Cohort 3 includes 24 investors (selected out of 5,000+ applications, ~0.5% acceptance rate) that formed five deal sourcing teams: Consumer, Enterprise & AI, Fintech & Blockchain, Frontier Tech, and Healthcare.
Cohort 3 Deal Sourcing Teams
Consumer Team
Allen Archuleta Jr
- Serial Entrepreneur
- Previous advisor to more than 100 startups
- Business Journal Top 40 under 40 recipient
- MBA & B.A. Economics - California State University, Sacramento
Helene Servillon
- Carried out various fundamental operational roles at startups in new emerging markets (cannabis, AI powered speech analytics, electric bikes)
- Previously Director of Partnerships at Orthogonal Thinker (Holding Co.). Head of Customer Success & Partner Marketing at VoiceBase. Commercial Sales Director at Pure Cycles.
- D1 volleyball player at Northeastern University. Studied Communications and Business
Hoa (Danny) Duong
- Wealth Management @ Merrill Lynch
- Legislative Work @ United States Senate
- M&A Analyst @ EY
- Bank of Investment & Development in Vietnam
- University of California, Davis
Samala
- Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Jump Canon, a venture firm offering early stage investment to spectacular, unconventional and unprecedented founders
Enterprise & AI Team
Adam Baker
- Experience in both Private Equity and Law
- Finalist in the National Investment Banking Competition
- Binghamton University, BS Business Administration, BA Political Science
- Pursuing positions in Venture Capital firms that seek to address major enterprise problems and opportunities
Conor Hayward
- Former Analyst at an indoor vertical farming startup in Los Angeles called Local Urban Vegetables.
- Previous experience in Wealth Management, Equity Research, Commercial Real Estate, and International Business.
- Studied Finance, Economics, and Computer Science at The George Washington University.
- Enthusiastic about Enterprise Software, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation.
Daniel Eidell
- Midwest Scout, StartU
- MBA Candidate, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- Speciate AI, AI-driven enterprise solutions providing scalable customer insights
- Cornerstone Research, Management Consulting
Thomas Devon Pence
- Previously an investment banking and consulting analyst
- Graduated early from the University of Wisconsin with a BA in Economics w/ Certificates in Business & Sustainability
- Interested in Enterprise, Green, Logistic and Industrial Technology
Grant Weichang Ge
- Columbia University, Materials Science & Engineering
- Previously Venture Capital intern at Qiming Venture Partners in China
- Passionate about cross-border investments between U.S. and Asia
- Co-chaired the 3rd Columbia University CSSA Startup Competition
Fintech & Blockchain Team
Saeed Arafeh
- Yale University - Mechanical Engineering (B.S.), Economics (B.A.)
- Olayan Group (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) - Investment Banking Summer Analyst
- Passionate about renewable energy and the future of energy storage
J.P. Keating
- Leading Startup Innovation and Diversity efforts at Allstate
- Previously at Boeing, Anheuser-Busch, Ameren, and ConAgra
- Angel Investor, Startup Advisor, Mentor, Adventurer
Peter Arethas
- MBA: DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Graduated "With Distinction". Top 10% of class. Degree in Financial Analysis.
- B.S.: Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Degree in Business Economics.
- President - American Trust Investment Services, broker-dealer founded in 1968
- Vice President - JPMorgan Securities - Chase Private Client. Led team of Private Client Advisors in Chicago.
Corey Pigott
- Formerly lead analyst and trader for Crypto.IQ, a cryptocurrency and blockchain investment research startup
- Formerly senior associate at Interactive Financial Advisors, a boutique wealth management firm with $300 Million AUM
- Angel Investor within the blockchain space having participated in a variety of ICOs and private sales since 2013.
Jordan Jefferson
- Hedge Fund trader at Voleon Group, a quantitative hedge fund founded by two machine learning scientists
- Web developer at Yale Law School
- Research Assistant at Yale School of Management
- Yale University, BA in Economics
Ricardo Roberts Jr
- Ten years experience in digital adtech
- Columbia Business School grad
- Financial services and startup background
Frontier Tech Team
Chris Draper
- Executive with 15 years of experience as a founder, director, and investor in early stage startups
- PhD and Licensed engineer, with expertise in operations and human factors in the integration of novel technology
- University of California at Berkeley (B.S.), University of Glasgow (Ph.D.)
Felix Ruess
- Previously Venture Capital Intern at Daimler AG and Porsche Digital
- As a former Sales Director, developed a strategic partnership with a Chinese supplier that allowed distribution of products into Germany
- MBA, University of San Francisco
- Originally from Germany, previously resided in South Africa, Australia, and now the U.S
Grant Kendall-Bell
- Degree in Business, specialized in Entrepreneurial Finance and Investment at AU, LSE, CUHK
- Senior Tech Sector Analyst at AU Student Managed Investment Fund
- Business Development Research Analyst, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Regional Finalist in Venture Capital Investment Competition
- Space industry enthusiast, aspiring subject matter expert in Space Tech investment
Michael Siegel
- Previous member of VU Cohort 1, returning to Cohort 3 to work as an investment analyst at Venture University
- Previously worked at VentureSouth, a network of 250+ angel investors based in Greenville, SC
- Worked as an archaeologist at the Horvat Kur digsite in Israel
Joshua Pineault
- Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Jump Canon, a venture firm offering early stage investment to spectacular, unconventional and unprecedented founders
- Former healthcare entrepreneur at the intersection of software and cancer treatment
- Past contributor to the White House Tech and Innovation Summit and a San Francisco 30 under 30 Next Generation Leader
Healthcare Team
Stefan Arteaga
- Innovation & Entrepreneurship minded professional with experience in both nanotechnology and marketing
- Cross-cultural experience in Latin America and Europe.
- IP Portfolio Manager, Capacitor Sciences
- Production Chemist & Marketing, Polypure AS
- University of Olso, MS, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Camella Wilson
- Boston Consulting Group - Consultant in Data Analysis and Project Management
- PHd in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
- Temple University, BS in Biochemistry, Summa Cum Laude
- Tenacity and drive - I don't give up easily and I always challenge myself to do and achieve more
- Strong scientific background and ability to understand, interpret, and integrate information from a wide variety of resources
- Comfortable with ambiguity; great at developing a structure to solve problems
Josh Rieders
- Closed sales over 200 Million in financial products.
- Raise funds and awareness for Vital Ground, whose mission is to restore Grizzly Bear populations by conserving wildlife habitat and connecting protected spaces.
- Featured on the cover story for the New York Times for skiing at Snowbird
Shuhan Zhou
- Leading operational reform at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare System
- Previous experience ranging from litigation consulting, think tank to academic policy research; Prior social enterprise cofounder and multiple contributorship to journal-published research articles. Interested in Impact Investing
- Honors degrees from UC Berkeley (Undergrad in Economics) and University of Chicago (Masters in Public Policy
- Enjoys mixing cocktails, practicing yoga, listening to house music, and watching soccer (not all at the same time)
Zac Rowley
- Angel investor
- Health tech advisor to multiple companies
- Headhunted by Apple to manage Asia Pacific health and fitness research and development.
- Has been known to hold his breath for 5 min
