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    •  
       
      Cohort 9 - U.S. & Asia
      Summer 2020

      U.S. Cohort: Apr - Aug 2020

      Asia Cohort: Jul - Oct 2020

       

       

       

       

    • Cohort 9 includes 42 Investors (U.S. Team: 35 + Asia Team: 7) that formed six deal sourcing teams: Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Frontier Tech, Healthcare, & SpaceTech

      Cohort 9 Deal Sourcing Teams

      Consumer Team - U.S.

      Suzanne EL-Moursi

      • 2 Successful Exits: President & CEO of Uplift Data Partners, a enterprise drone technology company, and CMO of Power2Switch, a Kleiner Perkins portfolio company
      • Strong operator with 20 years in execution and delivery; building products, teams, businesses and brands, and
      • Creative mastermind in developing brand story, visual DNA, and strong longterm brand equity 
      • Captivating storyteller with a natural ability to make you a believer
      • BSc. Northern Illinois University; MSc. DePaul University; MBA, Booth School of Business

      Parker French

      • Earned All-American Honors for the Texas Baseball Team
      • Played 4 years of professional baseball with the Colorado Rockies organisation
      • BBA in Finance at The University of Texas at Austin 

      Hans Schmit

      • Involved with numerous startups including a Venture Capital Association and a clothing company for people with limited mobility
      • Community tutor and mentor for 2nd graders at Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School
      • Studying finance at Tulane University 
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

      Charlie Tarbutton

      • Manage $2M+ of University of Georgia Endowment Fund across all sectors of the equities markets 
      • Mentor and Tutor underrepresented youth in middle Georgia communities
      • BBA Finance & M.S. Management Information Systems at University of Georgia Honors Program

      Will Suh

      • A member of the highly selective, faculty-led Fisher Futures Investment Banking Program at Ohio State 
      • In my free time I enjoy working out, cooking, shopping, and capitalising on happy hours with friends
      • On track to graduate from The Ohio State University in May of 2021 with a specialisation in Finance and a minor in Fashion & Retail Studies 
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

      Danny Liu

      • Led two research projects in the Economic Science Institute (ESI) under guidance of nobel laureate Vernon Smith 
      • Bilingual in Mandarin and English
      • BA in Mathematical Economics from Colgate University 

      Consumer Team - Asia

      Arnault Lee

      • Relationship Manager in a Market Leading FinTech Company covering South Korea's Buy-side Accounts
      • Former Founder of Online Art Gallery and a Hong Kong Government Scholar (4 Years)
      • Holder of CAIA (Alternative Investment), CAPM (Project Management) and CPM (Product Management) License

      Hamsini Balaji

      • Involved in two social enterprises in the US and a Day Hospital in Costa Rica which scaled nationally
      • Focused on investments in impact ventures specifically education and workforce development
      • Bachelor's in Biochemistry from Mississippi State and Master's in Social Entrepreneurship from University of SoCal

      Mandar Dixit

      • Curious about Technology and Business Model Innovation
      • Finance + Corporate Strategy + Business Development + Digital Platforms (Clean/Ed/Health/Ag Tech)
      • Gold Medalist CA (India), CPA (Aus), CGMA (UK) with 11.5 years of diverse experience across sectors

      Enterprise Team - U.S.

      Jasmine Yu Zhang

      • 10 Years experience in financial planning, business strategy and entrepreneurship (co-founded two companies)
      • Multilingual global citizen, lived in 3 countries, traveled 40+ countries
      • Angel investor, Trust fund manager focus on alternative and cross border investment
      • BA from Shanghai Finance University; Certificate of Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford
       
       
       
       
       

      Vahagn Voskanyan

      • 23+ years experience in impact investment (ImpactTech, AgriTech, Fintech, Nutrition) and impact measurement, private equity and project finance
      • Supported the launch of $75M EBRD EU SME Private Equity Fund and $40M UNDP supported Impact Tech VC fund
      • MSc in major programme management from Said Business School, University of Oxford

      Alejandro Chardon

      • Management Consultant at Accenture
      • Rising VC fund manager
      • B.A. in Health Services Administration 

      David de Jesus

      • Senior software engineer with 10+ years of broad technical expertise
      • Entrepreneur with tactical experience in startups and corporate innovation
      • Early stage startup advisor to founders across lifestyle, sports, fitness, wellness, and food industries
      • Focused on investing in marketplaces, consumer tech, and seeking out high-performance founders
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

      Avery Ramin

      • VP, Wells Fargo Principal Investments. Previously Analyst and Associate, Commodities Sales and Trading
      • Angel Investor focused on Food/Ag, FinTech, Emerging Markets and Adviser to NYC-based Family Office expanding into VC
      • BA, NYU Gallatin School of Individualised Study: Political Economy and Financial Crises

      Venkat Bussa

      • 20 Years Experience, Engineering, Marketing and Entrepreneurship
      • Worked at Cisco, Lead Technical Marketing and Engineering functions for $1B High-End Routing and Optical Product Lines
      • Market Expertise: Telecommunication, Cloud, Networking, Agriculture, Education, Commercial & Newspaper Print & Packaging Industries
      • BSc. from College of Engineering Osmanabad
      • Harvard University -  Alternative Investments
      • Stanford GSB - Mergers & Aquisitions
      • Berkeley Haas - Venture Capital Executive Program

      Doug Stewart

      • Served in Army infantry unit providing emergency field medical care in urban combat environments
      • Co-founded small service start-up; co-developed internal ERP system capable of automating $1 billion in annual transactions
      • Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University

      Enterprise Team - Asia

      Vivian Heng

      • 5 years + industry research (Public & Private Equity)
      • Keen interest in disruptive and innovative business models
      • BAcc and Finance from Singapore Management University
       
       
       
       
       
       
       

      Jeremy Wong

      • On track to graduate at the end of 2021 from Singapore Management University with a BSc Science (Economics) and a 2nd major in finance
      • Only had my eyes opened to the world of startups and venture in mid 2019, but quickly realized that this is what i would like to do the rest of my life
      • Love keeping my body fit with sports (football) and my mind sharp with poker

      Ritesh Nandwani

      • MBA from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a MSc in Management from the University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines
      • Launched a Venture Fund while working at a Family-owned multinational conglomerate
      • Over 15 years experience working in multiple locations across industries including textiles, FMCG, and vehicles, among others

      Akshat Agarwal

      • Senior Consultant at a Technology company, working with FinTech startups and Banks across multiple regions, helping them scale up and automate their businesses
      • Former Assistant Manager, Portfolio Analysis for an Automotive Financial Services company
      • B.Sc. in Information Systems and Analytics from SMU; Last leg of the CFA and CAIA Charters

      Frontier Tech Team

      Aliesha Balde

      • Successfully led and co-led the development of 4 custom client products, valuing $2M in services
      • 4+ years of experience in start-up ecosystem development, including managing the US State Department entrepreneurship initiative, LIONS@FRICA
      • Advised +100 local and international early stage companies
      • BA, University of California, Santa Cruz

      Mark Saltzer

      • Principal Computational Scientist at Caltech
      • Director at Hughes working primarily on radar and quantum computing
      • Mentor of students at Caltech
      • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); and a fellow at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation on data-driven discovery
      • BSc. from California State University, PHD in Computer Science from University of Southern California

      Rahul Singh

      • U.S. Marine Veteran with 10+ years of global operations and business development experience
      • Advised over 500+ startup ecommerce brands at Amazon HQ. Generated over $1B+ in gross merchandise sales
      • Founder, Dual Use Ventures. 
      • City Leader in LA for Bunker Labs. 
      • UCLA Polysci / Stanford GSB Ignite
       
       

      Alexander Saunders

      • Founder of Simple Tones Ventures, an industry agnostic venture fund based in Boston, MA
      • 10+ years of leading organisations and individuals in the experiential, real estate and hospitality verticals 
      • Brigham & Women's Cancer Advisory Board Member and advisor to SCORE, the nation's largest network of expert business mentors
      • BA in Economics from Connecticut College

      Reynaldo Raymond Trevino

      • 5 years experience in product management and building startup
      • Spent over 8 years in the US Army as an Infantryman and 2+ years connecting startups with DoD problem sets
      • B.S. in entrepreneurship from Saint Mary's College of California
       
       
       

      Jeevanjit Gill

      • Current Senior Financial Analyst at Intel Corporation
      • Former corporate finance at Siemens United States and Germany 
      • Former Demand Manager at RIX Industries
      • B.S. in Management Information Systems from CSU, Sacramento; Executive MBA Candidate at Saint Mary's College of California

      Healthcare Team

      Georgios Varsos

      • A neuroscientist turned venture capitalist, multidisciplinary professional with experience across business, scientific, and clinical domains
      • Serves as a career coach and start-up mentor at several organisations globally, including MassChallenge, MIT Enterprise Forum, University of Cambridge and Imperial College
      • His Ph.D. research at the University of Cambridge eliminated a major 60-year methodological drawback for assessing brain haemodynamics, setting the basis for a $170K+ NIH research grant 

      Kyra Frederick

      • Engineered and deployed water treatment solution for low-income Latin America and India while studying at Cornell University
      • Pioneered CSR as a tool for innovation, value creation and risk management at Tesla and Bechtel Corporation
      • Market Expertise: CleanTech, Biotech, Ag-tech, Impact Investing, Sustainable Development
      • BSc. in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University

       

      Ho-Young 'Grace' Lee

      • Pharma industry expert and group leader at Genentech - experienced in diverse scientific areas (synthetic biology/metabolic engineering, RNAi, Immuno-oncology, cell and gene therapy), CMC manufacturing / analytics, clinical, and regulatory filing
      • Ph.D. in Chemistry at Stanford Gradate School and Postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular and Cell biology at UC Berkeley 
      • Executive MBA candidate
       
       
       
       

      Tanner Condon

      • Originally striving to be an accountant, an introduction to finance during my freshman year spurred my interest for venture capital and steered me towards VU
      • On the more personal side, I love surfing, anything to do with the ocean and outdoors, and I previously worked as a swim instructor and lifeguard
      • Currently studying Finance and the University of Notre Dame 

      Westley Giadolor

      • Launching Southern Methodist University's very first venture accelerator
      • Quantitative Research Analyst for a Fintech Startup
      • Currently studying Psychology and Finance and expanding on my intellectual curiosity in Venture Capital

      Fintech Team

      Ivana Marsic

      • Extensive international experience in private and public sector (Siemens, European Commission), founded 2 startups (fashion tech Myrio - won a golden Tesla award for innovation, IoT smart textile - WearMe)
      • Global citizen - lived in 5 countries, multilingual, traveled 40+ countries
      • Pioneer of startup ecosystem in Croatia and the region (Founding member of the Croatian Business Angel Network, one of the first women startup entrepreneurs in Croatia)
      • BSc. in Electrical Engineering from University of Split; MBA from Simmons School of Management (awarded Lukic and Rown Brown Fellowships)

      Jake Albritton

      • Co-founded a leather company, Harper Albritton, that specializes in the custom design and personalization of various products for both consumers and organisations 
      • Enjoy stepping out of my comfort zone; I've run a couple marathons, been skydiving, and even placed in one of Florida's largest a Cross-fit competition
      • Finishing both my bachelors degree in Business Administration and Master of International Business from the University of Florida

      Guangyu Liu

      • 8+ years of experience at top tier market-oriented and state-backed financial institutions in China, with solid experience in business development, business strategy and credit risk management and deep insights on the political economy of the Chinese market as well as the global financial landscape
      • Sourced and executed $1.5B+ deals for various sized companies in multiple industries
      • Current MBA candidate at Georgetown University; LL.M. from National University of Singapore
       
       
       

      Dattaraj Nadkarni

      • Former Corporate Finance at GlaxoSmithKline, completed the Future Leaders Program working across Singapore, Malaysia and the United States
      • Keen interest in Fintech, especially in finding micro-financing solutions in developing countries
      • BBM in Finance & Operations Management at Singapore Management University

      Brian Scholten

      • 15 years of public market finance experience in institutional equity sales, sales trading, research and operations covering Asian and US markets
      • Avid traveler, sports enthusiast, and keen interest in globalization
      • B.A. in Business Management from Hartwick College where I was a student athlete and team captain

      SpaceTech Team

      Jeff Locanzo

      • Angel investor in 20+ startups (3+ years) and public stock market investor with consistent 500 - 1,000+ bps annual alpha (5+ years)
      • 15+ years of institutional / operational experience in Fortune 100 consulting and financial services firms
      • CFA Charter holder and fully credentialed actuary (Investments focus)

      Kimia Sadeghi

      • Founder of two startups (tech and beverage)
      • Private plane pilot
      • B.S. in Business Administration from Babson College

      Victor McGuire

      • Music Production and Technology Masters from Berkley College of Music 
      • Enjoys time with his wife and two children; looking to start a fund within 2 years
      • Graduate USAF Academy Colorado Springs 2009
       
       

      Jack Schow

      • Founder of Tremendous View Capital, a space focused venture fund
      • Member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation's Patron's Board
      • BFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design

      Karan Poddar

      • Traveled to 41 countries 
      • Very curious, love learning about new fields and exploring disruptive technology
      • Skydived
      • BA in Political Science from UMass
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