# Mark Gerson

> Mark Gerson is a seed investor at 3i Members (New York) backing Travel and Software. See 11 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [3i Members](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/3i-members)
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 11
- Last investment: Jul 2021
- Lead investor: 9%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-gerson/0/31/266
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/markgerson
- Website: https://x.com/markgerson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.gerson.5

Mark Gerson is a seed investor at 3i Members in New York focused on Travel and Software. Mark Gerson, a New York–based entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the co-founder of Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), 3I Members and other businesses. He is the co-founder and Chair­man of Unit­ed Hatza­lah, the crowd-sourced sys­tem of vol­un­teer first response that enables Israelis to be treat­ed with­in the moments sep­a­rat­ing life from deathfol­low­ing any med­ical trau­ma with more than 7,000 trained medics across Israeli society. He is also the co-founder and Chair­man of African Mis­sion Health­care, which enables Chris­t­ian med­ical mis­sion­ar­ies to pro­vide clin­i­cal care, train­ing, and med­ical infra­struc­ture for peo­ple through­out Africa where he and his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson, made the largest gift ever to Christian medical missionaries. A graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School, Mark is the author of the national bestseller The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life. Mark’s articles and essays on subjects ranging from Frank Sinatra to the biblical Jonah to the Torah and science of clothing have been published in The New Republic, USA Today, Commentary, and Christian Broadcast Network. Mark Gerson's brother is Rick Gerson, the Co-Founder, Chairman, & CIO of Alpha Wave Global.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.3M–$4M |
| Angel | $2.8M–$2.8M |
| Series A | $1M–$1.8M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Travel | 2 | 18% |
| Software | 2 | 18% |
| E-Commerce | 2 | 18% |
| Enterprise Software | 2 | 18% |
| DIY | 1 | 9% |

31 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 4 | 36% |
| Series A | 3 | 27% |
| Angel | 2 | 18% |
| Series B | 2 | 18% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 7 | 64% |
| Russian Federation | 2 | 18% |
| Israel | 1 | 9% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LeagueApps | LeagueApps is committed to a world where all kids and communities have the advantages of sport. Born and bred in New York City, it is the operating system and professional community for the most enterprising youth and local sports organizers—providing them with the solutions they need to succeed. LeagueApps works with thousands of fast-growing andinfluential youth sports organizations, as well as pro teams, leagues, and athletes. Through its software and NextUp platform, which provides organizers with opportunities for leadership development and networking, LeagueApps supports and strengthens the youth sports industry. It also runs FundPlay, a philanthropic program focused on sports-based youth development programs in underserved communities. | $15M | Series B | Jul 19, 2021 |  |
| Umi Kitchen | Umi Kitchen offers an application that enables its users to order homemade food from local chefs. The meals are delivered with reheating instructions and an ingredient list.Umi Kitchen enables its customers to rate and review services of the chefs. The company provides chefs with marketing, packaging, and delivery services.Umi Kitchen wasfounded by Khalil Tawil, Derek Gottfrid, and Hallie Meyer in March 2015. It is based in New York. | $1.4M | Seed | Sep 26, 2016 |  |
| Siftery | Siftery is a database of sorts where companies list their software stacks. Siftery compares companies with similar stacks and looks for differences to make some recommendations. | $4M | Seed | Feb 02, 2016 |  |
| Greats | Greats Brands is a men’s footwear brand that offers a wide range of classically-inspired sneakers. Greats Brand was founded in 2013 and is based in New York, United States. | $2M | Seed | Apr 14, 2014 |  |
| HipClub | Our first project was conceived HipWay.ru in April 2009, when we, its creators, not for the first time confronted with the problem of organizing your own holiday, we decided to create a project that will be useful for those looking for a fun and unconventional holiday. And thus, in contrast to the large number of already existing at the time oftravel social networks, forums and so on, we will set a goal that will be exactly hipway.ru shop travel, with the possibility of booking and payment online. A year later, in April 2010, appeared hipway.ru - the first project that brings together all the most interesting and unusual travel in one convenient directory, with the possibility of booking and payment online.Immediately after starting hipway.ru ranked sites day rambler.ru, it is absolutely without our knowledge - the unprecedented influx of visitors we have learned from that page hipway.ru opened a few seconds and broke off from the phone calls. Project immediately had to switch to a new server and organizers inspire and start looking for investors. Up to this point the project was funded entirely by private funds.In parallel with the search for an investor we planned to start a second project - hipclub - private club offers a great vacation c exclusive discounts. We gave the project to the development of our IT-team and continued to search for funding.In mid-2010 we were lucky - we got a great project investors - Javier Pérez-Tenessa, founder of eDreams, Michael van Swaaij, former CEO Skype and eBay top manager and several other equally wonderful "business angels". These people are now helping us not only financially, but also valuable advice.In October 2010, we launched hipclub, who became the first Internet cafe, specializing in tourism and leisure. In a short time hipclub not only got wide coverage on the Internet , but also got great reviews from its customers that we are particularly pleased, as it was initially the main task of both projects is to create a travel company with the best customer service. | $2.8M | Angel | Oct 21, 2011 |  |
| HipWay | Hipway is an online travel company maintaining two websites - hiplcub.ru and hipway.ru. Hipclub.ru - is a private online travel club running 10-15 flash sale deals per week. The deals include hotel stays and hotel+flight packages. Hipway.ru - is a travel package specialist offering wide range of hotel+flight packages of Russian touroperators. Hipway recieved angel funding from superangels such as Michael van Swaaij and Chamath Palihapitya in 2010. | $2.8M | Angel | Oct 19, 2011 |  |
| LabPixies | LabPixies is a leading provider of personalized web content and technology. Our mission is to provide the ultimate personalize online experience, bringing together the most advanced web technologies and services in a customizable, easy to use interface.At LabPixies we create quality interactive components ("Gadgets") for thepersonalized environment. Our gadgets range from entertainment gadgets such as games and music to utilities such as search tools and calculators.We believe in giving our users the power to personalize their online experience, helping them to enjoy an easier and richer web environment.In a | $1M | Series A | Jun 01, 2008 |  |
| Chockstone | Chockstone, a marketing and technology company, provides loyalty marketing and gift card solutions for restaurant and convenience store markets.The company's Single Swipe loyalty platform enables merchants to build loyalty programs for the consumer's credit and debit cards, as well as to track customers' preferences and purchasehistory, and to provide savings and promotional offers. It also provides do-it-yourself loyalty marketing and gift promotions; and gift cards and processing services.The company was founded by Dan Devlin and Jeff Lipp in 2002 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. As of November 14, 2008, Chockstone, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Heartland Payment Systems. | $14M | Series B | Dec 21, 2006 |  |
| Badongo.com | Badongo is the world’s most sophisticated online storage, management and publishing system for personal content.Badongo was co-founded in 2005 by Patrick Boden and Frank Westerholt. The company provides individuals worldwide with a free and deluxe suite of online storage, management and publishing applications for personal content. Thecompany generates revenue through the sale of premium account services and online ads. Today, Badongo hosts millions of files created and uploaded by individuals around the world and in almost every country. The Company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.Badongo.com is an online software service for storage, management and publication of personal content. Consumers worldwide can easily upload any type of large file (photo, video, music, business documents, etc.) from any type of computer. Once a file is uploaded, Badongo provides users with the ability to manage and manipulate their own files before securely sending to friends, family or colleagues of their choice. In addition, users are offered quick text links which can be easily copy and pasted directly into email and instant message conversation for fast viewing and download of their file. Badongo also boosts user interaction with a set of innovative software widgets that can be embedded into a user’s blog, forum, website and Facebook or MySpace page. |  | Series A | Jan 01, 2006 |  |
| Smarterer | Individuals and Fortune 500 companies use Smarterer to help close the gap between the skills they have and the skills they need. Their dynamic assessment engine leverages the freshest crowdsourced tests around, to rapidly pinpoint skill level with a credible score. In November 2014, Pluralsight, the global leader in online learning for serioussoftware developers, IT specialists and creative technologists, acquired Smarterer. As the world's largest curated e-learning library for professionals, the company offers instant access to more than 3,500 courses authored by top experts. Smarterer will continue to power crowdsourced assessments for freelancer marketplaces, e-learning providers and enterprise companies anywhere people need to prove their skills to connect with professional opportunities. The Smarterer community has answered over 56 million during 1.7 million test sessions, across hundreds of tests. | $1.8M | Series A |  |  |

10 of 11 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Google Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/google-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [True Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/true-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [8VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/8vc) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Accelerator Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/accelerator-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [AME Cloud Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ame-cloud-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Carthona Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/carthona-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About 3i Members

VC Fund



1 contacts available at 3i Members.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mark Gerson | Founder & Chairman | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mark-gerson |

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## FAQ

### What does Mark Gerson invest in?

Mark Gerson invests primarily in Travel, Software and E-Commerce startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 11 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Mark Gerson's check size?

Mark Gerson typically joins rounds of $1.3M–$4M at Seed, $2.8M–$2.8M at Angel and $1M–$1.8M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Mark Gerson participates in.

### When did Mark Gerson last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Mark Gerson closed in Jul 2021. Shizune tracks 11 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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