Meet the Partners
Our team brings together deep technical expertise, operating experience, and venture investing acumen to support every company in our portfolio.
Ashley Martinez
Chief Executive Officer
Ashley Martinez is CEO and Co-Founder of FailUp Capital, where she leads the firm's investment strategy across hard tech and deep tech. She founded the firm with the conviction that the most important breakthrough companies are being built at the frontier of applied science. Prior to FailUp, Ashley spent over a decade advising science-driven ventures at the intersection of government research programs and private capital markets. She brings deep expertise in advanced manufacturing, quantum technologies, and synthetic biology, and has a track record of identifying founders early who go on to define entirely new categories. Ashley's investment philosophy centers on founder-scientist alignment — she seeks out technical founders who have the rare combination of domain mastery and commercial vision. She holds board seats across several FailUp portfolio companies and actively leads the firm's technical diligence process.
Leila Vasquez
Partner
Leila Vasquez is Partner at FailUp Capital, where she oversees portfolio operations and leads investments in aerospace, propulsion, and advanced sensing. Before joining FailUp, Leila was a principal at a deep tech seed fund in the Boston ecosystem and earlier served as an engineer and program manager in the defense aerospace sector. Her operational background gives her an unusually practical lens for evaluating hardware-intensive startups. Leila leads the firm's work with portfolio companies on go-to-market strategy, talent acquisition, and government contract pathways. She holds an advanced degree in aerospace engineering from a leading technical university and is a recognized voice on the future of commercial space and hypersonic systems.
Emma Walsh
Senior Associate
Emma Walsh is Senior Associate at FailUp Capital, where she supports sourcing, diligence, and portfolio monitoring across the firm's investments. Emma joined FailUp from a quantitative research background and brings rigorous analytical discipline to evaluating early-stage deep tech ventures. She is particularly focused on energy storage, next-generation materials, and the emerging computational biology space. Emma manages the firm's founder pipeline, maintains relationships with leading university technology transfer offices, and contributes to the investment committee process. She holds a graduate degree in materials science and has co-authored technical research on solid-state battery architectures.