Justin Ernest
Principal at Playground Global
Justin Ernest
Principal at Playground Global
San Francisco, California
Overview
Work Experience
Principal
2024 - Current
Venture Investor
2019 - 2024
Playground is an early stage venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management and currently investing out of its third fund. Our mission is to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the next generation of category-defining technology companies. We seek to invest in innovative companies whose cutting-edge products will underpin the next wave of economic and human development. Areas of active investment include artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, life sciences, aerospace, cybersecurity, decarbonization, and other frontier technology. Playground has also assembled a world-class team of domain experts within engineering, design, machine learning, and startup operations, all of whom operate out of our fully-equipped, 80k square foot studio where the firm also hosts a number of its portfolio companies.
Playground is an early-stage deep tech venture capital firm backing technical and scientific founders
Board Observer
2023
Board Observer
2022
Mangata is a telecommunication company that specializes in satellite and wired communication services.
Raised $134,550,927.00 from KT SAT.
Board Observer
2021
Board Observer
2021
Board Observer
2020
FarmWise provides technology-based services that allow farmers to streamline farm operations and increase food production efficiency.
Raised $65,200,000.00 from Fall Line Capital, Cavallo Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Taylor Farms, Alumni Ventures, SVG Ventures, Castor Ventures, Wilbur-Ellis, Google Ventures and Middleland Capital.
Board Observer
2020
RapidSOS is an intelligent safety platform that connects devices, apps, and sensors for safety agents.
Raised $355,730,006.00 from Acrew Capital, Manhattan Venture Partners (MVP), Harmonic Growth Partners, NightDragon, BAM Elevate, BlackRock, Insight Partners, BAM Elevate, Playground Global and Forté Ventures.
Board Observer
2020
Founding Venture Partner
2016
NextGen is a network-driven venture firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs. We invest in category defining early-stage tech companies such as Hyperloop One, Penrose Studios, and Carta. Our network of young startup investors are leaders in the entrepreneurial community who use their collective skills and connections to support the growth of our portfolio companies. NextGen has operations across the US, with the goal of becoming one of the most active and connected investors in the world. My role as an active venture partner is to provide support via sourcing, deal evaluation, and portfolio advisory.
NextGen Venture Partners invests in seed-stage companies with the participation of their venture partners.
MBA Extern
2019 - 2019
Consumer technology investing
Sunley House Capital Management is an investment manager focused primarily on publicly traded securities.