.
Meanwhile, some of the most compelling growth-stage companies are being built by founders from non-traditional backgrounds, in markets traditional capital has overlooked, undercapitalized not because the opportunity isn’t there, but because the people holding the capital can’t see it clearly.
Substratum Capital exists to close both gaps at once: hire differently, invest differently, and let the results make the case.
Diverse teams find better opportunities
Homogeneous investment teams make homogeneous bets. Different perspectives generate alpha.
Impact and returns aren’t in conflict
Companies solving real problems build durable advantages, loyal customers, and long-term pricing power.
The middle market is underserved
Growth equity (proven models that need capital to scale) is less competitive and picked over than large-cap or early-stage.
Non-traditional founders are undervalued
The best founders are often the ones who grew up closest to the problem they’re solving.
Proximity is a competitive advantage
Substratum’s founding story and team composition give it an information edge that can’t be manufactured.
DEI is an investment principle
We’re reluctant to back homogeneous boards or leadership teams. Diverse companies make better decisions.
02 · Focus Areas
Where we invest
Growth-stage technology companies where impact and business model are the same thing, across five sectors.
Sector
Healthcare Access
Telehealth, diagnostics, and care coordination bringing specialist care to underserved communities at scale.
Sector
Financial Inclusion
Banking, credit, and wealth-building tools for Americans who are unbanked or underbanked.
Sector
Community Development
Proptech, housing, and infrastructure platforms making ownership and stability more accessible.
Sector
Climate & Food Systems
Reducing food waste, improving nutrition access, and building sustainable food infrastructure.
Sector
Education & Workforce
Skills training and career pathways for workers from non-traditional backgrounds.
We invest in
- Founders from non-traditional backgrounds building for underserved markets
- Companies where the business model and the impact are the same thing, not separate initiatives
- Growth-stage companies with proven product-market fit that need capital to scale
- Companies with diverse boards, leadership teams, and employees
We avoid
- Companies whose sole purpose is founder enrichment with no broader value creation
- Technology displacing workers at scale without offering alternative pathways
- Firms with homogeneous boards or leadership teams and no commitment to diversity
- Businesses that extract value from underserved communities rather than create it
03 · Team Philosophy
How we hire
We hire the people other firms filter out. That’s the edge, not a workaround.
Intellectual curiosity
Genuinely interested in how businesses work, how markets move, how the world is changing.
Analytical rigor
Able to think clearly about complex problems and communicate that thinking simply.
Character
Honest, accountable, and treats everyone in the room with equal respect regardless of title.
Tenacity
Doesn’t give up when the answer is no. The best investments take the most persistence to find.
Proximity & diversity
Real connection to the communities we invest in. We recruit across race, gender, and background.
We never filter on
- × Ivy League degree
- × Linear career path
- × Brand-name employer
- × Traditional pedigree
We do not tolerate
- × Boys-club culture
- × Nepotism of any kind
- × Exclusionary hiring practices
- × Homogeneous leadership teams
There is no such thing as a “DEI hire” at Substratum Capital. Every hire is a merit hire: our merit filter simply doesn’t include pedigree, ZIP code, or the straightness of a career path.
We give strong preference to portfolio companies with diverse boards and leadership teams, and we’re reluctant to back firms where leadership is entirely homogeneous.
Firm diversity metrics will be published alongside financial performance in our annual LP reporting, held to the same standard we apply to our portfolio.
04 · The Founder
Built by someone who lived the problem
Dondre Harris
Founder
Dondre Harris began his career in TMT investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, working on transactions including a $2.3B software spin-off IPO and a $3.1B telecom sell-side spin-off. He went on to gain private wealth management experience at Morgan Stanley, and currently works in active M&A execution and financial analysis while building Substratum Capital.
That path through an industry not built for people like him is not incidental to the firm’s thesis. It is the thesis. Substratum Capital is being built on the conviction that the investors best positioned to find undervalued opportunity are often the ones the industry’s own filters would have screened out.
“The industry’s filters overlook a lot of talent. Substratum Capital exists to prove what that talent can do when someone actually looks.”
05 · Bedrock
The layer everything else grows from.
Substratum means the underlying layer that everything else builds on. That’s the mission: laying the foundation that communities, founders, and investors need to build something that lasts.
The firm is in its foundation-building phase now, with no fund open and no capital being raised. If you’re a founder, operator, or future collaborator who wants to follow along or start a conversation, reach out below.