Investors

Thrive Investors

Alo Ghosh

Silicon Valley Venture Capital. Founder of 5 FinTech Ventures

Seed investor, cofounder, interim CXO, strategist to startups in AI, fintech, edtech, impact-investment. Trusted advisor to SME & MNC top decision makers for creating sustainable competitive market value. Sourced & funded $multibillion PE deals, headed $4B country wealth fund, adviced CXO's worldwide. Taught Wharton MBAs, co-led McKinsey corporate finance, bootstrapped SV fintech startup to $100M.

Braden Pollock

Angel Investor

I'm primarily an Angel Investor having invested in a couple of dozen technology start-ups. I've also purchased more than a dozen small companies that have been rolled up into existing companies that I own and operate. In addition, I invest in high-value domain names as an alternative asset class.

Brett Brewer

Co-Founder / Managing Director at Crosscut Ventures

Prior to co-founding Crosscut Ventures, Brett was a serial entrepreneur who has built, operated, and sold a number of Internet media companies. In 1998, he co-founded Intermix Media, which launched several online businesses including Myspace.com. Brett sold Intermix to Rupert Murdoch\'s News Corp. in 2005 for $680M. After leaving News Corp, Brett became President and Vice Chairman of Adknowledge, and helped grow the business from $40M to $300M in revenue over the span of seven years. Brett is an active angel investor and a pillar in the SoCal tech community. He has been a featured speaker at numerous industry events including Bear Sterns Internet Roundtable, Goldman Sachs Internet Conference and the Montgomery Technology Conference. Brett received a B.A. in Business and Economics from the University of California Los Angeles.

Cindy Chin

CEO

Cindy is an entrepreneur, venture strategist, and cultural ambassador of the arts and sciences. She is an advisor, board member to founding startup teams, opportunity scout for VCs, investors, and LP partners, and a supporter of global entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in the arenas of venture capital, blockchain, & frontier tech startups. She is also an advisor to Women in Blockchain International, a global strategic thought leader, a sought-after speaker, and a NASA Datanaut, an open data innovation program to promote data science, coding, and gender diversity operating within the NASA CIO office. She is also a delegate of the United Nations Blockchain for Global Impact and UN Decade of Women initiatives in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, mentor in the Google Launchpad Mentor Program, Stanford University’s Tech Entrepreneurship and undergrad programs, and a member of the faculty at the premier Startup Executive Academy of Silicon Castles in Salzburg, Austria.

Dayakar Puskoor

Managing Director at Naya Ventures

Mr. Dayakar Puskoor is a Managing Partner at Naya Ventures, a 50 million USD fund that invests in early- stage Cloud, Mobile & Big Data companies. Apart from his role at Naya Ventures, Dayakar is Executive Chairman at Motivity Labs, GlobalOutlook and KeepTrax. He is also a Board Member at Altia Systems, SnapOne and Zoomingo. He is a Board Observer at Minetta Brook and an Advisory Board Member at Boxfish and Glympse. Dayakar’s distinguished career is showcased by an impressive record of achievement in building high value mobile, wireless and telecommunications businesses. He was recognized by the US White House as a mobile technology visionary and has been a keynote speaker for numerous industry events. Dayakar is an active supporter of entrepreneurs and startups.

Greg Obenshain

Investor and Founder, Obenshain Capital

Greg Obenshain manages Obenshain Capital, which uses a quantitative approach to investing in corporate credit. He previously ran high yield investment portfolios at Apollo Global Management and Stone Tower Capital. Prior thereto he completed GE's post-MBA leadership program. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

Harper Cheng

Angel Investor

Harper Cheng is a senior hardware design engineer at Apple with over 10 years of experience in power management. Prior to Apple, she worked for semiconductor companies Marvell and Intersil. She is an active angel investor at Sand Hill Angels and she is looking into entrepreneurial opportunities. She is also involved in real estate investments and rental property management. She is very passionate in philanthropy supporting healthcare services and medical research. She received her M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of California, Irvine.

James Sowers

Featured speaker @ MIT Media labs

James was named top 50 angel Investor, by Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrocremades/2018/08/05/top-50-angel-investors-based-on-investment-volume-and-successful-exits/#213a5f2d7748$). He is a featured speaker @ MIT Media labs ,Mentor @ alchemist Accelerator Director @ Greater Good Society . Mentor @ CS359B at Stanford University Designing Decentralized Applications on Blockchain. Co-host of syndicated tv show Exploring The Block James believes in joining the best founders in projects that are creating the future as we know it . He as been quoted saying "The key to redefining a category is to see possibly where others don't". "Talent is hitting a target no one else can hit Genius is hitting a target no one else can see"

Jesse Draper

Founding Partner of Halogen Ventures

Jesse Draper is founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as creator and host of 2015 Emmy nominated television series,The Valley Girl Show. Draper is a 4th generation venture capitalist focused on early stage investing in female founded consumer technology. Her portfolio includes the Skimm, Laurel & Wolf, Carbon38, HopSkipDrive, The Flex Company& Sugarfina. Through her show she’s helped pioneer the way in digital media and started the initiative to interview 50% women in technology. Previously a Nickelodeon star, Draper used her comedic talents to bring an approachable feel to the technology world, has produced and distributed 500 interviews with some of the greatest minds in technology and beyond (including; Ted Turner, Mark Cuban, Sheryl Sandberg, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Jessica Alba, MC Hammer and Eric Schmidt). Draper was listed by Marie Claire magazine as one of the ‘50 Most Connected Women in America’. USA Today called the show “Must see startup TV”.

John Della Penna

Investor

Marketing, is all about the Marketing, the GTM Strategy, driving sales and market share. Marketing starts when an idea is born, and it should be an intricate part of the business from day one. Surprisingly that is seldom the case. Even though I came from a technical background I realized early in my business career that I needed to learn about marketing because without it nothing big happens. I am passionate about Marketing developing GTM strategies and supporting business development to drive sales. I love to build and be part of hard working teams with concrete goals in mind.

Joyce Greenberg

Managing Partner and FounderCAPGreenberg

Joyce Greenberg is the founder of CAP Greenberg. She began her career as a Chase Manhattan Bank, then later a shareholder of Kidder, Peabody & Co later Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. She was one of the first woman partners at both firms. She was also the CEO of TakeGoodCare Holdings, a medical supplies and equipment company. TakeGoodCare was sold in 2004. She was a director and audit committee member of Fay’s Inc. (NYSE: FAY) She sits on the boards of Ayre Lighting, High Grade Management Group and Material World. She was a trustee of the Institute for Social & Economic Policy in the Middle East at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a trustee of the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA), board of Governors of the New School University’s Parsons School of Design and board of the Harvard Club of New York. Ms. Greenberg has a B.A. with Honors from Simmons College and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. She has FINRA® Series 7, 63 and 79 certifications.

LAURENT GRILL

Venture Lead Investor at Luma

Laurent is an Entrepreneur turned Venture Capitalist who works with start-up founders to successfully build scalable teams, strong company cultures and disruptive products. Laurent believes that there is a fundamental need for additional support in the early stage ecosystem in Los Angeles and other budding technology hubs around the US and globally. This desire to support these growing tech communities led him to his current role as Venture Lead at Luma Launch, a seed to series-a corporate venture with an accelerator program and internal incubation team. Luma Launch is focused on early stage startups at the convergence of evolving technology and content markets, capitalizing on internal and external resources to create successful products. Laurent has founded, expanded and managed multiple start-ups ranging from a music education technology platform, Miso Media, to the leader in the Massage-on-Demand space, Zeel. His experience working in the early stage start up scene has given him the tools necessary to understand the needs of founders in the infancies of their companies.

Lucas Pols

Quake Capital

Lucas is a Venture Partner at Quake Capital Partners, and the founder of Spark xyz At Quake Lucas is focused on expanding Quake’s venture capital and angel relationships. He is also providing operational guidance to the portfolio companies on a range of topics including leadership, recruiting, and sales. Lucas received his Master’s in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California. While at USC, Lucas was the case protagonist of professor Noam Wasserman’s case study, which focused on his venture, Spark xyz, and hybrid entrepreneurship. Lucas also currently writes for Forbes and does speaking engagements around Los Angeles.

Marlon Nichols

Co-founder & Managing Partner at Cross Culture Ventures

Marlon Nichols is a founding managing partner at Cross Culture Ventures (CCV), where he leads CCV in identifying game-changing entrepreneurs who are creating next-generation companies. Marlon draws from his unique professional background to drive CCV’s focus on using global trends and shifts in consumer behavior to capture high-potential investments. Prior to co-founding CCV, Marlon was an investment director at Intel Capital where he completed his Kauffman Fellowship. He also has led successful careers in enterprise software and strategy consulting in the technology, private equity, media and entertainment sectors. As a former professional athlete, Marlon takes a team-oriented approach to working closely with CEOs in the areas of operations and business model development to build tomorrow’s most innovative and notable enterprises.

Melinda Bush, C.H.A.

President/Chief Executive –HRW Holdings / Hospitality Resources Worldwide, LLC

Melinda Bush, C.H.A, is one of the industry’s most well-known and respected experts on the issues affecting the hospitality and tourism sector. After a dynamic career building the world’s largest travel trade publishing company for Rupert Murdoch and Reed Elsevier, and opening 12 offices around the world, Mrs. Bush founded Hospitality Resources Worldwide LLC, in 2001, with a focus to assist hotels, resorts and destinations in their market development and investment activities. Various past HRW ventures and partners have included The Carlyle Group Realty Fund, FelCor Lodging Trust, Canyon Ranch Enterprises, Outrigger Hotels of Hawaii, Fairmont Hotels, The Moroccan – American Development Fund, and The World Bank Panama Initiative, as well as specific hotel/resort development programs in Hawaii, Costa Rica, Baha Mexico, Vancouver, Washington State, Southern California, among others. Mrs. Bush has and continues to serve on a number of public and private corporate boards and has Honorary Degrees and awards from Johnson & Wales University and the Cornell Society of Hoteliers. The C.H.A. designation is the highest award granted in the industry by the American Hotel and Lodging Industry’s Educational Institute. Hospitality Resources Worldwide LLC is headquartered in New York City with affiliated offices in Florida, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Texas and California.

Mikal Khoso

Investor at Wavemaker Partners

I’m a driven individual with experience in building and investing in early-stage companies as well as a proven capacity for operational excellence. With a unique international heritage and perspective, I bring a cross-section of global experience, leadership and passion to my professional endeavors. A selection of my thoughts at https://medium.com/@MikalKhoso

Morgan Linton

Co-founder & COO, Bold Metrics Inc | Angel Investor @ Morgan.xyz

I am the co-founder of Bold Metrics, you can think of us as an API for the human body. Two years ago I started my journey as an Angel Investor and I made my fifth investment this year. I\'m a first time founder and relatively new investor so I don\'t see myself as a startup expert by any means. Instead, I\'m a founder who is going through the ups and downs of running a startup and interested in investing in other companies with founders who aren\'t married to their idea, but instead laser-focused on solving a real problem, knowing that the way in which they solve that problem will likely change over time.

PATRICK CONROY

Vice President at Revolution

Patrick is a Vice President at Revolution Growth where he focuses on venture investments in tech-enabled consumer and software businesses. Prior to Revolution, Patrick was an Analyst at Morgan Stanley on the Technology Investment Banking and Global Capital Markets teams based in New York City. Patrick graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Business Economics.

Peter Csathy

Managing Partner, SAM CREATV Ventures

Peter Csathy is Founder & Chairman of CREATV Media, a leading business development, advisory and investment firm. Peter is a noted international expert, thought leader and “go to” resource on media, entertainment and technology issues and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, TechCrunch, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Bloomberg, Billboard, Digiday, among others. He regularly appears on television, speaks at major industry events, and writes for TechCrunch and Variety, as well as for his own Digital Media Update blog (that USA Today’s business reporter Jefferson Graham calls a “must read”). He also just recently published his second highly-acclaimed book, “Media 2.0 (18): An Insider’s Guide to Today’s Digital Media World & Where It’s Going.”

Rahul Narvekar

Founder, The India Network

Rahul Narvekar is a seasoned startup entrepreneur, having earned his stripes in Mumbai and accumulated a track record in Delhi. Most significantly, Rahul has a wealth of experience with e-commerce out of India. He has been involved with the industry from its inception to the present, and he's passionate about sharing with you all the hallowed rules that he has learnt (and broken!) In addition to startups and e-commerce, Rahul's specialities include all elements of the retail experience, be it online or physical. Rahul is also an expert in real estate sourcing, pricing, negotiation, buying, leasing, renting and development.

Riley Kovatch

Investor at March Capital Partners

Riley comes from an enterprise software investment banking background where he worked on M&A and Private Equity transactions from the San Francisco and Bangalore, India offices of Signal Hill. After banking, Riley took time to pursue entrepreneurial ventures and now brings perspectives from both sides of the table into his role as a VC. Riley received his BS from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley where he played on a Division 1 soccer scholarship.

Sonpreet Bhatia

Entrepreneur and Innovator | Versatile Advisor and Investor | Recognized leader and speaker

Entrepreneur and Innovator: Sonpreet raised $14MM in venture capital funding in her two startups. Prior roles include VP on Wall Street; Co-founder and Partner at other VC-backed companies building AI conversational interfaces; and Scientist at IBM’s TJ Watson. Versatile Advisor and Investor: Sonpreet advises and enables many startups, social ventures, and nonprofits. Some of these organizations work in partnership with the UN across 110 countries. Sonpreet has forged business alliances and partnerships with top Fortune 500 executives, visionary leaders of global nonprofits, and people from all walks of life. Recognized leader and speaker: Advertising Age named Sonpreet to its “Creativity 50” list in 2014, honoring the most creative and innovative thinkers and doers. Business Insider magazine named her to “The Silicon Alley 100: New York’s Coolest Tech People” and “35 Up-And-Coming Entrepreneurs You Need To Meet.” The Wall Street Journal selected Sonpreet as one of 20 participants to appear in its “Start-up of the Year” documentary series. Her outreach includes public speaking on topics in technology, women leadership, Big data, Innovation, AI, Mindful Living, Integrative Medicine, Health, Ethics & more and high-profile writing and publishing for books and leading journalistic and business platforms, including both print and digital media.

SWATICK MAJUMDAR

Venture Partner
CMO Survive and Thrive Today

Swatick Majumdar is a Venture Capitalist, a former investment banker, and a serial entrepreneur. He is an active advisor and mentor to start-ups and helps leverage his wealth of global relationships, expertise and operating history to them. Swatick cherishes his time to help build disruptive companies that are led by passionate entrepreneurs. He is on the board of Global Path Capital and Rental Uncle (P) Ltd and a board observer at Easy Energy Systems. Previously he assisted in the execution of successful financings for companies in Technology, Media and Telecommunication (TMT), Renewable Energy, Biotechnology and Medical devices sectors. Swatick has participated as a panelist and a moderator at several industry related events in the US, India and the United Arab Emirates. He has a double Master’s in applied economics and computer information systems. Swatick is a trained volunteer at the American Red Cross and represents the Disaster Action Team (DAT) of Long Island, New York.

Thomas Lovell

Co-founder of BoldPointe Partners

Previously, he has held various senior leadership positions at Drexel Burnham including EVP and board member, Chairman and Chief Executive of Drexel Burnham Europe, Chairman of DBL Commercial Paper, and Worldwide Head of Operations & Administration (Institutional Investors & Commodities Groups). Early in his career, he was CFO of Citibank’s largest banking group and Treasurer of Citibank (Delaware) and Citibank (USA). He also headed Citibank’s North American Securities Services group (US Custody, Global Custody, Broker-Dealer, Securities Lending, 401(k) Processing). Mr. Lovell was also the COO of The Dubai Capital Group and a member of its investment committee, a $3 billion $US PE/hedge fund owned by the Ruler of Dubai. In the mid-90’s, he co-founded Goldman Sachs’ middle market business which contributed over $3B to the firm’s IPO market cap. It was #2 in market share and #1 in customer satisfaction per Greenwich Research within 3 years. He holds a BSIE from the University of Michigan and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Victoria Saucier

Impact Investor I AI I Blockchain I CEO @ Gainfy | Partner @ Ignite 500

Victoria Saucier is the CEO of Gainfy, AI and blockchain healthcare company I Managing Partner at Ignite 500, an investments group with a diversified portfolio of technology, media and healthcare companies I Founder of Bloomojo, alternative medicine marketplace I Chief Editor at Bloopost Media Group I Executive producer of SharkChain TV, pitching competition show for emerging tech companies I Mentor and advisor to companies developing blockchain and AI applications to solve inefficiencies in varies industries. Ms. Saucier has over 20 years of experience in business development and capital investments and have lead several companies through various stages of growth, from inception to a successful exit. Ms. Saucier is a public speaker and serves on numerous advisory boards. Born in Ukraine and fluent in four languages, Ms. Saucier earned graduate degree in linguistics, undergraduate in clinical medicine, business and economics.