# John Gardner

> John Gardner is a seed investor at Acrew Capital (New York) backing FinTech and Hospitality. See 6 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Acrew Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/acrew-capital)
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 6
- Last investment: Apr 2026
- Lead investor: 67%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gardner-cfa/
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/jgardner17
- Website: https://x.com/jgardner17

John Gardner is a seed investor at Acrew Capital in New York focused on FinTech and Hospitality. John Gardner is the Executive In Residence at Acrew Capital. He previously worked as the EVP SoFi Technologies, Head of SoFi Invest at SoFi.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FinTech | 2 | 33% |
| Hospitality | 2 | 33% |
| Sales | 1 | 17% |
| Credit | 1 | 17% |
| Fitness | 1 | 17% |

19 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 3 | 50% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 2 | 33% |
| Series A | 1 | 17% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Zamp | Zamp is the sales tax technology provider of solution that eliminates the need for you to manage the software. | $17M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 28, 2026 |  |
| Highbeam | Highbeam is a fintech company that offers an online platform for ecommerce originators to comprehend, invest, and expand businesses. Highbeam is headqaurtered in New York, United States. | $30M | Series A | Sep 09, 2025 |  |
| ROH | ​ROH offers a cloud-based platform designed to streamline sales and financial operations within the hospitality industry. It integrates tools for workflow automation, payment processing, accounts receivable management, contract tracking, and data analytics, aiming to enhance collaboration among hotel sales and finance teams. The platform supportsvarious revenue streams, including group bookings, events, and leisure sales, and is utilized by a range of hospitality brands and operators. ROH's features include real-time revenue forecasting, automated payment tracking, and centralized management of booking documentation. Additionally, it provides customizable dashboards and mobile-friendly invoicing to assist in managing financial tasks efficiently. The platform is designed to integrate with existing property management systems, facilitating a cohesive operational workflow. | $9.2M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 21, 2025 |  |
| StellarFi | StellarFi is a fintech infrastructure company building white-label and private-label credit card rails for brands and platforms serving non-prime and near-prime consumers. Its technology enables companies to embed Visa-issued credit cards into their products without building the underlying stack, powered by a proprietary underwriting and servicinglayer built for the complexity of thin-file and credit-damaged borrowers.The company's thesis is that the non-prime credit market is underserved not because of a lack of demand, but because of a lack of responsible, scalable infrastructure. Founded as a direct-to-consumer credit-building platform, StellarFi evolved into an infrastructure business after identifying that durable impact in non-prime credit requires reaching consumers at scale through trusted distribution partners rather than through a standalone consumer brand. | $7.2M | Seed | Mar 07, 2022 |  |
| Carats and Cake | Carats and Cake is a revenue optimization platform for the hospitality group that delivers solutions to wedding-focused businesses. | $19.3M | Seed | Dec 21, 2021 |  |
| Greatist | Greatist is the next-generation media company in health for healthy-minded millenials. With an emphasis on super high-quality fitness, health, and happiness content (every fact cited by a scientific study, every article approved by multiple experts) over quantity, Greatist engages an educated, social, and mobile audience through its uniquelyfriendly, fun, and shareable voice. Launched in 2011, it's now the fastest-growing site in the health space, reaching over 5 million readers every month with its mission to help the world think of health in a healthier way. | $4.5M | Seed | Jan 20, 2016 |  |

6 of 6 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Highgate Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/highgate-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [20Growth](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/20growth) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Accomplice](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/accomplice-atlas-venture) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Advancit Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/advancit-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Vesey Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/company-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Fiat Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fiat-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Acrew Capital

VC Fund · San Francisco, United States

Acrew Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in companies across various industries at different stages of growth. It focuses on building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and supporting technology growth companies. The firm seeks to diversify perspectives and cap tables while investing in transformative businesses.

5 contacts available at Acrew Capital.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| John Gardner | Executive In Residence | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/john-gardner-2 |
| Lauren Kolodny | Founding Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lauren-kolodny |
| Richard Wolpert | Venture Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/richard-wolpert |
| Theresia Gouw | Founding Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/theresia-gouw |
| Aliisa Rosenthal | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/aliisa-rosenthal |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does John Gardner invest in?

John Gardner invests primarily in FinTech, Hospitality and Sales startups, most often at Seed and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 6 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did John Gardner last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for John Gardner closed in Apr 2026. Shizune tracks 6 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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