Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top New York, New York based Founder operating in the Financial Services space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Fabrice Grinda
Co-Founder of FJ Labs
Fabrice Grinda is among the world’s leading Internet entrepreneurs and investors. He has over $300 million in exits and 150 angel investments. Fabrice has served as CEO for three multinational companies and has an impressive track record as an early investor in Alibaba, Lending Club, Delivery Hero and Brightroll. Fabrice is currently investing in startups and building companies through FJ Labs, which he cofounded with business partner Jose Marin. Fabrice is also co-founder and executive chairman of Beepi, a next generation used car marketplace. Beepi recently raised $60 million in series B funding. Prior to FJ Labs and Beepi, Fabrice was co-founder and co-CEO of OLX, one of the largest websites in the world with over 200 million unique visitors per month. The company operates in 40 countries and has over 1,200 employees. OLX is the largest classifieds site in India, Brazil, Pakistan, Poland, Ukraine, Portugal and many other emerging markets. Before OLX, Fabrice was co-founder and CEO of Zingy, one of the largest wireless media companies in the Americas. Fabrice successfully grew the business to $200 million in sales in four years. Fabrice started his entrepreneurial journey in 1998, at 23, when he co-founded and was CEO of Aucland. Soon after, Aucland grew into one of the largest auction sites in Europe. Before his entrepreneurial endeavors, Fabrice worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. Fabrice holds a BA in Economics from Princeton University. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1996, and was awarded the Halbert White prize, given to the most distinguished economics student, as well as The Wolfe Balleisen memorial prize, awarded for best thesis. In his free time, Fabrice likes to travel the world, kitesurf, play tennis, and blog about his personal and professional life at www.fabricegrinda.com.
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About FJ Labs: FJ Labs is a stage-agnostic investment firm that focuses on marketplaces and consumer facing startups.
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Nasir Jones
Partner and Co-Founder of QueensBridge Venture Partners
Nas, byname of Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, also called Nasty Nas, (born September 14, 1973, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.), American rapper and songwriter who became a dominant voice in 1990s East Coast hip-hop. Nas built a reputation as an expressive chronicler of inner-city street life. Nasir Jones, the son of a jazz musician, grew up in public housing in Queens, New York. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and searched for a creative outlet, finally settling on hip-hop. His breakthrough came in 1992, when his song “Half Time” (credited to Nasty Nas) appeared on the sound track to the film Zebrahead. Columbia Records soon signed him to a contract. His debut recording as Nas, Illmatic (1994), drew widespread acclaim for its poetic narration of hard-edged inner-city life. The more pop-oriented approach of It Was Written (1996) helped that album reach an even wider audience than its predecessor but ignited a recurring tension in Nas’s career between the appetite of the pop audience and the demands of hip-hop purists. He maintained his commercial appeal with I Am… (1999), although by that time he had also become embroiled in a public feud with fellow rapper Jay-Z over which of the two was the preeminent voice in East Coast hip-hop. The schism inspired Stillmatic (2001), which many fans considered a return to form. The two rappers publicly settled their differences in 2005, and shortly thereafter Nas signed with Def Jam, of which Jay-Z was president at the time. Nas’s penchant for provocation marked Hip Hop Is Dead (2006) and an untitled follow-up (2008), while Life Is Good (2012) struck an introspective tone. He also notably collaborated with reggae musician Damian Marley (the youngest son of Bob Marley) on the album Distant Relatives (2010). Nas also made occasional film appearances, notably in Belly (1998), a crime drama in which he starred opposite rapper DMX, and Black Nativity (2013), an adaptation of Langston Hughes’s gospel play.
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About Emagen Investment Group, Inc., QueensBridge Venture Partners, Uncle Sam Loves Me, LLC: QueensBridge Venture Partners invests in technology companies in highly competitive and visible markets.
Lee Fixel
Founder of Addition
Lee Fixel is the founder of Addition, an investment firm focused on early and growth stage companies. Fixel was previously a Partner at Tiger Global Management, LLC, where he was head of the firm’s private equity business. He has backed companies including Flipkart, Stripe, Freshworks, Warby Parker, Peloton, MercadoLibre, Facebook, Spotify and LinkedIn. Fixel earned a B.S. in business administration, finance and accounting from Washington University in St. Louis and is a CFA charterholder. He serves on the board of trustees of his alma mater and is a director of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Fixel was raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
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About Addition: Addition is a venture capital firm that invests in early and growth-stage tech companies.
Catherine Wood
Founder, CEO & CIO of ARK Investment Management
Cathie registered ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2014. Prior to ARK, Cathie spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as Chief Investment Officer of Global Thematic Strategies where she managed $5 billion. Cathie joined Alliance Capital from Tupelo Capital Management, a hedge fund she co-founded which, in 2000, managed $800 million in global thematic strategies. Prior to her tenure at Tupelo Capital, she worked for 18 years with Jennison Associates as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Director. She started her career in Los Angeles, California at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist. Cathie received her Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, in Finance and Economics from the University of Southern California in 1981. In 2016, Cathie received the “Women in Finance – Outstanding Contribution Award” from Market Media.
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About ARK Investment Management: ARK Invest holds a precision lens on thematic investing.
Philippe Laffont
Founder & Portfolio Manager of Coatue
Philippe Laffont is the founder and portfolio manager of Coatue Management. Mr. Laffont graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991 with a B.S. and M.Sc. in Computer Science. He worked as an analyst in management consulting for McKinsey & Co. from 1992 to 1994 in Madrid, Spain. After working as an independent consultant for several years, Mr. Laffont joined Tiger Management LLC as a research analyst in 1996. He focused on telecommunications stocks while at Tiger until he left to found Coatue in 1999.
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About Coatue: Coatue invests in public and private equity markets focusing on the technology, media, and telecommunications industries.
Andrew Adams
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Oak HC/FT
Andrew joined Oak Investment Partners in 2003. He currently serves as General Partner of Oak Investment Partners, and General Partner of Oak HC/FT. Andrew currently serves on the Boards of Limeade, Maestro Healthcare Technologies, One Medical Group, Radisphere National Radiology Group, and xG Health Solutions. Andrew is also actively involved with Benefitfocus, Independent Living Systems, and Precision for Medicine Holdings. Prior investment activity includes American Esoteric Laboratories (acquired by Sonic Healthcare Limited), Argus Information & Advisory Services (acquired by Verisk Analytics), CareMedic Systems (acquired by Ingenix), CLARiENT (acquired by GE Healthcare), Harbor Payments (acquired by American Express), Health Dialog (acquired by British United Provident Association), iHealth Technologies (merged with Connolly), NetSpend Corporation (acquired by TSYS), PayFlex Systems (acquired by Aetna), PharMEDium Healthcare (acquired by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice) and United BioSource (acquired by Medco Health Solutions). Prior to joining Oak Investment Partners, Andrew was a Senior Associate with Capital Resource Partners, a mezzanine capital firm, where he focused on investments in healthcare and business services companies. Andrew was also a Financial Analyst in the media and communications group of Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Andrew graduated from Princeton University with a BA in History.
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About Oak HC/FT: Oak HC/FT is a venture and growth equity investment firm that focuses on healthcare information services and financial service technology.
Henry Kravis
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Henry Kravis (New York) co-founded KKR in 1976 and is Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer. He is actively involved in managing the Firm and serves on regional Private Equity Investment and Portfolio Management Committees. Henry Kravis currently serves on the boards of First Data Corporation and ICONIQ Capital, LLC. He also serves as a director, chairman emeritus or trustee of several cultural, professional, and educational institutions, including The Business Council, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia Business School, Mount Sinai Hospital, Partnership for New York City, Partnership Fund for New York City, Rockefeller University, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. He earned a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College in 1967 and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School in 1969. Henry Kravis has more than four decades of experience financing, analyzing, and investing in public and private companies, as well as serving on the boards of a number of KKR portfolio companies.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Partnership Fund for New York City: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Girish Reddy
Member, KKR and Co-Founder, Hedge Funds of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Girish Reddy (New York) is a Member at KKR and Co-Founder of KKR Prisma, which previously conducted business as Prisma Capital Partners LP, and is currently KKR’s customized hedge fund solutions business. Mr. Reddy also oversees the KKR Prisma Investment Committee. Before starting KKR Prisma, Mr. Reddy was a partner and co-head of equity derivatives at Goldman Sachs & Co, based in Europe. Prior to this role, he was the chief investment officer of LOR Associates in Los Angeles. Earlier in his career, he was a senior vice president of portfolio construction and asset allocation at Travelers Investment Management Company, where he specialized in various overlay strategies for the firm using listed futures and options. Mr. Reddy serves on the executive board of the Indian School of Business, on the investment committee of the Cornell University endowment, and is also a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Mr. Reddy holds a B. Technology degree from I.I.T., Madras, as well as an M.Eng and an M.B.A. from Cornell University. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Joshua Kushner
Founder and Managing Partner of Thrive Capital
Joshua Kushner (June 12, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and businessman. He is a co-founder of Vostu, the largest social gaming company in Brazil, where he serves as Chief Strategic Officer. He is also the founder and Managing Partner of Thrive Capital, an early stage venture capital fund. Kushner also serves as a Principal of Kushner Companies, a diversified real estate investment company, whose holdings include The New York Observer, a weekly Manhattan newspaper. Kushner sits on the board of the Observer Media Group. He is the son of businessman Charles Kushner and brother of businessman Jared Kushner.
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About Oscar Health, Thrive Capital: Thrive Capital is a venture capital investment firm that focuses on building and investing in the software and technology-enabled companies.
Harley Miller
Founder and Managing Partner of Left Lane Capital
Harley Miller joined Insight in 2011. He previously worked as an analyst at Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds in Philadelphia, focusing on acquisitions and asset management. Harley graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a BS in Economics, with concentrations in both ‘International Venture Capital & Consumer-Facing Industries’ and ‘Information Management’. During his time at Wharton, Harley launched his first startup, MobileEatz – a mobile food ordering portal targeted at college campuses. Harley is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.
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About Left Lane Capital, MobileEatz: Left Lane Capital is a venture capital and early-growth equity firm that invests in high-growth internet and consumer technology businesses.
Jordan Nof
Co-Founder, Managing Partner of Tusk Venture Partners
Jordan Nof is a Co-founder and Managing Partner at Tusk Venture Partners L.P. and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He has led many of the firm’s investments including Lemonade, Bird, Coinbase, Alma, Sunday, and Wheel. He currently serves on the board of directors of Wheel, Alma, and Sunday. Prior to Tusk Venture Partners, Jordan was a Director at Blackstone, where he focused on the development of the firm’s corporate venture capital portfolio. During that time, Jordan focused on investing in early-stage technology companies that could accelerate operations across Blackstone and the firm’s underlying portfolio companies. Before joining Blackstone, Jordan was part of the institutional investment management division at AllianceBernstein. During that time, he worked with many of the firm’s largest global institutional sub-advisory relationships. Jordan received an M.B.A. from Rollins Graduate School of Business and is a graduate of Florida State University where he received a B.S. in Finance. He is based out of the firm’s New York office.
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About Tusk Venture Partners: Tusk Venture Partners invests in early-stage technology startups operating in highly-regulated markets.
Jacob Pechenik
Founder & CEO of Venture Forth Productions
Jacob is currently the Founder & CEO of Venture Forth Productions, a specialty film finance and production company. Previously, Jacob was Founder and CEO of YellowJacket, which was acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE) in January 2008. Jacob has nearly two decades of experience in the development and support of enterprise-class trading platforms for large financial services firms and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to establishing YellowJacket in 2003, Jacob founded and served as the CEO of TechTrader, a provider of business-to-business enterprise software for public and private trading exchanges catering to the direct materials markets.
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About Venture Forth Productions: A specialty film finance and production company
Scott Hartley
Co-Founder & Partner of The Fund
Scott Hartley is co-founder of The Fund and Two Culture Capital and author of the best-selling book, “The Fuzzy and the Techie,” a Financial Times Business Book of the Month. A former partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, Hartley has worked for Google, Facebook, Harvard, and the White House. He holds three degrees from Stanford and Columbia and is a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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About The Fund: A community-driven venture fund comprised of leading global founders & operators
Scott Lynn
Founder of Masterworks
Scott Lynn is the founder of Masterworks. He is also the founder and chairman of [Payability](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/payability#/entity). Previously, he held the same positions at [Adknowledge](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/adknowledge#/entity).
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About Masterworks, Payability, v2 Ventures: Masterworks.io helps everyone to invest in the fine art industry.
Dileep Thazhmon
Co-Founder & CEO of Jeeves
Dileep Thazhmon is the Co-Founder and CEO at Jeeves.
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About Jeeves: Jeeves is a fintech company that brings financial solutions to businesses globally.
Alex Zubillaga
Founder of 14W
Alex Zubillaga is the founder of 14W, a New York-based, venture capital firm focused on consumer Mobile, Web, E-commerce, CPG, and Media. Previously, Alex was Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development at Warner Music Group (WMG). Prior to WMG, Alex founded Net Uno, a leading Venezuelan cable television and broadband operator where he served as CEO and Chairman.
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About 14W: 14W is a venture capital firm specializing in consumer internet, marketplace, ecommerce, CPG, and media.
Yuval Ariav
Founder and Advisor of Fundbox
Yuval Ariav is a financial technology and data science entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience operating large, complex, cross-geo operations in both startup and corporate environments. He is currently a General Partner at LionBird Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in digital health and digital business services. Yuval is the Founder of Fundbox, one of the most successful Fintech startups to emerge in recent years, and was the head of its operations office in Tel Aviv. Before Fundbox, Yuval was a founding team member and Director of Product at Onavo, a mobile analytics company acquired by Facebook. Yuval is a Professor at Columbia Business School in New York City.
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About Fundbox: Fundbox is an AI-powered financial platform for small businesses.
Michael Chetrit
Co-Founder of Chetrit Ventures
Michael Chetrit is the Co-Founder at Chetrit Ventures.
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About Chetrit Ventures, ChetritGroup: is a family operated venture firm focused on early and growth-stage investments.
Stephen Schwarzman
Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder of Blackstone Group
Stephen Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone. Schwarzman has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its founding in 1985. The firm is currently the world’s largest independent alternative asset manager with $218 billion Assets Under Management, as of March 31, 2013. Schwarzman is an active philanthropist with a history of supporting education and schools. Whether in business or in philanthropy, he has always attempted to tackle big problems and find transformative solutions. In 2013, he founded an international scholarship program, “Schwarzman Scholars,” at Tsinghua University in Beijing, to educate future leaders about China. At $300 million, the program is modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship and is the single largest philanthropic effort in China’s history coming largely from international donors. In 2007, Schwarzman donated $100 million to the New York Public Library, on the board of which he serves. Schwarzman is also committed to supporting education locally, sending over two hundred students per year to parochial schools in the New York area. Schwarzman is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations, The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, and The International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. He serves on the boards of The Asia Society, The Board of Directors of The New York City Partnership and The Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is a Trustee of The Frick Collection in New York City and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2007, Schwarzman was included in TIME’s “100 Most Influential People.” In that same year, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur of France and promoted to Officier in 2010. Schwarzman holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management, is on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors and Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council. In 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from Quinnipiac University.
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About Blackstone Group: Blackstone is an investment and advisory firm providing financial solutions for investors and clients.
Andrew Hunt
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Elephant
Andrew Hunt is a Co-Founder and Director at Warby Parker. He is also Co-Founder and Partner at Elephant, a venture capital firm focused on the enterprise software, consumer internet and mobile markets. Andy has studied eyewear design in more than 40 countries. Rumors that he conceived the idea for Warby Parker while fasting at a temple in the jungle city of Angkor Wat are only somewhat misleading. After working in finance and healthcare, Andy was convinced that there had to be a way to deliver top-quality eyewear for less.
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About Elephant, Warby Parker: Elephant is a venture capital firm focused on the enterprise software, consumer internet, and mobile markets.
Wes Edens
Co-Founder & Chairman of Fortress Investment Group
Chairman and Founder at Fortress Investment Group.
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About Aston Villa, Fortress Investment Group, Milwaukee Bucks Inc., New Fortress Energy: Fortress is an investment management firm that manages alternative assets in private equity, liquid hedge funds, and credit funds.
Ilya Golubovich
Founder, Managing Partner of I2BF Global Ventures
Ilya has been a partner since the fall of 2005. He is a member of the Board of Directors of JSC Russian Investors, a private equity group with $200 million under management, and Linxlogic, a business software corporation in Los Angeles. Ilya formerly worked in the Energy Department of the London office of Louis Dreyfus in commodity trading and as a project manager at the Siberian Internet Company (Sibintek) at both their Novosibirsk and Moscow offices. Mr. Golubovich has an industrial engineering degree from Stanford University.
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About Aeroxo, Buzzoola, Enki.com, I2BF Global Ventures, Octi, Presto, Primus Power, ServiceTitan: I2BF is a venture capital firm that focuses on early stage technology companies.
Howard Morgan
Co-Founder & Special Advisor of First Round Capital
Howard Morgan is currently the Chairman of B Capital. He co-founded First Round Capital with Josh Kopelman as the first professional Seed Stage Fund, where he remains Senior Advisor. Prior to First Round, Howard helped found Idealab with Bill Gross, and served as President of Renaissance Technologies, which he co-founded with Jim Simons. Prior to his move into the business of technology, Howard served as a professor at the Wharton School and the Moore School, both at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as at Cornell University. He is also an Executive Fellow at UC Berkeley. Howard’s research on user interface technology and the optimization of computer networks was critical to bringing the ARPAnet to Philadelphia in the 1970s. Through this early internet participation, he helped corporate and government agencies use technology to improve the efficiency of both large and small organizations. He also has deep experience with very large databases, and served as the first Editor of the ACM Transactions on Database Systems Journal. Throughout his career, Howard has sought out great people and nurtured them so that they could realize their dreams. His mentees have included both PhD students researching a key topic, and early stage entrepreneurs building companies and taking them from seed stage through initial public offerings. He currently serves as a Director of Idealab, and he is on the board of several non-profits including Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and Math For America. He has also served on a number of public company Boards, including Franklin Electronic Publishers and Internet Brands, Inc. He was CEO of Kentek and Franklin during various turnover or transitional periods and in 1997 he was named Delaware Valley Entrepreneur of the Year. Howard is a respected author and a frequent speaker at major industry conferences. Howard received a PhD in Operations Research from Cornell University in 1968, and a BS in Physics from City College of the City University of New York in 1965.
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About Arca Group Inc, Arca Group Inc, B Capital Group, First Round Capital, Gust, Nacre Capital: First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies.
Stephen Feinberg
Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Cerberus Capital Management
Stephen Feinberg co-founded Cerberus Capital Management in December 1992. He also founded or co-founded the other Cerberus affiliates and Cerberus Funds. Prior to founding Cerberus Capital Management and its affiliates, he managed separate pools of capital for Gruntal & Co. and certain other accounts from 1985 to 1992. He began his career at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he was actively involved in trading large pools of firm capital. He is a graduate of Princeton University. He is a member of the Firm’s Private Equity Investment Committee, Cerberus Business Finance Investment Committee, Valuation Committee, Real Estate Investment Committee, Allocation Committee, Brokerage Selection Committee, and NPL Committee.
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About Cerberus Capital Management: Cerberus Capital Management is a private investment firm that focuses on operational private equity investments.
Steve Sarracino
Founder and Partner of Activant Capital
Steven Sarracino is the founder of Activant Capital. He has been investing in exciting growth businesses for over a decade. Over his career, Steve has invested more than $2 billion of equity across a broad range of technology companies. Prior to founding Activant, Steve founded a consulting firm focused on commerce technology, where he advised, invested in, and was a member of the board of directors of some of the world’s leading commerce technology companies including hybris and iCongo. Previously Steve helped open the technology investing office at American Capital, Ltd. in Palo Alto, CA. Steve also worked at McKinsey & Co. in their Hong Kong office. He began his career in mergers and acquisitions at Robertson Stephens in San Francisco, CA. Steve has an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He attended Southern Methodist University for his undergraduate degree, where he received a BBA in Finance with a minor in History.
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About Activant Capital: Activant is a global investment firm that partners with high-growth companies that are transforming commerce.
Andrew Mitchell
Founder & General Partner of Brand Foundry Ventures
Andrew Mitchell is a Founder, General Partner at Brand Foundry Ventures.
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About Brand Foundry Ventures: Brand Foundry Ventures is an early-stage VC firm dedicated to accelerating the growth of emerging, innovative consumer-focused brands.
Brandon Krieg
CEO and Co-Founder of Stash Financial
Brandon Krieg is the Co-Founder of Collective Returns, Inc. and has been its Chief Executive Officer since July 11, 2016. Brandon Krieg served as the President of Collective Returns, Inc. until July 11, 2016 and serves as its Executive Director.
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About Stash Financial: Stash is a personal finance app that combines banking, investing, and advice into one platform.
Keith McCullough
Founder & CEO of Hedgeye Risk Management
Prior to founding Hedgeye Risk Management, Keith built a track record as a successful hedge fund manager at the Carlyle-Blue Wave Partners hedge fund, Magnetar Capital, Falconhenge Partners, and Dawson-Herman Capital Management. He got his start as an institutional equity sales analyst after earning an economics degree from Yale University, where he captained the hockey team to a Division I Ivy League Championship. Keith regularly appears on financial TV and radio including CNN and Fox Business, and has been a contributor for CNBC and Bloomberg. He writes regularly for Fortune and Forbes and is the author of the popular book, Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager. He is currently co-chair of the NYC Bipartisan Policy Center, the only Washington, D.C.-based think tank actively promoting bipartisanship to address the key challenges facing the U.S.
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About Hedgeye Risk Management: Hedgeye Risk Management is a web-based financial research and media company providing investment information.
Colin Beirne
Founder and Partner of Two Sigma Ventures
Colin Beirne is the founder and partner at Two Sigma. He joined Two Sigma in 2005 to focus on corporate strategy and business development and helped orchestrate the growth of the company’s primary business lines and manage key corporate partnerships. In 2007, he began leading orthogonal investments for the company, in areas including renewable energy, real estate, and real assets. In 2012, Colin, along with the rest of the Two Sigma Ventures leadership and Two Sigma founders, began conceptualizing and building the initiative that became Two Sigma Ventures. A Bay Area native, Colin fondly recalls summer internships in the late 90s dot-com boom, and first was drawn to New York City to work at Doubleclick. He also did a short stint as a technology-focused investment banker. Colin graduated with a dual B.A. in Economics and Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought from Amherst College. He is on the Board of Directors of Harlem Prep Charter School.
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About Two Sigma, Two Sigma Ventures: Two Sigma Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in companies run by highly driven people.
Pierre F. Lapeyre, Jr.
Founder & Senior Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings
Prior to founding Riverstone, Mr. Lapeyre was a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs in its Global Energy & Power Group. Mr. Lapeyre joined Goldman Sachs in 1986 and spent his 14-year investment banking career exclusively focused on energy and power, particularly the midstream/pipeline and oil service sectors. Mr. Lapeyre’s responsibilities included client coverage and leading the execution of a wide variety of M&A, IPO, strategic advisory and capital markets financings for clients across all sectors of the industry. Mr. Lapeyre received his B.S. in finance/economics from the University of Kentucky and his M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Lapeyre serves on the Boards of Directors of Dynamic Industries, Enduro, Enduro II, EP Energy, Fieldwood, Legend, Meritage II, Quorum Business Solutions, Sage Midstream, Three Rivers II, and Venado. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and is a Trustee of The Convent of The Sacred Heart.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
David Leuschen
Founder of Riverstone Holdings
David Leuschen serves as the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Riverstone Holdings. Before Riverstone, Leuschen was a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and the founder and head of the Goldman Sachs Global Energy and Power Group. Leuschen was named one of the Top 50 Dealmakers by Forbes in 2013. Leuschen also owns Switchback Ranch, a ranching business that has a top commercial beef business and a dude ranching company. Leuschen spends as much time as possible on the ranch, which is nestled between the North Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Montana. Leuschen is heavily involved in philanthropic endeavors. He founded the David M. Leuschen Charitable Foundation in 1998, which supports local ranching communities. Leuschen is also an active alumnus of his alma mater, Dartmouth College. He serves as a member of the executive committee and board of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. Outside of business, Leuschen is passionate about skiing and sailing. Skiing has been a part of nearly all of his life. As a child, David learned how to ski; this later turned into one of the reasons he wanted to attend Dartmouth. David has continued with this passion as the co-owner of The Red Lodge International Summer Ski Race Camp, which provides skiing instruction ranging from high school to national team level skiers. In more recent years, Leuschen has grown a love for sailing and sailboat racing. David has won races at Block Island Race Week, Key West Race Week, the 2017 Rolex Maxi Worlds, and the Wally Championship, among many others. Much like skiing shaped him, David believes in the importance of sailing for children, as it builds character and community. David is looking to take a more active role in sailing community programs in the future.
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About Riverstone Holdings: River Stone is a private investment firm founded in 2000.
Michael Duda
Founder & Managing Partner of Bullish
Mike is one of two Managing Partners responsible for the overall health of Bullish. A relentless business leader, he has a well-rounded and diverse career that includes experience in brand management, business/corporate development, interactive and B2C investing. Over the course of his 20+ years in business, Mike has worked on a wide-range of brands including Birchbox, Casper, Citibank, DirecTV, Google, TripAdvisor, Under Armour and vineyard vines. He has spoken at numerous industry events, named one of Crain New York’s “Top 40 Under 40,” Business Insider’s “Top Investors” and ADWEEK’s “Best Advertising Voices on Twitter.” Prior to founding Bullish and its predecessor firm (Consigliere Brand Capital) in 2010, Mike spent 13 years at Deutsch Inc., where he became the youngest Partner in the company’s 35-year history overseeing business development, marketing and corporate strategy. He has held other industry roles including CEO of WPP-backed Johannes Leonardo.
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About Bullish: Bullish is an early-stage consumer investment firm and strategy-led brand agency.
Joseph Sartre
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Interlace Ventures
Joseph is a Managing Partner at Interlace Ventures and Bleu Capital. He led investments in companies such as Cargo and Fordays. Former operator in the technology and FMCG space, he spent five years in China managing finance for Evian Asia Pacific and then leading sales for Evian China.
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About Bleu Capital, Interlace Ventures: Interlace Ventures is an early-stage and seed-stage fund investing in the Future of Commerce.
Amy Nauiokas
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Anthemis Group
Amy Nauiokas is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Anthemis Group.
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About Anthemis Group: Anthemis Group is a global platform that cultivates change in the financial system by investing in, growing, and sustaining businesses.
J. Todd Morley
Co-Founder of Y2X
Prior to founding Y2x and DIATOMS, J. Todd Morley co-founded investment firm Guggenheim Partners LLC, which now has over $310 billion in assets under management. Todd also co-founded G2 Investment Group and i(X) Investments, the first investment platform dedicated to social impact. Previously, Todd was CEO of Links Holdings LLC, founded Mortgages PLC, a London-based sub-prime mortgage lender, managing Director in mortgage sales at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Vice President in Lehman Brothers’ Taxable Fixed-Income Department. Todd is a lead investor and sits on the Advisory Board of a variety of e-commerce, blockchain, AI, infrastructure, biotech and media companies. He is a Board member and architect of Delaware Life, Rising Holdings, Forbes Private Capital Group, and the Newport Development Company, an organization focused in resilient infrastructure. He is also the author of several Op-Ed articles and academic white papers focused on structured finance, technology and “Peopleism,” and is publishing his first book, to be released in 2019, based on his new theory of financial return.
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About Y2X: Bridging the gap between the emerging digital economy and the regulated global financial markets.
Benjamin Levin
Founder, Co-CEO of Level Equity Management
Ben Levin co-founded Level Equity and is a partner and the Co-CEO of Level Equity Management, LLC.
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About Level Equity Management: Level Equity Management is a growth equity firm that focuses on providing capital to software and internet companies.
Vishal Garg
Founder & CEO of Better.com
Vishal Garg is the Founder and CEO of Better.com, a digital-first homeownership company whose services included mortgage, real estate, title, and homeowners insurance. A serial entrepreneur, the day that he came up with the idea behind Better.com, Vishal was simply looking to purchase a home for his growing family (and not start a new company). When Vishal’s effort to buy his family’s dream house was defeated by an antiquated homeownership process, the vision and mission for Better.com was born. Vishal Garg’s Better.com all-in-one digital platform takes customers through the entire home-buying process, from finding an agent to securing a mortgage (or refinanced loan) to shopping for insurance. To date, under Vishal Garg’s leadership, Better.com has done over $46.9 BN in home loans and provided over $16B in cumulative coverage through Better Cover and Better Settlement Services, the insurance divisions of Better.com. Better.com has raised over $400M in equity capital and is backed by L Catterton, Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, American Express Ventures, Citi and other investors. In December 2019, HousingWire honored Vishal Garg with the “2019 Vanguard Award”, which recognizes leaders of businesses contributing to the growth of the housing economy. In July of 2020, Comparably surveyed employees of color to rate the top CEOs driving diversity and inclusive work culture. The results ranked Garg at #13 out of 25, placing him alongside leaders at organizations like Microsoft and Google. In September of 2020, Business Insider named Vishal Garg as one of the “100 People Transforming Business in 2020”. And, in October of 2020, Ernst & Young included Garg on the “Entrepreneur of the Year 2020” list. Vishal Garg is also the founding partner of 1/0 Capital. Previously, Vishal was Co-head and Managing Partner, ARAM ABS Group ($6 B+ assets) and the Founder and President & CFO of MyRichUncle (2005 NASDAQ IPO), which he founded at the age of 21 and built into the fourth largest private student loan originator in the US. Prior toMyRichUncle, Vishal was an analyst in the Mergers & Acquisition dept. at Morgan Stanley, and a frontier emerging markets portfolio manager for the Strategos Fund. He is a graduate of NYU Stern with the highest honors.
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About Better.com, Phoenix Holdings: Better.com is a homeownership journey platform that utilizes technology to change the way people buy and own a home.
Michael B. Sheffery
Partner & Co-Founder of OrbiMed
Michael B. Sheffery, Ph.D., is a founding Partner of OrbiMed. Dr. Sheffery was formerly Head of the Laboratory of Gene Structure and Expression at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He received both his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and his B.A. in Biology from Princeton University. Dr. Sheffery joined Mehta and Isaly in 1996 as a Senior Analyst covering the biotechnology industry.
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About OrbiMed: OrbiMed is a healthcare-dedicated investment firm focusing on biopharmaceuticals to medical devices and diagnostics.
Jonathan Nelson
Founder and Executive Chairman of Providence Equity Partners
Jonathan M. Nelson is Providence Equity Partner’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. He has been a private equity investor for over 30 years. He founded Providence in 1989, pioneering a sector-focused strategy to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Chernin Group and Univision Communications. He has also served as a director of numerous other Providence portfolio companies, including Bresnan Communications, Eircom plc, Hulu, Language Line, MetroNet (now AT&T Canada), MLS Media, VoiceStream Wireless (now Deutsche Telekom), Warner Music Group, Western Wireless Corporation (now AT&T Corp.) and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES). Prior to founding Providence, he was a Managing Director of Narragansett Capital, which he joined in 1983. At Narragansett Capital, Mr. Nelson specialized in private equity investments in the cable television, broadcasting and publishing sectors. He received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. He is a Trustee of Brown University and founder of the University’s Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, which supports a student-centered and faculty-led initiative that operates in collaboration with various other departments, schools, and centers at Brown to provide students with a strong academic grounding in entrepreneurship, blended with applied experiences and mentorship opportunities. He is also a Trustee of The Rockefeller University and Institute for Advanced Study, a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School and serves on the Board of the Newport Festivals Foundation.
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About Providence Equity Partners: Providence Equity Partners is a private equity firm that focuses on media, entertainment, communications, and information investments.
Sandeep Varma, CFA
Co-Founder, CEO & CTO of Equity Data Science
Sandeep co-founded Equity Data Science in 2017 and serves as the company’s Chairman and CEO. His unique experience includes computer science, fundamental analysis, and data science. Prior to founding EDS, Sandeep was a quantitative analyst at Bridger Capital and a quantitative and fundamental analyst at Herring Creek Capital, a hedge fund founded by Steve Galbraith where he developed a proprietary quantitative platform for idea generation and risk management. Prior to that, he was a quantitative analyst at Credit Suisse where his responsibilities included portfolio and risk analysis and quantitative modeling for the Prime Brokerage and Securities desks. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2008, Sandeep developed and managed trading and risk management systems at Lehman Brothers and UBS. Sandeep received his Master of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
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About Equity Data Science: Equity Data Science (EDS) is a cloud-based, scalable investment process management platform that leverages the capabilities of data science to improve decision making and increase productivity.
Greg McCall
Co-Founder, President & CFO of Equity Data Science
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About Equity Data Science: EDS is an analytics platform that leverages the capabilities of data science to improve decision making and increase productivity.
Amish Jani
Founder & Partner of FirstMark
Amish Jani is a founder and Managing Director of FirstMark and has been an active venture capitalist for nearly 20 years. He invests broadly across the cloud and Internet landscape, including SaaS applications, ecommerce, infrastructure and more. Amish has been recognized by CB Insights and the New York Times as a Top 100 Venture Capitalist globally. Amish has invested in industry-defining companies that include Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), InVision, Pendo, Starry, Tracelink, Frame.io, Guru, Bluecore, IMImobile (LSE: IMO), Schoology (acquired by PowerSchool), Boomi (acquired by Dell), Aveksa (acquired by EMC), and many more. Prior to founding FirstMark, Amish served as a Partner with Pequot Ventures. Amish holds both a B.S. and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About FirstMark: FirstMark Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs.
Rick Heitzmann
Founder, Partner, and Managing Director of FirstMark
Rick Heitzmann is a Founder and Managing Director at FirstMark Capital. Mr. Heitzmann focuses on investments in emerging media, advertising, data, and information services. Rick has led or co-led many investments in market leaders in commerce (StubHub, acquired by eBay), gaming (Riot Games, acquired by Tencent), data services (First Advantage, NASDAQ: FADV; acquired by First American), advertising technology (Tapad), media (Pinterest), and more. Previously, Rick was a Managing Director at Pequot Ventures, and a founding member of the senior management team at First Advantage (NASDAQ: FADV). At US Search, Rick, as the Senior Vice President of corporate development and member of the Board of Directors, led the public company turnaround. Mr. Heitzmann graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Business Administration and earned his M.B.A. from The Harvard Business School. Rick sits on the Board of Directors of Pinterest, Dashlane, Omaze, and Hubble Contacts among others. Rick is also on the Board of Directors of the New York Venture Capital Association.
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About FirstMark: FirstMark Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs.
Daniel S. Loeb
Founder of Third Point Ventures
Daniel Loeb founded Third Point LLC, a $17 billion asset management firm headquartered in New York, in 1995. He leads portfolio management, risk management and research activities. Before founding Third Point, Daniel Loeb worked on both the buy and the sell sides for over a decade, gaining dedicated experience in distressed debt, high-yield bond sales, risk arbitrage and private investments. Immediately before starting Third Point, he was Vice-President of high-yield bond sales at Citigroup. Previously, Daniel Loeb was a Senior Vice-President in the distressed debt department at Jefferies & Co., where he worked as a bankruptcy analyst, bank loan trader and distressed securities salesman. Before Jefferies, Daniel was a risk arbitrage Analyst at Lafer Equity Investors. He began his career as an Associate in private equity at Warburg Pincus. Dan Loeb is a Trustee of the United States Olympic Committee, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Students First New York, and Mt Sinai Hospital, where he established the Ronald M. Loeb Center for the study of Alzheimer’s Disease in memory of his late father. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Daniel Loeb is also the Chairman of the Board of Success Academies Charter Schools. Dan Loeb launched and has funded the Human Rights Campaign’s initiative to protect LGBT rights globally in the face of increasing discrimination. Daniel Loeb graduated from Columbia University with an A.B. in economics in 1983. He has endowed the Daniel S. Loeb Scholarship for undergraduate study there and received Columbia’s John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement
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About Third Point Ventures: Third Point Ventures is an investment firm that focuses on enterprise, fintech, mobile, and healthcare innovation.
Aryeh Bourkoff
Founder & CEO of LionTree
Mr. Bourkoff is the founder and CEO of LionTree LLC, an independent investment bank. He previously served as Vice Chairman and Head of Americas Investment Banking at UBS, which he joined in 1999. He was also a member of the UBS Investment Banking Executive Committee. Other positions Mr. Bourkoff held within UBS include Joint Global Head of Telecom, Media, and Technology Investment Banking and Head of the Media and Communications Research Group. Before joining UBS, he served as a high-yield research analyst at CIBC World Markets from 1997-99 and Smith Barney from 1995-97. Mr. Bourkoff is a director on the boards of select private companies. He is also a chair of the entertainment, media, and communications division of the UJA-Federation of New York and a member of its digital media executive committee; a member of the New York Philanthropic Advisory Board of UNICEF; a trustee of the Foundation Fighting Blindness; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. – See more at: http://www.tribecadisruptiveinnovationawards.com/aryeh-bourkoff-founder-and-ceo-liontree-llc/#sthash.YRJMs0Ws.dpuf
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About LionTree: LionTree Partners is a service provider and investment banking fund that invests in media, technology, and telecommunication.
Roger Ehrenberg
Founder & Managing Partner of IA Ventures
Roger Ehrenberg is the founder and Managing Partner of IA Ventures, a firm that invests in companies creating competitive advantage through data.
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About IA Ventures, Miami Marlins: IA Ventures is a venture capital firm that specializes in seed-stage and early-stage investments in the fintech sector.
Adam Dell
Founder & CEO of Clarity Money
Adam Dell joined Austin Ventures as Venture Partner in May 2010. Adam has been a successful entrepreneur, academician, and has more than 12 years of experience in the venture capital industry. He focuses purely on early-stage venture investments in the information technology and business services areas. Most recently, Adam was Founder and Managing General Partner of Impact Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on information technology investments. Prior to founding Impact, Adam was a partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners in Northern California, and a Senior Associate with Enterprise Partners in Southern California. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, he worked as a corporate attorney in Austin, Texas, with the law firm of Winstead, Sechrest & Minick. His prior investments include OpenTable (OPEN), Buzzsaw (ADSK), Ingenio (T), and Hotjobs (YHOO). Dell founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of MessageOne, which was acquired by Dell, Inc. in 2008. Adam teaches a class on the role of law in innovation at the University of Texas School of Law.
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About Austin Ventures, Clarity Money, SharedEarth.com: Clarity Money empowers and saves you money with transformative financial organization, transparency and advocacy.
Matt Jacobs
Co Founder, CTO of Clarity Money
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About Clarity Money, Goldman Sachs: Clarity Money empowers and saves you money with transformative financial organization, transparency and advocacy.
Eli Casdin
CIO & Founder of Casdin Capital
Eli Casdin, Chief Investment Officer and Founder, founded Casdin Capital in 2011. For the last 16 years he has analyzed and invested in disruptive technologies and business models in life sciences and healthcare. Prior to founding Casdin Capital, Eli was a vice president at Alliance Bernstein “thematic” based investment group where he researched and invested in the implications of new technologies for the life science and healthcare sectors. His Alliance Bernstein black book, “The Dawn of Molecular Medicine” detailed the early yet already accelerating wave of innovations in life sciences, and the next wave of investment opportunities. Eli’s prior experience includes time at Bear Stearns and Cooper Hill Partners, a healthcare focused investment firm. Eli earned a B.S. from Columbia University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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About Casdin Capital: Casdin Capital is a fundamental research investment firm focused on the life sciences and healthcare industry.
Nicholas Chirls
Founder & Partner of Notation Capital
Nick manages seed investing for betaworks. Previously, he worked at HappyFunCorp, lived in China, and briefly traded commercial jet engines at Lehman Brothers.
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About Notation Capital: Notation Capital is a pre-seed venture capital firm that work with technical founding teams.
Alex Lines
Founder & Partner of Notation Capital
Alex Lines Focuses on hard tech, infrastructure, and product at Notation. Alex is a software engineer with experience in distributed systems and scalability. He has been building products and companies in NY for over 10 years.
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About Notation Capital: Notation Capital is a pre-seed venture capital firm that work with technical founding teams.
Kurt Lin
Co-Founder, CEO of Pinwheel
Kurt Lin is a Co-Founder and CEO at Pinwheel.
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About Pinwheel: Pinwheel is the market-leading payroll data connectivity platform building the income layer that will power a fairer financial system.
Anish Basu
Co-Founder, CTO of Pinwheel
Anish Basu is the Co-Founder and CTO at Pinwheel.
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About Pinwheel: Pinwheel is the market-leading payroll data connectivity platform building the income layer that will power a fairer financial system.
Yazan Barghuthi
Founder of Jibrel Network
Yazan Barghuthi is the Founder at Jibrel Network.
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About Jibrel Network: Jibrel is a blockchain development company that leverages Distributed Ledger Technology to build the financial infrastructure of the future.
Gal Krubiner
CEO/ Co Founder of Pagaya Investments
Former UBS investments & wealth management professional, UHNW biz dev having raised hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. Specializes in innovative & sophisticated credit structured products (ABS structures).
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About Pagaya Investments: Pagaya is a financial technology company that enables financial institutions to expand access to more customers through its AI network.
Jason Stein
Founder/General Partner of SC.Holdings
Jason is an entrepreneur, investor and operator. He was founder & CEO of two companies that were acquired by Wasserman Media Group: Cycle, an entertainment and talent studio that creates original content for streaming platforms like ESPN and Netflix, and a winner of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies; and Laundry Service, a social media agency and 3x top 10 Ad Age agency. Jason is also a founding partner in Windforce Ventures, an early stage tech VC fund. He is on the board of directors of Transmit, Front Office Sports, Canvs, Ovadia; and an Advisor to Nextdoor.
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About SC.Holdings, Steins & Co, Village Laundry Service: SC.Holdings is a private equity company with experience in sports and entertainment, multi-unit retail, commercial real estate, and more.
Nigel Kneafsey
CEO & Founder of Options Technology
Nigel Kneafsey is founder and CEO of Options. He first launched Options in 1993 to provide outsourced IT services to the investment banking industry in Europe. Options quickly expanded its client base to traditional and alternative asset management firms, and brokerages. In 2000, Nigel developed and launched of the Options PIPE platform, Options’ global private cloud services platform. Designed to minimise what he viewed as systemic inefficiencies in the financial sector’s IT implementation practices, the Options platform was the first, comprehensive infrastructure-as-a-service platform for financial services firms. Since 2000, Options has expanded into North America and Asia and now provides private cloud services to to over 200 firms globally.
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About Options Technology: Options is a global leader in financial technology managed services and IT infrastructure products.
Chip Meakem
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tribeca Venture Partners
Chip Meakem is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tribeca Venture Partners. Chip has been operating and investing in NYC companies since 1996 and has been a Founder, Operating Executive or Lead Investor of several leading NYC companies including 24/7 Media, N2K, Massive Inc. and AppNexus. Prior to co-founding Tribeca Venture Partners in October 2011, Chip was an active NYC VC at both Kodiak Venture Partners and DFJ Gotham. Chip serves on several Boards of Directors and manages investments including AppNexus, Live Gamer, Maxwell Health, LeadiD, BetterCloud, Backtrace I/O and Clypd. Chip’s previous investments include ideeli (acquired by Groupon); Ingenio (acquired by AT&T); Massive Inc. (acquired by Microsoft); Pantero (acquired by Progress Software) Q-Link Technologies (acquired by Adobe Systems); and TRA Global (acquired by Tivo). Chip was also a personal seed investor in FreeMarkets Inc., which made its IPO in December 1999 and peaked at $12B market cap. Before moving to the Venture side, Chip was a founding employee at Interactive Imaginations where he started the Commonwealth Network (launched in Q1, 1996), one of the Internet’s first advertising networks, building it from a concept to top 10 media property. Interactive Imaginations eventually became 24/7 Media and went public in 1998. Chip also worked at N2k and was responsible for strategic distribution partnerships for the leading music e-tailer. Chip holds a B.A. from Cornell University, where he was a member of the varsity basketball team, and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
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About Tribeca Venture Partners: TVP is a venture capital firm that invests in digital media, e-commerce, fintech, education, ad tech, and mobile apps sectors.
Sebastián Ceria
Founder, CEO of Axioma
Sebastian Ceria is Chief Executive Officer of Qontigo. He previously served as the CEO of Axioma, which he founded and led since 1998. Before that, Sebastian was an Associate Professor of Decision, Risk and Operations at Columbia Business School. He has worked extensively in robust optimization and its application to portfolio management, authoring many articles in industry and academic publications. He is a recipient of the Career Award for Operations Research from the National Science Foundation and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Sebastian holds a PhD in Operations Research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, and a degree in Applied Math from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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About Axioma, Qontigo: Axioma provides enterprise risk management, portfolio management, and regulatory reporting solutions to financial institutions worldwide.
Hesham El-Nahhas
Founder and CPO of Wrapbook
Hesham El-Nahhas is the Founder and CPO of Wrapbook.
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About Wrapbook: Wrapbook provides digital profiles that facilitate onboarding, paying and insuring project workforces compliantly.
Ryan Williams
Co-Founder & CEO of Cadre
Ryan Williams is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Cadre.
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About Cadre: Cadre is an online marketplace that connects investors and operators of real estate.
Jennifer Campbell
Co-Founder & CEO of Tagomi
Jennifer Campbell is the Co-Founder and CEO at Tagomi.
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About Tagomi: Tagomi is a cryptocurrency trading platform that provides access to priced liquidity, low commissions, and maximized client return.
Eric Zinterhofer
Founder of Searchlight Capital Partners
Eric Zinterhofer was elected to the board of directors of Charter on November 30, 2009 and as non-executive Chairman of the board on December 1, 2009. In 2010, Zinterhofer founded Searchlight Capital Partners, LLC, a private equity firm. Previously, he served as a senior partner at Apollo Management, L.P. and was with Apollo from 1998 until May 2010. From 1994 to 1996, Zinterhofer was a member of the Corporate Finance Department at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. From 1993 to 1994, he was a member of the Structured Equity Group at J.P. Morgan Investment Management. Zinterhofer is a director of Dish TV India Ltd., Integra Telecom, Inc., Hunter Boot, Ltd. and Leo Cable, LLC. Previously, Zinterhofer was a director of Central European Media Enterprises, Ltd., iPCS, Inc., Unity Media SCA and Affinion Group, Inc. Zinterhofer received B.A. degrees in Honors Economics and European History from the University of Pennsylvania and received a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
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About Searchlight Capital Partners: Searchlight Capital Partners is a private investment firm operating in North America and Europe.
Joe Apprendi
Founder & General Partner of Revel Partners
Joe Apprendi is the Founder and General Partner of Revel Partners.
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About Revel Partners: Revel Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on B2B SaaS and marketplaces.
Chris Young
Co-Founder & General Partner of Revel Partners
Chris, a serial entrepreneur and 10-year veteran of the video advertising space, is the Chairman & CEO of Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG), one of the top online video distribution networks that also specializes in the production and distribution of original branded video content across the Web and other emerging platforms. As CEO, Chris oversees the strategic direction and management of DBG’s core business divisions. Under Chris’ leadership, The DBG Video Network has emerged as a comScore-rated top 10 video ad network with 83 million uniques accumulated across 2,600 web properties. Since 2007, DBG has been on the forefront of enabling big-name brands like Ford, Diet Coke, HP, Sprint, Wal-Mart Unilever and Kimberly-Clark among others to advance their brands through branded entertainment and custom video programming. Prior to starting DBG in 2007, Chris Young co-founded online video advertising and management solutions company Klipmart in 1999 and grew it into the nation’s largest video rich media vendor taking advertiser’s TV commercials and putting them online. In 2006, under Chris’ leadership, Klipmart was subsequently sold to now Google-owned DoubleClick. Chris assumed the role of Executive Vice President of Rich Media at DoubleClick, where he worked to accelerate innovation in digital video and emerging advertising formats. Chris began his career as an investment banker at Citibank before founding his first company.
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About Revel Partners, Wider Wake Networks: Revel Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on B2B SaaS and marketplaces.
Kerem Ozmen
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 8090 Partners
Kerem is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of 8090 Partners. Prior to that, he was the Junior Partner at Kairos and director of the K50. The K50 is an annual recognition of the 50 most innovative seed-stage companies founded by young entrepreneurs from around the world. Kerem is also the current managing director of Ozmen Ventures and has previously held program management roles in various areas including telemedicine and mechanical engineering. He currently advises projects in healthcare, aerospace, and aviation. Kerem graduated from the University of Nevada Reno in 2017 and is originally from Reno, Nevada.
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About 8090 Partners: 8090 Partners is a private partnership of industry-leading families and entrepreneurs focused on direct and opportunistic investments.
Nathan Low
Founder Partner & President of Sunrise Israel Tech
Nathan founded and serves as President of the Sunrise Financial Group, Inc, since August 1991. In 1992, Nathan founded Sunrise Securities Corp., a FINRA registered broker-dealer. In October 2003, Nathan founded and became Managing Partner of Sunrise Equity Partners, L.P., a $174 Million SBIC fund, which made direct investments in public companies. Under Nathan’s leadership, Sunrise has raised in excess of $5 billion for over 60 domestic and international public and private companies, using a variety of financing products including traditional debt and equity as well as innovative equity-related financing instruments. Nathan began his Wall Street career with Salomon Brothers, where he helped develop some of the first mortgage backed derivative securities. Thereafter, he worked at Bear Stearns and Prudential Bache in various trading and arbitrage capacities. Nathan was graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1982. Nathan serves on a variety of charitable boards for projects involving the developmentally disabled, cancer care, and education.
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About Sunrise Israel Tech: Sunrise Israel Tech is an investment organization that helps to boost growth of small startups based out of and located in Israel.
Soraya Darabi
Co-Founder and General Partner of TMV
Soraya is a General Partner and founder of TMV, an early-stage venture firm investing in purposeful startups reimagining the future. TMV backs start-up companies focused on ideas that will reshape industries or inspire new ones. Fund I and Fund II investments focus on: frontier health organizations, marketplaces and design-driven technologies. Soraya is also the host of “Business Schooled – a Podcast by Synchrony,” – a “Top 20 Business Podcast” on Apple – for which she travels the United States interviewing persevering founders who have made it past their startup days. Soraya began her career as Manager of Digital Partnerships & Social Media at The New York Times, where she positioned the global news leader on social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, partnered with startups large and small, and established award-winning campaigns. She went on to co-found the application Foodspotting, named by Apple and Wired Magazine as an “App of the Year,” later acquired by OpenTable, then Priceline. Then Poly & Co, a digital growth marketing agency based in Boston and New York. For her work at The Times and startups, Soraya has been featured on the cover of Fast Company Magazine’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” issue and on the cover of Brand Week’s “Digital Best” issue. Soraya was named an Inc. Magazine “30 Under 30” (2012), Fortune Magazine “40 Under 40: Women to Watch” (2015). She sat on the first digital advisory board of General Electric. She is a World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader,” a six-time mentor to TechStars New York – three-times named a “Mentor of the Year.” Soraya graduated with honors from Georgetown University and completed the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century module at Harvard Kennedy School. She is currently on the board of directors for the non-profit Yamba Malawi, her 12th year advising the organization.
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About TMV, Zady: TMV is an early-stage investment firm that focuses on the future of living well.
David Whelan
Co-Founder and General Partner of Town Hall Ventures
David runs Oxeon Ventures, the venture start-up studio and investment business at Oxeon Holdings. The ventures studio designs, provides initial capital, incubates, and builds de novo or purpose-built-from-scratch healthcare companies. Our team develops and hones concepts and business plans and then leverages Oxeon Holding’s service lines and vast network of relationships to bring founding leadership, product/market validation, enterprise clients and then secure additional capital for these early stage companies. We build these companies independently or in partnership with entrepreneurs-in-residence or co-developed with outside healthcare companies including leading health systems, health plans or technology or service companies. Companies developed inside of Oxeon Ventures include Docent Health, Risalto and Abaka. Oxeon Ventures also manages a series of Funds investing in growth stage healthcare technology and service companies. Oxeon Ventures has been an early-stage investor in over 70 companies including Evolent Health (NYSE: EVH), Privia (acq. by Brighton Holdings), Liazon (acq. by Towers Watson), Avalon, Bright, Capsule, CIOX, Imagine Health, Iora Health, Landmark, Oak Oncology, Oak Street Health, Pager, Privia, Quartet, VillageMD, WiserCare and others. David Whelan was previously a General Partner of Accretive LLC, a private investment firm with a distinctive track record of creating, funding and building disruptive technology enabled companies. David served as a director on the Accretive portfolio company boards of Arise Virtual Solutions and Insureon. Previously, David was the Chief Executive Officer of the Cloverleaf Group, a private investment group and prior to that Vice President of Corporate Development with the Virgin Group in the US and UK where he led the development and startup of Virgin America, the U.S. based low cost airline. David was also an investment banker in London, England and Sydney, Australia with Goldman Sachs & Company and before that Deutsche Bank. Starting his career at Price Waterhouse in the firm’s Corporate Finance division in Sydney, Australia, David qualified as a Chartered Accountant of Australia. David has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce from Bond University in Queensland, Australia. David also serves on the board of Friends of Hudson River Park Trust an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the completion, care, and enhancement of the HudsonRiver Park, and is the designated fundraising partner of the Hudson River Park Trust. FofHRP creates opportunities for public contributions to and participation in the Park’s operations and growth, to guarantee its future for generations of New Yorkers, Americans and visitors from around the world. David lives in Tribeca and with his wife, Melanie, and his two children, Lachlan and Charlotte.
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About Eleanor Health, Empiric Health, Oxeon Partners, Risalto Health, Strive Health, Town Hall Ventures: Town Hall Ventures is an investment firm aimed at transforming the woefully broken U.S. health care market through technology.
Trevor Price
Co-Founder & General Partner of Town Hall Ventures
Trevor Price is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Town Hall Ventures.
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About Oxeon Partners, Town Hall Ventures: Town Hall Ventures is an investment firm aimed at transforming the woefully broken U.S. health care market through technology.
Sallie Krawcheck
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Ellevest
Sallie Krawcheck’s professional mission is to help women reach their financial and professional goals (or, put more bluntly, to get more money into the hands of women), thus enabling them to live better lives and unleashing a positive ripple effect for our families, our communities and our economy. To that end, she is the C.E.O. and Co-Founder of Ellevest, a digital-first, mission-driven investment platform for women. Ellevest is one of the fastest-growing digital investment platforms, named No. 24 on CNBC’s top 50 Disruptor list, No. 14 on LinkedIn’s 50 Most Sought-After Startups (and No. 2 in New York), and one of Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 100 Brilliant Ideas. Krawcheck is also Chair of the Ellevate Network, a 135 thousand-strong global professional women’s network; she is Chair of the Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Leadership Fund, a fund that invests in the top-rated companies for advancing women; and she is the best-selling author of “Own It: The Power of Women at Work.” Before launching Ellevest, Krawcheck built a successful career on Wall Street. She was the C.E.O. of Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, US Trust, the Citi Private Bank, and Sanford C. Bernstein. She was also C.F.O. for Citigroup. Prior to that, Krawcheck was a top-ranked research analyst covering the securities industry.
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About Ellevate Network, Ellevest, TIME’S UP: Ellevest provides an engaging investing experience to help women meet their financial goals in life.
Michael Oved
CEO, Co-Founder of Fluidity
Michael Oved is the CEO and Co-Founder at Fluidity and a Co-Founder at AirSwap.
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About AirSwap, Fluidity: Fluidity bridges traditional finance to decentralized infrastructure.
Ricky Li
Co-Founder & Head Of North America of Altonomy
Ricky Li is the Co-Founder of Altonomy, a cryptocurrency trading, advisory and asset management firm. Now based in New York, he is a veteran trader in the emerging cryptocurrency market and traditional commodities markets. Li has experience in commodities quantitative trading, and research and advisory in investment banks, energy firms and management consulting firms, including CME Group, where he managed the energy derivative product and published various articles and insights about market fundamentals. Prior to Altonomy, Li held a senior trading position at a top Asian crypto hedge fund. Li holds a CFA Charter and Ph.D in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
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About Altonomy: Altonomy is a trading, advisory, and asset management firm specializing in cryptocurrency and digital assets.
David Snider
Founder & CEO of Harness Wealth
David Snider is the Founder & CEO of Harness Wealth, an early stage consumer fintech company with a mission of helping people reach their best financial future. The business will provide a unified data platform for people to manage their wealth and connect with a highly curated set of top advisors to manage their financial well-being. David incubated Harness Wealth as an executive-in-residence at Bain Capital Ventures. Previously he served as COO & CFO of Compass, a real estate tech company that he helped grow from pre-launch to a valuation of $1.8 billion. David was an investor at Bain Capital private equity, where he completed investments worth over $2 billion as well as the IPO of Sensata on the NYSE. He is the author of Money Makers: Inside the New World of Finance and Business published by Macmillan. David received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Duke University.
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About Harness Wealth: Harness Wealth provides the next generation of builders confidence in their best financial future.
Chris Bridges
CEO & Co-Founder of VITAL CARD
Co-Founder of VITAL CARD.VITAL is the world’s first social credit card that offers unlimited cash back rewards when you use it and share it. The more you share, the more you earn!
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About Grays Peak Capital LP, VITAL CARD: VITAL is the credit card that pays you to share and spend responsibly.
Alexey Girin
Founder, Partner of Starta VC
Alexey Girin is a Founder and General Partner at Starta VC (www.starta.vc). He has 15 years of experience in audit and finance and 10 years in the venture capital industry. His introduction to investment started in 1996 when he was the Chief Financial Officer for the Investment Company Dominanta. His success at Dominanta led to a new CFO role at FMGC where he stayed for several years. As an Entrepreneur, Alexey was the Co-Founder and Partner in AFD Consulting. AFD is an audit and accounting firm. Advancing from AFD in 2004, he began his Angel Investing work. In this capacity, which he still serves, Alexey functioned as an advisor and fundraiser for innovators and venture capital entities. In 2010, Alexey became the Co-Founder and General Partner of Starta Ventures. Starta Capital’s portfolio now includes a number of deep tech startup companies. In 2015, together with Ekaterina Dorozhkina, Starta Capital’s Managing Partner, they launched Starta Accelerator. Starta Accelerator is New York City-based program that aims to empower startups with Eastern European roots and frontier technology. Alexey earned his Master in Economics from the Russian State University of Trade and Economics.
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About Starta Accelerator, Starta VC: Starta is a venture ecosystem to find, foster and fund early stage talent in tech. We help startups gain traction in USA and scale globally.
Dickson Nsofor
Co-Founder & CEO of Korapay
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About Kora Network, Korapay: Korapay offers a payment engine that enables local and global businesses to send and accept payments.
Erica Duignan Minnihan
Founder & Managing Partner of Reign Ventures
Erica Duignan Minnihan is a Managing Director for DreamIt Ventures focusing on Community Development in the New York City region. DreamIt Ventures runs programs in Austin, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia and Tel Aviv. In the last 5 years, DreamIt has helped 127 companies and over 400 entrepreneurs turn their ideas into business. She is also Managing Partner of seed-stage investment fund Fortuna Ventures, which invests in technology-enabled early stage companies. Prior to her work with DreamIt, Erica was Executive Director and a founder of STAR Angel Network, a membership organization for professional athletes and celebrities making investments in high growth potential, early-stage private companies. Erica was also the first Executive Director of Golden Seeds, a national early-stage investor group, where she managed deal sourcing and screening, due diligence, and investment processes for the group. Prior to joining Golden Seeds, Erica has held a variety of roles in the Investment Banking sector, working for firms including Cantor Fitzgerald, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.
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About One Thousand Angels, Onevest, Reign Ventures, Zairge: Reign Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that focuses on Seed and Series A stage investment opportunities.
Artur Schaback
COO – Co-Founder of Paxful
A native of Estonia, the land of Skype. Artur earned his stripes building out the tech around financial infrastructure.
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About Paxful: The global peer-to-peer platform building a financial system for the 100%— one Bitcoin at a time.
Ray Youssef
CEO & Co-Founder of Paxful
Ray is the co-founder and CEO of Paxful, the peer-to-peer global finance platform with over seven million users. Ray and his co-founder Artur started Paxful in 2015 to help everyone gain financial freedom through equal access to finance. Ray started out as an entrepreneur in 2001, when he founded a successful ringtone business and then had a series of start-ups before setting up Paxful. At Paxful, Ray is CEO and looks after growth, marketing, customer service and operations. Ray also founded the Built With Bitcoin Foundation that uses Bitcoin to create opportunity and thriving communities by providing access to clean water, quality education, and healthy food and a healthy environment via sustainable farming.
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About Paxful: The global peer-to-peer platform building a financial system for the 100%— one Bitcoin at a time.
Jeremy Abelson
Co-Founder / Principal of Irving Investors
Jeremy Abelson founded Irving Investors in 2009. This came after two successful exits in the digital media space. Abelson combines his experience as an entrepreneur with institutional investing to find long-term sustainable investments in the public and private markets. He has contributed as an expert on Fox Business News, CNN, CNBC, The NYTimes, The WSJ and more. He also speaks at NYU, Columbia Business School and the NY Media Summit. Jeremy is originally from San Mateo, CA and graduated from The University of Michigan.
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About Irving Investors: Irving Investors focuses on disruptive technology and high growth opportunities.
Michael Caso
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Rosecliff Ventures
Michael Caso is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Rosecliff. He was honored with being awarded 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital. At Rosecliff, oversees the entire investment team responsible for sourcing, reviewing, researching and structuring new deal flow and investment opportunities for the firm. Michael also manages the fundraising and capital raising efforts for the firm. Prior to launching Rosecliff, Michael worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Michael also worked as an investment banking associate for Rosecliff Capital, where he focused on technology, consumer and software deals. Aside from work, Michael is an avid face in the health and fitness industry. He dedicates a lot of his free time trying to inspire people to live a healthier life through diet, exercise, and cardio vascular activities. Michael is active in the startup community. Michael graduated from Fordham University with a degree in Economics. While attending Fordham, he received multiple academic honors. Michael was honored with a four year academic scholarship. Michael currently resides in NYC’s Battery Park City.
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About Rosecliff Ventures: Rosecliff invests in companies that are making life better, brighter, bolder, and more efficient.
Mike Murphy
Founder and Managing Partner of Rosecliff Ventures
Michael Murphy is Founder and CEO of Rosecliff Ventures. Mr. Murphys career as a financial services entrepreneur began over 20 years ago. Throughout his time in the financial services industry, he has developed insight into fundamental investing, private equity, long/short strategies and macro global economic trends. His past successes include; operating a long/short Hedge Fund, successfully growing a wealth management business, running a broker dealer, and working on various investment banking deals. Mr. Murphys experiences led him to launch the Investment firm, Rosecliff Capital, and most recently the Venture Capital Fund, Rosecliff Ventures. He serves as Founder and CEO of both institutions. Mr. Murphy has been a successful angel investor for the past 7 years. He has played an active role in the success of many startups. It was his experience as an angel investor that lead to the launch of Rosecliff Ventures. Mr. Murphy was a CNBC contributor and has regularly appeared on the networks FastMoney segment, commenting on global macroeconomic trends, equities in the news and the latest market news. Currently, Mr. Murphy appears on FoxBusiness. A native of New York, Mr. Murphy graduated from Hofstra University and the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. He currently lives in NYC with his wife and five children. Causes close to his heart include; The Frances Pope Memorial Foundation, the American Heart Association, and NYPD Boxing.
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About Fox Business Network, Rosecliff Ventures: Rosecliff invests in companies that are making life better, brighter, bolder, and more efficient.
Francisco Alvarez-Demalde
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Riverwood Capital
Francisco Alvarez-Demalde has been a member of the board since 2007. He is a founder and general partner of Riverwood Capital, a leading growth-capital private equity firm focused on the global technology industry, and one of the largest early investors in Globant. From 2005 to 2007, he was an investment executive at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., where he focused on leveraged buyouts in the technology industry and other sectors. Francisco was also an investment professional at Eton Park Capital Management and with Goldman Sachs & Co. Francisco earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina, which included an exchange program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is director of Globant (NYSE: GLOB), GoIntegro , LAVCA, Navent, Netshoes, and VTEX, and a board advisor and former director of several other companies, including Alog Data Centers do Brasil, Conductor, CloudBlue, Mandic, Pixeon, among others. He is also involved in non-profit projects related to education. We believe that Francisco is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his considerable business experience in the technology industry and his experience serving as a director of other companies.
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About Riverwood Capital: Riverwood Capital invests in technology companies in need of financial and intellectual capital to scale.
Arie Abecassis
Co-Founder of ICONYC labs
Arie Abecassis is the Co-Founder at ICONYC labs.
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About Dreamit Ventures, ICONYC labs: ICONYC is a value-add investor and accelerator focused on helping early stage Israeli startups cut time to the US market.
Tomo Matsuo
Co-Founder, COO & President of Yardline
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About Yardline: Yardline is an offering Capital-as-a-Service technology for e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and direct capital providers.
Ron Rofe
Founder & General Partner of Rainfall Ventures
Ron Rofe is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the head of U.S. operations for Vaizra Investments and early co-founder at Plarium.com, a social gaming company, with millions of daily active users.
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About Rainfall Ventures: Rainfall Ventures is a founder-focused venture capital fund based in NY and LA, that partners with teams to change industries worldwide.
Aaron Schumm
Founder & CEO of Vestwell
Aaron is the founder & CEO of Vestwell, a digital platform that has re-imaged and redesigned the retirement solutions available to financial advisors, companies, and employees. The firm has created a completely new, independent 401(k) & 403(b) offering, that removes the barriers to saving as an employee in America, while always looking out for the best interests of employees, their employers and financial advisors serving them. Prior to founding Vestwell, Aaron co-founded FolioDynamix, a wealth management and advisory services company powering $800 billion in assets for over 100,000 advisors. At FolioDynamix, Aaron oversaw the strategy, revenue, marketing, customers, and product. FolioDynamix was sold to Actua, (NASDAQ: ACTA) in 2014. Before FolioDynamix, Aaron was a vice president at Citigroup where helped advance the Asset Manager Solutions global strategy efforts. Other past positions include the head of WealthSolutions products at BISYS (now part of Citigroup) and product manager at CheckFree Investment Services (now part of Fiserv) overseeing and the Unified Managed Account (UMA) platform. Outside of Vestwell, Schumm on the board of directors at Chalice Wealth Partners, as well as an advisory board member at Quovo, a financial services data science & performance analytics provider to advisors, Vestorly, an AI financial content marketing platform, and WorthFM, a women-focused financial advice and investment management platform. Aaron was named to the 40 under 40 Class of 2017 by Crain’s InvestmentNews. He holds a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. degree from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business.
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About Vestwell: Vestwell provides underlying infrastructure to power workplace retirement plans.
Christopher Burniske
Partner & Founder of Placeholder
Chris Burniske joined ARK as a Next Generation Internet analyst in August 2014, covering big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrency. After ARK became the first public fund manager to invest in bitcoin, Chris transitioned to the role of Blockchain Products Lead. He now collaborates with the ARK business development team and performs deep dive research on the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. Chris regularly speaks at conferences and has contributed to CNBC, Bloomberg, WSJ, USA Today, the Guardian and other media outlets on topics relating to Bitcoin, Ethereum and more. He also chairs the Blockchain Assets Working Group for the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. Chris graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science in Earth Systems from Stanford.
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About Placeholder: Placeholder a thesis-driven venture capital firm that invests in decentralized information networks.
Satya Pemmaraju
CEO, Founder of Droit
Prior to co-founding Droit, Satya was a Managing Director of FICC Trading at UBS. Post 2008, he was instrumental in helping create UBS’s funding desk focused on aggregating, managing and optimizing secured and unsecured derivatives funding risk across FICC trading. Satya has held various cross-asset derivatives trading roles including structured/contingent repo, Latam derivatives and structured notes. Prior to trading, Satya was a fixed income derivatives quant building pricing and risk management systems. Satya has a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Northwestern University and a B.S. from MIT.
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About Droit: The Operating System for Regulation
Anup Menon
Founder of Droit
Investor in early stage and seed firms backing fantastic teams and firms. Currently Managing Director, Head of Strategy and Emerging Technology @BofA; Founder @Droit Financial Technologies
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About Bank of America, Droit: The Operating System for Regulation
Jonathan Keidan
Founder & Managing Partner of Torch Capital
Jonathan is the Founder of Torch Capital. A long time entrepreneur and investor, he has spent his career at the intersection of the media, technology and entertainment industries. He is the Co-Founder of digital media company InsideHook and has spent a decade as an active early stage investor and advisor to a number of New York and LA’s top start-ups.
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About The Council on Foreign Relations, Torch Capital: Torch Capital is an early-stage consumer-focused venture capital firm.
David Ehrich
Co-Founder of Petal
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About Alliance for Innovative Regulation, Petal: Petal is a financial technology company on a mission to make credit honest, simple, and accessible.
Jason Gross
Co-Founder and CEO of Petal
Jason is the CEO and co-founder of Petal, a tech-enabled credit card company on a mission to make credit honest, simple, and accessible. Prior to founding Petal, Jason worked with a number of high-growth technology companies in fintech, advertising and ecommerce. Jason has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from the University of Florida.
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About Petal: Petal is a financial technology company on a mission to make credit honest, simple, and accessible.
Gautam Ivatury
Founder & Head of Happy
Gautam Ivatury has been a pioneer in expanding financial access using technology for nearly two decades. He has started or led pioneering ventures such as India’s first microfinance institution to IPO (SKS Microfinance), Kenya’s first mobile-based credit provider (Jipange Kusave), India’s first digital micro-lender (ArthImpact/Happy Loans), and the firm that incubated M-Kopa, Africa’s largest pay-go solar financier. Gautam secured the Gates Foundation’s largest-ever grant in financial inclusion ($26m) while at CGAP / World Bank and set up its industry-shaping digital finance program. He has also chaired the global telecom association’s fund for mobile money, advised US-based VC and private equity funds, consulted to Fortune 500 players including Microsoft and Visa, and developed projects in 9 countries. Besides being an entrepreneur, advisor, and funder, Gautam has authored or co-authored groundbreaking work on the impact, business design and regulation of technology-driven financial inclusion. These have been published by the World Bank, CGAP, MIT Press, Springer Verlag, and media including the Banker and Revue Banque. Gautam has been a frequent lecturer at academic and executive programs including at Harvard University, MIT, Johns Hopkins University, the Wharton School and Columbia University business schools, Cambridge University and others. He has delivered dozens of keynote speeches and led discussions at trade conferences on virtually every continent and been a televised speaker on CNBC in the US and in India. Gautam is a Board Director at Vaya Finserv (a leading Indian MFI), an advisor to Encourage Capital, and an investor in multiple fintech startups.
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About Happy: Happy is a digital lending platform offering short term loans using alternate data to micro-enterprises in India
Stuart Ellman
Co-Founder & General Partner of RRE Ventures
Stuart Ellman is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. He has been immersed in information technology since the early 1980s when he taught himself computer programming and sold computer hardware and software. Since co-founding RRE in 1994, Stuart has been responsible for over forty technology investments, ranging from incubation-stage to post-revenue companies. He has invested in sectors across information technology, from security to green IT, from consumer-facing web companies to enterprise software. He believes that he is not a technologist but is a business person who utilizes technology to drive competitive advantage. He looks for big markets and superior management and has little interest in “me too” companies or following what is “hot” in the marketplace. He currently serves as a Board Director of Betaworks, Business Insider, Kroll Bond Ratings, Payfone, RecycleBank, SideTour and Tippr. Stuart began his career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in Australia. Later, he was a Financial Analyst at Dillon, Read & Co. where he focused on leveraged buyouts and restructurings and an Associate at Morgan Stanley & Co., specializing in fixed income capital markets. After graduating from business school in 1992, Stuart changed his life forever and became an entrepreneur. Stuart was the junior co-founder and Vice President at Advisory Capital Partners, a principal investment and advisory firm. Working nights and weekends, Stuart co-founded InterVideo Response with Jim in early 1994, which attempted to build in-stadium touchscreen ordering systems. They were ten years too early. After deciding against launching a second business plan involving pets and vets, the two decided to start their own investment firm late in 1994. In addition to his work as a venture investor, Stuart has served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia Business School since 2002, where he teaches a popular Venture Capital Seminar to MBA students. In 2011, he delivered the Keynote address at the Columbia Business School Private Equity and Venture Capital Conference. In 2009, he taught a graduate seminar at the CDTM in Munich, Germany, a joint program with Technical University and Ludwig Maximilians Universityb. He is the Treasurer/Chairman of the Finance Committee of the 92nd Street Y where he has been on the board since 2001. He is also on the board of The Browning School. Also, Stuart is a member of the New York City Investment Fund’s Clean Tech Sector Group, the VC Advisory Group of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Economic Club of New York, and the NYC 2020 CEO Roundtable. He is also a TechStars mentor. Stuart holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University where he was a Gilbert Clee Scholar and a Horace White Fellow. Stuart resides in Manhattan with his wife of two decades, two kids and a spoiled black cat.
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About 92nd Street Y, RRE Ventures: RRE Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers early-stage funding to software, internet, and communications companies.
James Robinson
Founder & General Partner of RRE Ventures
Jim serves as a Board Director at On Deck Capital, PrimeRevenue and SkyGrid. Additionally, Jim serves as President, J. D. Robinson, Inc. and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express Company from 1977 to 1993. Prior to that, Jim held several executive positions within American Express, was a general partner with White Weld & Co., and served as Assistant to the Chairman and President of Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. Jim is a former Director of of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. He is a Director of Coca-Cola Company and Novell, Inc. Jim is a member of the Business Council, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee for Economic Development. He is Honorary Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; an Honorary Trustee of the Brookings Institution; and Chairman Emeritus of the Partnership for New York City and the World Travel and Tourism Council. Jim served as Co-Chairman of the Business Roundtable and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations. Jim has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from Georgia Institute of Technology.
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About J. D. Robinson, Inc., RRE Ventures: RRE Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers early-stage funding to software, internet, and communications companies.
Jim Robinson
Founder & General Partner of RRE Ventures
Jim Robinson is a Founder and Managing Partner at RRE Ventures. He has been active within the technology community for 30 years as an investor, entrepreneur, banker, and futurist. Since becoming a venture capitalist in 1992, Jim has led investments in and served on the boards of more than forty companies, with a focus on the internet, data analysis, and financial services. He often invests in companies that leverage network effects or crowd-intelligence. Jim is currently a Director of Netsertive, Noom, OLO.com, OpenPeak and Quirky, and a board observer at Bitpay. He also advises several seed companies, including Admittedly, Culinary Agents, Gem, itBit, TheSkimm, and Vaurum. Jim has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List Top 100 VC’s. Prior investments include Broadsoft (BSFT), GoldPocket/Wireless (Tandberg/Motricity), iCrossing (Hearst), Metapath (Marconi), Mixed Signals (Tektronix), Orchestria (Computer Associates), Red Brick (REDB), RevolutionMoney (American Express), Rubric (Broadbase), SmartPay (Ping An), SmarterKids (SKDS), Telocity (Hughes), Vastera (VAST), Vocera (VCRA), WeddingChannel (TheKnot.com), and Wisdomtree (WETF). Jim was previously with H&Q Venture Capital in San Francisco, focused on software and communications. In 1994, along with Stuart Ellman, he co-founded InterVideo Response, building in-stadium touchscreen ordering systems. Before that Jim was with JP Morgan, initially developing global risk-management systems, and later as an investment banker. Jim earned an MBA from Harvard in 1992. While earning a double degree in Computer Science and Business Administration at Antioch College during the early 1980’s, Jim worked as an engineering intern in the solar power division at General Electric; as a programmer for Illinois state government; and later as an analyst for the 1984 Reagan-Bush Campaign in Washington, DC. During his third year in college he founded IV Systems, a builder of unix-based applications on Fortune Systems workstations. He also spent six months driving the nightshift in a NYC Taxi during 1982. Jim is a Director of the New York City Partnership Investment Fund, the HBS Alumni Angels VC Advisory Board, and the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership. Jim has been in YPO since 1998. He is also an inventor, a father of four, a CERT first-responder, and a dog person.
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About RRE Ventures: RRE Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers early-stage funding to software, internet, and communications companies.
Caitlin Long
Co-Founder & CEO of Avanti Financial Group
Caitlin Long is chairman and president of Symbiont, the market-leading smart contracts platform for institutional uses of distributed ledger technology. Caitlin previously spent 22 years on Wall Street in senior roles, working for Morgan Stanley (2007-2016), Credit Suisse (1997-2007) and Salomon Brothers (1994-1997). During her career she started and ran three new businesses, was a top-ranked equity research analyst for the life insurance sector, and worked directly for the co-CEOs on a business restructuring in Zurich. Caitlin has been active in bitcoin since 2012 and blockchains since 2014, and she served on Morgan Stanley’s internal blockchain working group in 2014-16. MarketsMedia awarded Caitlin its 2016 Women in Finance Award for Excellence in Blockchain, and Institutional Investor named Caitlin to its list of the most influential people in pensions during her final 3 years on Wall Street. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, 1994), the Kennedy School of Government (MPP, 1994) and the University of Wyoming (BA, 1990).
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About Avanti Financial Group: Avanti Financial Group is an operator of a crypto-asset banking company used to focus on providing regulated services for digital assets.
Jeff Stewart
Founder of Lenddo
Jeff Stewart is a serial entrepreneur, inventor and investor specializing in internet-enabled growth businesses. Jeff is the founder an CEO of Lenddo, the world’s first online community that empowers the emerging class to use their online social connections to build their creditworthiness and access local financial services. Jeff is the Founder of Urgent Group, a venture development firm focusing on building innovative technology-enabled businesses, as well as the founder of Urgent Ventures LLC, which co-invests in angel stage technology start-ups. Jeff also founded Urgent Career, a venture-backed recruitment technology and services firm that seeks to improve how growth companies find, screen and assess sales talent. Prior to Urgent Career, Jeff founded Monitor110, which offered internet-based semantic big-data analysis to institutional investors. Jeff is also founder, former CEO, and current chairman of Mimeo.com, a state-of-the-art, Internet-based document production service included in the 2004 and 2005 Inc. 500 lists of the fastest growing companies, the 2005 Red Herring 100 list of private companies that drive technology, and Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. Mr. Stewart’s entrepreneurial career began in 1995 with his launch of Square Earth, an Internet technology company whose customers included Citibank, Compaq, UPS, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and AIG. Consistently profitable, Square Earth grew at a rate of over 100% per year, merged with Proxicom in January 1998, and successfully completed an IPO as the combined company in 1999.
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About GPO Fund, Lenddo: Lenndo is a technology company that uses non-traditional data to provide credit scoring and verification.
William Herrmann
Founder and Managing Partner of Wilshire Phoenix
Prior to establishing Wilshire Phoenix, Bill was with BNY Mellon (BNYM) for 10+ years across several global teams, most recently as Vice President of Dealing and Trading. Throughout Bill’s tenure at BNYM, he managed a credit risk portfolio of over $10Bn and led in the closing of 100+ large-scale corporate deals (structured credit, derivatives, and restructurings). Bill also managed teams, oversaw projects, and led bank-wide initiatives. In addition to his responsibilities at Wilshire Phoenix, Bill advises numerous companies and proudly serves as a Member of the Board of Directors for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), and as a Director for the Hedge Fund Association (HFA).
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About Wilshire Phoenix: Wilshire bridges the gap by introducing institutional-like investment products to the market and making them available to all investors.
