Charles Chen
Partner
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- Full Name
- Charles Chen
- Title
- Partner
- Firm
- Level Equity (Level Equity Management, LLC)
- Firm Type
- Growth equity / lower-middle-market private investment firm (the stub's "Angel Investors" label is inaccurate — Level Equity is an institutional growth-capital firm with ~$6.5B AUM)
- Investment Stage
- Growth equity and structured/credit capital — minority growth investments through control buyouts (not pre-seed/seed angel checks)
- Check Size
- Not individually disclosed; Level Equity writes growth checks into companies typically with $5M+ of recurring revenue (firm has deployed across 125+ investments; recent funds total $1.4B in commitments)
- Target Company Profile
- Rapidly growing, capital-efficient companies with $5M+ recurring revenue, little prior institutional capital, and dynamic founder/operator teams
- Sector Focus
- Software, internet, and data-services businesses across a wide range of industries
- Geographic Focus
- North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand
- Location
- New York, NY (firm also has an office in Greenwich, CT)
Background
Charles Chen is a Partner at Level Equity, a New York–based growth-capital firm focused on rapidly growing software, internet, and data-services companies. He has worked in technology investing and finance since 2005 and partners with entrepreneurs and management teams to scale software businesses across many industries.
Before Level Equity, Charles was an investor at TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures), where he originated, evaluated, and executed growth-equity investments in software and internet businesses (roughly 2008–2011). Search records also place him in a business-development role at Facebook around 2012. He began his career as an analyst in the Technology Investment Banking groups at Banc of America Securities and Morgan Stanley (approximately 2005–2008).
Charles holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
He is an active board member across Level Equity's portfolio. Current board seats include Accelo, Acorn, Cheqroom, Chronus, Leonardo247, Movista, Osprey Flight Solutions, RocketRez, simPRO, STACK Construction Technologies, Sunwave Health, TeamDynamix, TeamSupport, and Tulip. Prior boards include Ensenta (acquired by Jack Henry, 2017), Fusion Risk Management, Inbenta, Legwork, PassFort (acquired by Moody's, 2021), Salesfloor, Vacasa (NASDAQ: VCSA), and Vendini.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests thematically in vertical and horizontal SaaS, internet, and data-services companies — Charles's stated focus is "software, internet, and data services companies across a wide range of industries."
- Targets capital-efficient, founder-led businesses with established recurring revenue (Level Equity's profile: $5M+ recurring revenue, little institutional capital raised to date, run by dynamic founders and managers).
- Flexible on structure and stage: Level pursues everything from minority growth investments to control buyouts and structured/credit deals — not classic seed/angel checks despite the stub's label.
- Looks for AI-enabled, category-leading platforms with strong growth trajectories — in the 2025 Osprey deal, Charles cited the company's "AI-powered platform, visionary leadership, and impressive growth trajectory" as the thesis.
- Brings hands-on operational support via Level Equity's in-house value-creation team (NextLevel Operations) and active board engagement.
Notable Investments
- Osprey Flight Solutions — AI-powered aviation risk-management platform; led Level Equity's £40M+ (~$53.6M) growth investment (Sept 2025); Charles is on the board.
- simPRO — field-service management software; recapitalized by K1 Investment Management in 2021.
- STACK Construction Technologies — construction takeoff/estimating software; current board seat.
- TeamDynamix — IT service & project management SaaS; Level reinvested in 2022.
- TeamSupport — B2B customer-support software; current board seat.
- Leonardo247 — real-estate operations software; current board seat.
- Movista — retail-execution workforce platform; current board seat.
- RocketRez — ticketing/operations software for tours & attractions; current board seat.
- PassFort — RegTech/KYC compliance platform; acquired by Moody's in 2021 (prior board).
- Ensenta — financial-services payments/imaging software; acquired by Jack Henry in 2017 (prior board).
- Vacasa (NASDAQ: VCSA) — vacation-rental management; prior board.
- Vendini — live-events ticketing; prior board (acquired by AudienceView).
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