Braven, a venture capital firm pioneering a new operating model to co-build breakthrough early-stage startups, announces the appointment of LizAnn Eisen as a Senior Regulatory and Strategic Partner. Eisen brings a wealth of experience and relationships in commercial, legal, and regulatory matters that will add substantial value to Braven’s unique co-building model and its portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Braven, Eisen most recently served at the Securities and Exchange Commission as Deputy Director, Disclosure Program, for the Division of Corporation Finance. In that position, she led a team of approximately 350 people to fulfill the SEC’s mission of investor protection and capital formation, assessing emerging risks and helping companies fulfill the disclosure mandates on which investor confidence depends. She also serves as a senior lecturer and adjunct professor at Cornell Tech/Cornell Law School and an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon Law School. Until the end of 2018, Eisen was a corporate partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where her practice focused on domestic and international corporate finance transactions, acquisition financing, corporate governance and reporting matters, and liability management transactions.
A joint venture with Josh Harris’s 26North, Braven is an institutionally backed, early-stage venture firm pioneering the model for system innovations in regulated industries. The firm has engineered a model of deep, active engagement with portfolio companies in which Braven and partners including 26North provide the expertise, relationships, and resources needed to effectively engage their industries’ ecosystems.
“Braven could not be more thrilled to welcome LizAnn as we focus on what we believe will be the largest investment opportunities in the decades to come,” said William Abecassis, Braven’s Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. “We focus on technological system innovations in important regulated industries that form the foundation of our society, and startups looking to transform these industries can’t afford missteps. LizAnn’s deep experience and expertise in capital markets and regulatory complexity, as well as our shared vision and values, will make her an invaluable partner for Braven and our portfolio companies in collaborating with stakeholders and staying ahead of potential risks.”
“I’m delighted to join Braven as a business opportunity, but I’m just as excited to work with a company that values best-in-class diligence and thorough, thoughtful analysis before investment,” said Eisen. “Braven’s disciplined, deep-research-based approach to sourcing, underwriting, and co-building is aligned with the risk assessment and corporate governance principles I’ve focused on throughout my career, and I can’t wait to put that experience to work for brilliant innovators navigating complex industries.”
Braven is an institutionally backed venture firm focused where system innovation is transforming the large, regulated industries that underpin society, such as finance, healthcare, defense, and industrial infrastructure. A joint venture with 26North, Braven has engineered a new model of venture capital, designed to help visionary companies break through the barriers of these complex legacy industries and reshape them for the better.
