Able Partners

 Venture Capital

People:
Lisa Blau (Partner)
Alison Ryu (Managing Director)
Amanda Eilian (Partner)

Location:
New York, New York, USA

Amanda Eilian
Founding Partner

Amanda has been actively investing in early stage consumer companies for the last decade, drawing on her experience as an institutional investor and entrepreneur. Previously, Amanda was the co-founder of Videolicious, an enterprise video creation platform backed by Amazon, and served as its President until it was acquired by a multinational strategic buyer. Under Amanda’s leadership, Videolicious grew to over 5 million users in 103 countries, including Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Walmart, SAP, Verizon and GE. Prior to forming Videolicious, Amanda was a founding partner of Capitol Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) that completed a $265 million initial public offering and became Two Harbors Investment Corp., a $3 billion REIT (NYSE:TWO). TWO grew to over $5 billion of market capitalization (including a spin-off). Amanda began her career in private equity and mergers and acquisitions. Amanda is a Truman Scholar and received her MBA from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with Honors in Economics. Amanda serves on the Board of Directors of Juice Beauty and the Melanoma Research Alliance, and is also a member of the Tech:NYC Leadership Council.

Lisa Blau
Founding Partner

Lisa has spent the last decade as an active investor focused on consumer businesses with a particular interest in supporting women-led entrepreneurial ventures. Previously, Lisa co-founded VitalJuice.com, a daily email newsletter on healthy living tips and trends that was acquired by Tasting Table. She also helped build and launch Portero, an online luxury goods auction platform sold to Richemont. Lisa chairs the Investor Group of the Leadership Now Project, a membership organization of business professionals committed to renewing democracy. She is a founding member and leader of the TIME’S UP Care Economy Business Council, a coalition of business leaders and companies committed to building a new American care economy, empowering caregivers, and championing gender equality throughout their workforce. Lisa is also the founder of Be Counted NYC, an effort focused on driving registration and voter participation in New York City’s June 2021 Democratic Primary. She is a Board Member of The New York Public Library, KIPP New York, and Mt. Sinai’s Parenting Center. She has a B.A. from Duke University where she sits on the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Taskforce, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Lisa lives in New York City with her husband and three children.

Alison Ryu
Partner

Alison has been investing in consumer brands for nearly a decade. Prior to Able, Alison was a General Partner & Managing Director at CircleUp Growth Partners where she led investments in early stage consumer brands. Before CircleUp, Alison was a Vice President at TSG Consumer where she invested in consumer and retail brands and worked closely with the e-commerce investments in their portfolio. She spent a year as an operator on the executive team of Backcountry.com, one of the TSG portfolio companies. Prior to TSG, Alison worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan in the Consumer & Retail Group. Alison has served on the Board of Directors of Kosas Cosmetics, Nutpods and Mented Cosmetics, and is currently a Board Observer of Vessel Health. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and lives in San Francisco with her husband.