Benjamin Sontheimer

Ben is Co-founder & General Partner of Elizabeth Street Ventures.
An art collector and global consumer investor, he brings 20+ years of experience evaluating consumer-focused businesses across public and private markets, launching and growing investment funds and investing in brands globally.
Elizabeth Street is Ben’s third consumer investment firm as a founder and his first early stage venture capital fund.
Prior to Elizabeth Street, he launched and was Managing Partner at Vault Partners, an equity long/short fund with a global consumer mandate, which he grew to $250M in assets.
Previously, Ben was the co-founder at Javelin Partners, a U.S.-focused consumer long/short equity fund that grew from an initial investment of $800K to over $300M.
As a public markets investor, Ben took a thematic long-term approach, targeting businesses and brands experiencing exceptional changes in growth and aimed to hold investments through the full trajectory of their success.
Ben’s successful private market investments include: Capital IQ (acquired by McGraw-Hill in 2004), New Oriental Education (IPO in 2005), TrueCar (IPO in 2014), LendingClub (IPO in 2014).
His notable early investments in the public markets include: Odwalla, Audible, Expedia, Mobile Mini, Tractor Supply, Coach, Peet’s Coffee, New Oriental Education, Align Technology, WisdomTree, Moncler.
Ben began his career as a short seller at Rice Voelker, covering retail and consumer stocks.
He then worked as a consumer analyst at Gilder Gagnon Howe, a $10B equities manager.
Ben graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature.
He had a Grant in Creative Writing at Skidmore College.
Ben is a founding board member of The Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought.