Nate Loewentheil

Nate Loewentheil is the Founder and Managing Partner of Commonweal Ventures, an early-stage venture firm he launched in 2021 (co-led with partner Ron Bloom, the former Obama manufacturing advisor). The fund invests in pre-seed and seed technology companies positioned to benefit from government policy, spending, and regulation. His email and phone sit under the domain of Berman Enterprises — a multi-generational Maryland real estate and investment holding company (founded 1952, headquartered in the Rockville/North Bethesda area) — reflecting that Commonweal operates in close affiliation with the Berman family office; Jeffrey Berman is also featured among the firm's people.

Loewentheil's career is rooted in public policy. As an undergraduate at Yale he founded and led the Roosevelt Institution, a national student-run think tank, serving as its executive director from roughly 2007–2009, and spent time in Cochabamba, Bolivia working on rural water provision. He went on to serve in the Obama White House as a Special Assistant to the President for economic policy at the National Economic Council, where he advised the President on emerging technology, transportation, and clean energy, and directed the White House Task Force for Baltimore. He earned both a BA (Yale College) and a JD (Yale Law School).

Today he combines investing with teaching and writing. He is a Visiting Lecturer / Adjunct Professor at Yale Law School, where he teaches "Technology and the American City," and is affiliated with NYU Wagner. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and an Aspen Ideas Fellow, and has published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fast Company. He describes himself as having been an active angel and venture investor for roughly 15 years.

• Invests in pre-seed and seed (sometimes Series A) startups; check sizes ~$500K–$2.5M, acting as lead or follow-on.
• Core thesis: back "category-winning companies that partner with government to solve America's toughest challenges," treating government scale, data, regulatory authority, and funding as growth levers.
• Frames the opportunity around a data point he cites often: government investment has "jumpstarted 25% of all recent VC-backed unicorns," and shifts in public policy are accelerating that trend.
• Sector emphasis: clean energy/climate, fintech/financial services, real estate, healthcare, defense & aerospace, public safety, infrastructure, manufacturing, cybersecurity, logistics, government services, and AI.
• Differentiator is Commonweal's "Political Capital" platform — a network of ex-White House officials, former EPA administrators, mayors, and policy leaders (including former Chicago CIO Brenna Berman) that gives founders access to decision-makers and policy intelligence.
• Says yes to founders who can articulate how policy, spending, or regulation is a tailwind and go-to-market channel, not a compliance headache.