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3RD Annual Zeal Summit

Redefining the Building Blocks of Economic Mobility

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At Zeal, we want to be the bedrock that diverse management teams rely on. The Zeal Summit is our annual invitation-only meeting that convenes Zeal's portfolio companies, limited partners, and mission-aligned general partners. It offers a unique platform to learn from and alongside industry thought leaders across the Future of Work/Learning, FinTech, and Health Equity categories. It is also an opportunity to hear from Zeal’s Investment team as we outline our latest analysis on current market trends and opportunities. This one-day summit will feature sessions that engage attendees in strengthening relationships, developing partnerships, and exploring new investment opportunities.

November 1st, 2023

9:00 AM - 4:30 PM Summit Program 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Cocktail Reception

November 2nd, 2023

10:00 AM - 1:30 PM Limited Partners Only 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM Zeal Founders Day

Planet Word Museum

925 13th St NW Washington, DC 20005

Summit Accommodations

Guests are encouraged to stay across the street from the summit venue at Eaton DC Hotel.

Redefining the Building Blocks of Economic Mobility

When the ground trembles, diverse communities often experience a true catastrophic experience. We at Zeal Capital Partners believe it is our responsibility to rise to the occasion and provide a steadfast foundation to accelerate these diverse communities and their leaders.
We have taken two strategic approaches to strengthen the foundation for diverse management teams and turbocharge economic mobility. First, we have expanded our core sub-categories of Financial Inclusion and Future of Work & Learning to also now include Health Equity — we see health as a core building block to wealth and we are committed to ensuring that the systems and infrastructure being built to care for the next-generation are truly inclusive. In addition, we are launching our pre-seed investment vehicle backed by a sole limited partner, to make sure that diverse founders are given even-footing to build, launch and scale companies similar to their peers at the earliest stages. This pre-seed investment vehicle is highly complementary to Zeal II, given the earlier stage focus and strong pipeline of diverse-led companies it provides.
We are thrilled to welcome you to the Zeal Summit to learn more about these two new developments and more.

Summit Agenda

Please contact Zeal’s Event Coordinator Trish Simitakos (ts@trishstarevents.com) for summit questions.


Day 1

Nasir Qadree, Founder and Managing Partner
10:20-10:35 / Special Announcement
10:35-11:15 / Fireside Chat
11:15-11:25 / Formation Portfolio Company Presentations
11:40-11:55 / Financial Technology Insights and Analysis
  • Andy Will, Principal at Zeal Capital Partners
11:55-12:15 / Zeal Founder Presentations
12:15-1:00 / Panel Discussion - AI Disruption of Financial Services: Opportunities & Pitfalls Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades but recent advancements are occurring at an accelerated pace. This dynamic creates great opportunity and risk for every industry. In this panel, we will explore the opportunities, risks, adoption timelines and potential use cases where AI can be adopted within the financial services industry. We will also discuss how different use cases for AI can be used to lower cost, increase access and drive greater financial inclusion within US society. You will hear perspectives from a corporate venture investor, a traditional venture investor and an operator that is innovating in the space. This in-depth conversation will offer from multiple perspectives on how to best navigate this shifting landscape.
2:00-2:10 / Zeal’s Future of Work and Learning Analysis
2:10-2:30 / Future of Work
2:30-3:15 / Panel Discussion: Redefining Resilience: Strategies for Adapting to Challenges in Work and Education
In an era marked by unprecedented global challenges, the ability to adapt and build resilience is paramount for success in both work and education.
In this rapidly evolving market, we have tactically sharpened our investment strategy to optimize worker-employer fit within specialized verticals where we have long focused, such as post-secondary alternatives. We are honing in on targeted opportunities tailored to the new economy rather than taking a broad-based approach. Through selective investments in our areas of expertise, we aim to strategically integrate market evolutions like the rise of AI.
This panel discussion will bring together thought leaders and experts to explore innovative strategies and insights on how businesses, educational institutions, and individuals can navigate and thrive in an ever-changing landscape.
3:30-3:40 / Health Equity Analysis
3:40-3:45 / Founder Presentation
3:45-4:30 / Panel Discussion: Enabling Full Health & Wealth Potential: Our Expansion into Health Equity
“The first wealth is health,” American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote in 1860. To enable people to reach their full wealth potential, we first need to ensure they reach their full health potential. The U.S. spends over $4 trillion per year on healthcare (about 20% of GDP), yet we have higher health disparities than other developed nations. We see significant opportunities for innovative, early-stage companies to tackle these inequities and achieve strong financial returns across our sub-categories of access and affordability of care, women’s health, mental health and wellness, and social determinants of health. Hear from leaders across payers, policymakers, large corporates, and digital health highlighting challenges in health equity today and whitespace areas for innovative technologies, clinical, and business models to bridge these disparities in care.
  • Emily Zhen, Principal at Zeal Capital Partners (Moderator)
  • Melanie Igwe, Co-Founder and COO at ViuHealth
  • Erin Moore, President & Chief Executive Officer, Fidelis Care of New Jersey, Centene Corporation
  • Michele Courton Brown, Vice President of Business Development, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Managing Director of Zaffre Investments
  • Orriel Richardson, Vice President, Health Equity & Policy, Morgan Health, JPMorgan Chase
Catch your breath and get ready to re-gather at 6:00 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20560
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
950 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20560

Day 2

Session I: Preparing for your Next Financing Round - Hear from and ask questions of later-stage investors as they talk about the current fundraising climate, what “good” metrics are by today’s standards, and how to conserve cash and get to profitability if you are not ready for a raise
  • Nasir Qadree, Founder and Managing Partner at Zeal Capital Partners (Moderator)
  • Dayna Grayson, Co-founder & General Partner Construct Capital
  • Anna Mason, Managing Partner at Ingeborg Investments
  • Lulu Chang, Investor at Canapi Ventures
Session II: Optimizing your Go-To-Market Strategy - Engage with your Zeal founder peers, a recruiter, and a veteran sales leader on when to invest in building a sales team, creating repeatable sales motions, and evolving your priorities as you scale
  • Susannah Burrage, Head of Portfolio Management at Zeal Capital Partners (Moderator)
  • Meghan Scanlon, Enterprise Sales @ Stripe and General Assembly
  • Chris Ritchie, Ex-Operator and Managing Partner, Executive and Go-To-Market/Operations Practices at Integrity Power Search