Steve Bartel
About Steve Bartel
Steve Bartel is the co-founder and CEO of Gem, a recruiting platform based in San Francisco. Crunchbase lists him as a co-founder alongside CTO Nick Bushak, with his role at Gem dated to 2017. Gem is described as an AI-driven recruiting platform that combines applicant tracking, CRM, sourcing, scheduling and talent marketing.
Before Gem he spent nearly five years at Dropbox, as an Engineering Manager and later Head of Engineering for Dropbox Paper. His earlier work included engineering internships at Facebook and Blizzard Entertainment. PitchBook lists a bachelor's degree in computer science from MIT, completed 2006 to 2010.
Public databases list a small number of disclosed angel investments, and the counts differ by source: Crunchbase and CB Insights show 3, PitchBook shows 6. His earliest listed deal is the 2014 seed round of Amplitude, an analytics startup. CB Insights records Amplitude's 2021 IPO as a portfolio exit.
Later deals include OneSchema (seed, November 2022), The New Club (March 2024), Gentrace (Series A, December 2024) and Tesseral (seed, May 2025).
In March 2026 he took part in Mason AI's $4.3M seed round. Mason AI's announcement says the round was led by the Urban Innovation Fund and lists him as an angel investor, identified as CEO of Gem. Crunchbase describes Mason AI as a San Francisco company building an AI platform for automating building reviews.
He also invested in Gentrace, which one third-party profile describes as an AI evaluation tools company. Gentrace raised a Series A in December 2024, according to Crunchbase.
His disclosed deals are mostly pre-seed to Series A software companies in the United States. Tracxn groups them under enterprise applications and enterprise infrastructure. AskForFunding describes his focus as SaaS, developer tools and enterprise platforms, and EasyVC lists pre-seed and seed as his stages. These are third-party summaries, not statements from him. We found no public check size, fund size or stated investment thesis.
- Mason AI: AI platform for automating building reviews; participated in the $4.3M seed announced in 2026, led by Urban Innovation Fund.
- Gentrace: AI evaluation tooling; Series A in December 2024.
- Tesseral: data infrastructure startup; $3.3M seed in May 2025 with Y Combinator among the investors.
- The New Club: professional network for female engineering leaders; invested in its March 2024 round.
- OneSchema: data import and collaboration software; seed round in November 2022.
- Amplitude: product analytics company; invested in its 2014 seed round, and it went public in 2021.
- crunchbase.com/person/steven-bartel
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/112371-04
- tracxn.com/d/people/steve-bartel/__DfWyobPvJKpFVdui93XFqPaLPAtw_mB_P8a
- cbinsights.com/investor/steve-bartel
- askforfunding.com/investor/steven-bartel-angel-investor
- easyvc.ai/investor/steven-bartel
- withmason.ai/seed-round-announcement
- crunchbase.com/organization/mason-ai
Investing activity
Steve Bartel appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $4M. The most recent is Mason AI (Seed, $4.3M, Mar 2026).
Steve Bartel most often invests alongside Urban Innovation Fund, Adam Cohen, Brian McClendon and Zachary Rosen, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Steve Bartel
Who is Steve Bartel?
Steve Bartel is the co-founder and CEO of Gem, a recruiting platform, and a former Head of Engineering for Dropbox Paper. He also invests personally as an angel.
Has Steve Bartel invested in AI startups?
Yes. He is listed as an angel in Mason AI's $4.3M seed round (March 2026) and as an investor in Gentrace, which raised a Series A in December 2024.
What stage does Steve Bartel invest in?
Third-party profiles list pre-seed and seed. His disclosed deals run from seed to Series A.
What is Steve Bartel's check size?
We found no public check size. Databases list round sizes, not his individual investments.
What sectors does Steve Bartel back?
His disclosed investments are in enterprise software, developer and data infrastructure, AI tooling and professional networking. Examples are Tesseral, Gentrace, OneSchema, The New Club and Mason AI.
Where is Steve Bartel based?
Crunchbase lists him in San Francisco, California. His disclosed portfolio companies are in the United States.
Is Steve Bartel an angel investor?
Yes. Steve Bartel invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Steve Bartel invested in?
Steve Bartel's AI investments include Mason AI. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Steve Bartel invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Steve Bartel has invested at Seed, with a median round of $4M.
Who does Steve Bartel co-invest with?
Steve Bartel's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Urban Innovation Fund (1 deal), Adam Cohen (1 deal), Brian McClendon (1 deal), Zachary Rosen (1 deal) and David Braginsky (1 deal).