Ligaya Tichy’s New Entity funds food, beverage, and hospitality businesses. | Source: Jessica Chou for The Standard
Published Sep. 8, 2026at6:00am
Those who run in the same social circles as Ligaya Tichy are used to seeing her DJing at exclusive parties, vacationing in Ibiza, or dancing at the SFMOMA Art Bash, depending on the season. What they may not be used to is writing her a check.
Tichy wears many hats: She’s a fixture of the San Francisco socialite scene, a patron of the arts, founder of the now-closed Wild Child private school, and an angel investor. Now she’s applying her diverse skill set to New Entity, a venture fund that supports local hospitality projects.
It’s no secret that some San Franciscans are about to get very, very rich: All eyes are on the upcoming IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic. Tichy’s idea is to tap into the city’s unfathomably deep wealth pool and use it to benefit restaurants — the venues that will likely host the inevitable, lavish IPO parties.
Tichy was formerly global head of offline marketing and community at Airbnb. | Source: Jessica Chou for The Standard
Tichy is no stranger to tech booms and market fluctuations. She was one of the first employees of Yelp, as a community manager, then one of the first hires at Airbnb, where she led the global marketing team. That’s why she feels strongly about this project at this particular moment. Though there are others driving tech capital into hospitality (restaurateur Eduardo Rallo has done it), the pool remains comically slim for tech-centric San Francisco.
“There’s a new generation of tech wealth held by people who came up hearing that tech hollowed out the city, and who actively want to be part of the answer rather than the problem,” Tichy says. “[My] hot take: They’re more design-savvy and cultured than my nerd generation of tech folks.”
New Entity, which launched in March, has invested in up-and-coming hospitality projects that include Downtime, the Mission bar and club from the team behind Bar Part Time; Moonchild, a restaurant from husband-and-wife Floyd Nunn and Angelyne Tompkins that will take over the former Fog City Diner building; and Passages, a wine bar from Alex Lauritzen of vegan pop-up the Mushroom.
Unlike a typical VC fund, New Entity will operate in two avenues. In addition to the core fund, consisting of Tichy’s capital, there will be a Funder Collective, a network of individuals who invest alongside Tichy on a deal-by-deal basis. This approach, she explains, will allow the fund to operate at a speed and scope befitting the hospitality business. Investment can be tailored to each business’ needs, and investors understand that they may need to be patient on returns. “We know the operators, we eat in the rooms, we’re around for the long haul,” she says.
Karelle Golda, cofounder of the tech outdoor apparel company Halfdays, invested in Downtime through New Entity. A mutual friend connected Golda and Tichy, who soon discovered their shared appreciation for things that “give the city texture,” including art, music, food, and wine. “What I find so compelling about New Entity is its focus on businesses that can succeed commercially while also becoming meaningful parts of a city’s culture,” Golda says. “I’m especially interested in founders building businesses that add joy, energy, and a genuine sense of community.”
Source: Jessica Chou for The Standard
Tony Conrad straddles angel investing (he and Tichy are both investors at Flour + Water) and the VC path. As a partner at True Ventures, which has stakes in Blue Bottle Coffee and Sweetgreen, he has known Tichy for years and admires her “unusual ability to connect people, ideas, and communities that don’t naturally find each other.” While many of the city’s restaurant groups are backed by VC firms, first-time owners can struggle to raise money, he acknowledges, which could make Tichy’s initiative a valuable addition. “New Entity isn’t trying to replicate a traditional venture firm; it’s creating its own model and community,” Conrad says, adding that he’d be “absolutely open” to partnering with the fund given the right opportunity.
He, too, believes the timing aligns. “We’re at a moment where AI is dramatically lowering the cost of building companies, which means we’ll likely see more founders and more experimentation than ever before,” he says. “That’s exactly the kind of environment where experienced investors with strong networks and long-term relationships can make a meaningful difference.”
While the dots connect on paper, putting tech money to work in hospitality has been anything but straightforward. “Tech is an industry where billion-dollar unicorns are the dream, and that can warp your sense of impact,” Tichy says. She quickly learned that the wannabe hospitality billionaires fall into two camps: those drawn to the premise because they want to have a stake in building up the city’s scene, and those driven purely by numbers. For the latter, Tichy says bluntly: “There are simply better ways to make money. Being honest about that distinction upfront saves everyone time.”