# Top 50 Hospitality Angel Investors in June 2026 ## Erik Blachford - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Travel, E-Commerce, Marketplace Erik Blachford is based out of San Francisco, California and is on the Board of Directors at Fora. Erik has previously served as CEO of Expedia, Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp's travel division, IAC Travel (including online travel businesses Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Classic Custom Vacations and Interval International), CEO atButterfield & Robinson and CEO at Terrapass, Inc.His prior positions at Expedia Inc. included SVP of Marketing & Planning and various roles in product management. Erik is an active private company investor, serving on boards including Glassdoor, Zillow, Siteminder, Liftopia and Terrapass, and participates in non-profit boards including EcoAmerica, The Cutting Ball Theatre and the US National Council of the World Wildlife Fund.Erik holds a bachelor's degree in English and certificate in theatre from Princeton University and a master's in business administration from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. ## Joanne Wilson - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 5 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: E-Commerce, Mobile, Retail Joanne Wilson is based out of New York, New York and is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gotham. Joanne Wilson attended Simmons College. ## Jonathan Wasserstrum - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Real Estate, Software, FinTech Jonathan graduated from Columbia Business School in May 2012. Prior to business school, Jonathan worked in the International Capital Group at Jones Lang LaSalle where he advised foreign and domestic clients on more than $3 billion worth of transactions globally. ## Fabrice Grinda - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Marketplace, Internet 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 currentlyinvesting 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. ## Lorenz Bogaert - Type: Angel - Location: Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, SaaS Lorenz is co-founder and CEO Ghent-based start-up studio StarApps. He also co-founded early stage investment fund Pitchdrive. He previously created Netlog, Twoo (exit to Tinder), Realo (exit to Axel Springer), Delta (exit to eToro) and Rydoo (exit to Sodexo). ## Jason Calacanis - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Internet, Artificial Intelligence Jason Calacanis is the Founder and CEO of Inside.com and Launch. He previously worked at Weblogs as a Co-Founder and CEO. Jason Calacanis attended Fordham University. ## Scott Banister - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Software, Internet, Mobile Scott is an American entrepreneur and angel investor. He is best known as a co-founder of IronPort and an early advisor and board member at PayPal.Scott Banister started his career as a pioneer in the email business. He was Founder and VP of Technology at ListBot, the largest ASP for business email list hosting. ListBot was acquired byMicrosoft. After ListBot, Scott spent his time working with other start-ups as a board member and investor. These start-ups include eVoice, creator of the first email-enabled home voicemail service, which was acquired by AOL in 2001. He served as VP of Ideas at idealab!, where he contributed numerous innovations, including the unique bid-for-placement search engine model that powers Overture. In December 2000, with Scott Weiss, Banister co-founded IronPort, an email appliance provider that was acquired in 2007 by Cisco for US$830 million.Scott Banister is co-founder and Chairman of Other private equity investments include Zappos.com, LiveOps, Facebook, Hi5.com, Tagged.com, iLike, and Causes.com.Banister attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which he dropped out in 1996 to move to Silicon Valley. He currently lives in Half Moon Bay, California with his wife Cyan. ## Keith Rabois - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Internet Keith Rabois is based out of United States and is the Managing Director of Khosla Ventures and also Board of Directors of Spellbook. Keith previously worked at Square as a COO. Keith Rabois attended the Stanford University. ## Thibaud Elziere - Type: Angel - Location: Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Internet, Information Technology Thibaud Elziere is the Founder of Hexa. He previously worked at Fotolia as a Founder. Thibaud Elziere attended Technical University of Berlin. ## Rudy Gadre - Type: Angel - Location: Seattle, Washington, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Mobile, E-Commerce Rudy Gadre is Partner at Founder's Co-op. Rudy Gadre is an active angel Investor and is also an Advisor to startups. Rudy Gadre served as Vice President and General Counsel of Facebook, where Rudy Gadre was responsible for all legal matters since January 2006. In 1999, he joined Amazon and served as its Vice President and Associate GeneralCounsel for Business Development, intellectual property, and new technologies. He was the Principal Legal Negotiator for Amazon's most significant strategic alliances and joint ventures, where Rudy Gadre oversaw the development and licensing of patents and other intellectual property, and was responsible for all legal aspects of Amazon's new technology initiatives. From September 1994 to February 1999, Rudy Gadre worked at Perkins Coie LLP, as an Associate in the technology business group. At Perkins, he represented clients ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies in a diverse array of matters, including joint ventures, development, protection and licensing of intellectual property, and mergers and acquisitions. Rudy Gadre served as Vice President of Business Operations at Evri, Inc, from September 2008 to July 2010. He serves as a Member of Strategic Advisory Board at Syntonic Limited. He served as a Director of Jobaline.com Inc. He served as an Independent Director of The W Fund. He is a passionate supporter of the Seattle technology ecosystem. He was recognized by Washington Law and Politics magazine as a "Super Lawyer" in 2003 and 2004. Rudy Gadre holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Franklin and Marshall College and graduated from the University of Washington School of Law. ## Eric Ries - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Internet, SaaS Eric Ries is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Long-Term Stock Exchange. He previously worked at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as a Venture Advisor. Eric Ries attended Yale University. ## Frederic Halley - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Retail Frederic is an investor focusing on early-stage technology companies in Europe. Some of his area of interests include Retailtech, Saas, AI and traveltech. He has a long experience working with technology companies as an operator, an advisor or a Non-Executive Director (NED) / Board Member. ## Michael Bristow - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Equity Crowdfunding - Focus: Real Estate, SaaS, Software Experienced business leader with a proven track record as CEO of CrowdProperty, where I delivered >20x revenue growth, 7-figure profitability whilst scaling up, and a leading market position. With 18 years strategy consulting experience, I specialise in defining clear and differentiated strategies, driving transformation and creating value incomplex environments for mid-cap to large-scale corporates and private equity owned businesses with experienced operator, investor, advisor and Board perspectives. Venture capital investor and advisor to HM Government on tackling constraints to SME business growth (99.9% of businesses in the UK supporting 27m jobs with £4.5tn of annual turnover).Key skills: • Leadership • Strategy • Growth • Transformation • Value-creation • Consulting • Private Equity / Venture Capital • Capital Raising • Commercial Due Diligence • Board-Level Governance • Stakeholder ManagementToolkit: • 18 years strategy/transformation/private equity consulting • 7 years transformational growth CEO • 6 years venture capital investment committee • Multiple Board positions (Executive & Non-Executive) • Broad sector experience to leverage • International perspective working in 18 countries and on many more • Multi-asset class investor • London Business School MBA • FT Non-Executive Director Diploma • Chartered Management Accountant • 1st Class Masters in Mechanical EngineeringAwards & Recognition: • CrowdProperty has been widely recognised including in the ‘Sunday Times Hundred’ (Britain's fastest growing profitable businesses), Deloitte Fast 50 / Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (UK’s/EMEA’s fastest growing technology businesses), and the Financial Times FT1000 (fastest growing businesses in Europe) for 4 consecutive years; Selected for high-profile scaleup programmes including ‘TechNation Fintech 5.0’, ‘Silicon Valley comes to the UK Scaleup Club’ and a ‘WIRED Trailblazer’ • Personally recognised as a finalist in 'Tech Entrepreneur of the Year' in the Go:Tech Awards, finalist in ‘Inspirational Leader of the Year’ at the UK PropTech Awards, awarded 'Entrepreneur of the Year' and 'Business Person of the Year' by the Midlands Business Awards and featured in the Alternative Credit Investor Power 50 list 5 years in a row (top 10 in 2022)Other: • Angel investing: London Business School E100 member; UKBAA member; 12+ years angel investing; 35+ investments • Real estate investing: 20+ years building an extensive residential property portfolio across tenant segments • Sport: ECB Cricket Foundation Coach, MCC Member; Active player ## Travis Foxhall - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: B2B, FinTech, Payments Travis Foxhall is based out of New York, New York, and is the Chief Financial Officer of Clara. Travis previously worked at Point72 Ventures as an Investment Vice President. Travis Foxhall attended Yale University. ## Jose Marin - Type: Angel - Location: Madrid, Madrid, Spain - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Internet, Retail Jose Marin started his professional career as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.In 1999 he co-founded DeRemate.com (eBay model for Latin America). The company raised 75 M USD, did a partial cash-out sale to Terra and later merged with Mercado Libre that went Public in Nasdaq .Currently Jose is co-Founder and co-CEO of IGExpansion. IG takes successful internet business models into emerging markets (main focus Brazil). IG builds one project per year and will not build more than 6 (investing the first 3 to 5 M USD per project). 5 of the 6 are already operating being Viajanet (Expedia for Latam) its biggest success.Jose is also founder of Serendipity Investments, company that has invested in >70 start-ups. Before this, Jose invested in projects such as Bazee (auctions sold to eBay in 2005) and eDreams (European Travel site sold to TA Associates in 2006) obtaining top tier returns.Jose is a Mechanical and Electrical Engineer and holds an MBA and an MA in International development Economics from Stanford. ## Kees Koolen - Type: Angel - Location: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Travel, Hospitality Kees Koolen is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Koolen Industries. Previously Kees was COO, CEO and Chairman of booking.com. Kees was advisor to Uber from 2012-2017 concerning international rollout. ## Rick Marini - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Internet, Mobile Rick Marini is the Co-Founder, President and COO of Rails. He previously worked at Grindr as a Chief Operating Officer. Rick Marini attended Harvard Business School. ## Bhavik Bajaj - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel - Focus: Information Technology, Software, FinTech Bhavik Bajaj ## Nicolaj Nielsen - Type: Angel - Location: Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel, Seed - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence Nicolaj nielsen is an investor at IDUN audio. attended INSEAD MBA, General Management. ## Eddie Lou - Type: Angel - Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Marketplace, Business Intelligence Eddie Lou is the Board Director and Investor of HiLink. He holds an MBA and a B.S. in Engineering from Washington University. ## Dave McClure - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, SaaS, Enterprise Software Dave McClure is the founder of Practical Venture Capital and has been an investor and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for over twenty-five years. Previously he was the founding partner of 500 Startups, a global VC firm and startup accelerator with over $500M in assets under management. Dave has invested in hundreds of companies around the world,including more than 15 unicorns and 5 IPOs. He was named by Forbes as one of the top VCs in the world in 2016 and 2017 (Forbes Midas List). Before 500 Startups, Dave worked at Founders Fund and PayPal, and he graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 1988 with a BS in engineering and applied mathematics. ## Chris Dixon - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, Internet, Blockchain Chris Dixon is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-leads its $350M crypto fund. Previously, Chris was the cofounder and CEO of two startups, SiteAdvisor and Hunch. SiteAdvisor was an internet security company that warned web users of security threats. The company was acquired by McAfee in 2006. Hunch was a recommendation technologycompany that was acquired by eBay in 2011.Chris has been a prolific seed investor, cofounding Founder Collective, a seed venture fund, and making a number of personal angel investments in various technology companies. Chris started programming as a kid, and was a professional programmer after college at the high-speed options trading firm, Arbitrade. He has a BA and MA in Philosophy from Columbia and an MBA from Harvard. He has written about his theories and experiences as an entrepreneur and investor on Medium, and before that at cdixon.org; his a16z Podcast appearances can be found at https://a16z.com/author/chris-dixon/ ## Jared Schrieber - Type: Angel - Location: Budapest, Budapest, Hungary - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Hospitality, Information Technology Jared Schrieber - Co-Founder & Board Member @ Numerator ## Lord Rumi Verjee - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: E-Commerce, Hospitality, Restaurants Lord Rumi Verjee is the Founder of Domino’s UK & The Rumi Foundation. ## Tom Ryan - Type: Angel - Location: Los Angeles, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Music, E-Commerce, Mobile Tom Ryan is CEO and Co-Founder of Pluto TV and President, CEO, and Streaming at Paramount, the leading free streaming television service in America that is also available in 22 countries across Europe and Latin America. Pluto TV carries and programs more than 250 live channels and thousands of on-demand movies and TV shows in partnership withhundreds of major TV networks, movie studios, publishers, and digital media companies. Each month over 36 million viewers tune in to watch premium news, TV shows, movies, sports, live events, cartoons, and trending digital series on mobile, web, and living room devices. Pluto TV is a top free app on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android mobile, and also powers built-in streaming television services on Vizio LG, and Samsung smart TVs. Earlier in his career, Tom served as CEO of Threadless (a popular crowdsourced design and e-commerce company), SVP of Digital Strategy at EMI Music as well as co-founder of Cductive (an early digital music retailer company that he merged with eMusic). He holds an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from INSEAD in France. ## Paul Buchheit - Type: Angel - Location: Mountain View, California, United States - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Health Care Paul Buchheit is based out of Mountain View, California and is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Standard Capital. Paul Buchheit attended Case Western Reserve University. ## Vikal K - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: E-Commerce, Hospitality, Restaurants Vikal Kapoor of New York, NY is a global executive, investor and futurist with a keen sense of the global forces and next-gen tech that unlock value for founders, investors and markets that yield socially positive consequences. He focuses on the confluence of strategy, sales and tech as applied to VC, PE and LP backed cos including success atProton Enterprises, Bloomberg, SevenTrain Ventures, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. ## Shintaro Yamada - Type: Angel - Location: Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Internet, Finance, Information Technology During his years at Waseda University, Shintaro worked at Japan’s biggest e-commerce mall, Rakuten, Inc. On August 1st 2001, Shintaro established “Unoh Inc.” after graduating university. At Unoh he was responsible for designing and developing several web services, one of which was the online magazine subscription . Services provided by Unohinclude planning, development and management of the film enthusiast community site “Movie Life” (acquired by PIA Corporation) as well as “Sugu.CC” , “NeoAd” (both acquired by GMOAP) and the photo sharing site “Photozou” (acquired by Digital Garage).In 2009 Unoh entered into social gaming, creating multiple successful social games. Among these games, “Machitsuku!” has been its biggest hit with over 5 million users. On August 3rd 2010, Unoh joined Zynga and Shintaro became General Manager of Zynga Japan. He resigned on January 2012. After traveling around the world, He established the new company “Mercari, Inc.” on February 2013 and released the resale shopping app “Mercari” on July 2013 in Japan.He is a true Internet geek, spending a lot of time on the Internet and boasts around 180,000 followers on Twitter. ## Paco Gimena - Type: Angel - Location: Palma, Islas Baleares, Spain - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Hospitality, Marketing Automation Paco Gimena is Co-Founder at Mola since November 2012. Paco is a Medical Doctor (Phisician), IESE MBA as professional drive, Managing Director of hotel chains in the past, and "internetero" as actual life project. Through Mola Paco is currently involved in supporting, financing and accelerating the following companies: Alquiler.com -Calzadoo.com - Bankimia.com - Destinity.com - Grupea.com - Salud.es - JobLinker.com - Zoco.com - Mola Gestion - Mola.fm - Mola Representations UK - - Playspace.com - Minics.com - PriceBets.com - BelleVip.com - Socities.com - ToTombola.com - PortBooker.com. ## Edward Lando - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Health Care, Information Technology Edward Lando is the founder of Pareto Holdings. He previously worked at Horizons School of Technology as a co-founder. Edward Lando attended the Wharton School. ## Hugh Crean - Type: Angel - Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Travel, Mobile, Hospitality Hugh Crean is the current Chief Executive Officer of Operix. He previously worked at JPK Capital as an Operating Partner. Hugh Crean attended Boston College. ## David Buttress - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Mobile, Food Delivery, E-Commerce David Buttress is a Venture Partner at 83North. ## Jason Manolopoulos - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Rental, Internet, Automotive Jason has over 24 years of investing experience with a focus on emerging markets, both in investment banks and fund managers. Jason co-founded the fund management company Dromeus Capital in April 2008 and served as Chief Investment Officer and member of its Executive and Investment Committees. He is an active mentor of the start-up community,advising many Greek start-ups. His start-up investment activity began in 2010. ## Chris Sang - Type: Angel - Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, SaaS Venture Capitalist, Managing Partner, Chief Technology Officer ## Eric Chen - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series C - Focus: E-Commerce, Travel, Hospitality Eric Chen joined Silver Lake in 2008 and is a Managing Director. Prior to Silver Lake, Dr. Chen was a Senior Vice President and Executive Committee member of ASML, a global leader in semiconductor technology. Dr. Chen joined ASML following its acquisition of Brion Technologies in 2007, the company he co-founded in 2002 and served as the CEO sinceinception. He was formerly a Senior Vice President at J.P. Morgan, where he coordinated the global research effort in the electronics sector and conducted equity research for a number of technology segments. Earlier in his career, Dr. Chen conducted theoretical physics research at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire ("CERN") and at the Advanced Product Research Development Laboratory and MOS-13 facility for Motorola. Dr. Chen is currently on the board of Allyes Online Media Holding and Hillstone Networks. Previously, he served on the boards of Nobao Renewable Energy Holdings Limited and Varian Semiconductor. Dr. Chen was born and raised in China and is bilingual in English and Chinese (Mandarin). He represented China in the International Physics Olympics in Germany, earning the Silver Medal. Dr. Chen studied Physics at Peking University and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. ## Adam Brownstein - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Hospitality, Travel, Internet Adam Brownstein is the General Manager and Senior Vice President at Partnerize. ## Mehmet Onarcan - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Apps, Internet, Social Network Mehmet Onarcan is the Founder of Mentors Network Turkey. He previously worked at Project House as an Advisory Board Member - Digital Transformation. Mehmet Onarcan attended Yildiz Technical University. ## Björn Lindberg - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Series A - Focus: SaaS, Software, Hospitality Former CCO TradeDoubler and iZettle ## Jeffrey Vinik - Type: Angel - Location: Deal, New Jersey, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series C, Series A - Focus: Health Care, Software, Information Technology Jeffrey N. Vinik is the current owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm, as well as a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox. He is also on the board of directors for Liverpool Football Club of the Premier League. ## Michael Conyers - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Series A - Focus: SaaS, Software, Hospitality Founder and former CEO Resdiary ## Shaun White - Type: Angel - Location: Los Angeles, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: E-Commerce, Hospitality, Retail Born in San Diego, California in 1986, Shaun Roger White endured two major surgeries to correct a heart defect before he was 1 years old. Despite this challenging start Shaun proved he was far from frail, charging into sports like surfing, soccer and snowboarding at a young age. Shaun grew up in a family of five and one of the family'sfavorite pastimes included skiing. At the age of 4, Shaun proved to be fearless on his skis racing down the slopes with older brother Jesse. In an attempt to slow down Shaun when he was 6, his mom decided to put him on a snowboard and instructed him to copy everything Jesse did. Unfortunately for her, it only encouraged Shaun to go faster.While Shaun was being lauded as a snowboard prodigy, in the summertime he was simultaneously turning heads on the skateboard scene. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk befriended the 9-year-old at a skate park and mentored the up-and-comer, encouraging Shaun and helping him turn pro at the age of 17. Participating in both sports was far from usual, but for Shaun this duality helped excel his progression. ## Greg Greeley - Type: Angel - Location: Seattle, Washington, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: SaaS, Travel, Internet Greg Greeley is the Chief Executive Officer of Thrasio and TCV as an Executive Advisor. He previously worked at Airbnb as a President of Homes. Greg Greeley attended the University of Southern California. ## Nevzat Aydın - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Internet, Software, E-Commerce Nevzat Aydın is the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, the first and biggest online food delivery portal in Turkey.Born in 1976 in İstanbul, Nevzat Aydın completed his secondary education at the Bursa Anatolian High School. Following his graduation from Boğaziçi University Department of Computer Engineering, he went to the United States where he receivedhis MBA at the University of San Francisco in Silicon Valley.During his stay in the United States, Aydın followed the latest developments on e-trade before he returned to Turkey in 2000 to launch his project, Yemeksepeti.com. Serving as the CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, Nevzat Aydın introduced a brand new dimension to e-trade in Turkey.In 2007, Yemeksepeti.com was selected the “Endeavor Entreprenur” by Endeavor Turkey. Aydin was also selected the “Most Successful Turkish Young Entrepreneur” by the CNBC-e Business magazine in 2010 for his successful work since the foundation of Yemeksepeti.com.As the founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, which celebrated its 11th anniversary in 2012, he won the first prize in 2011 in the “Male Entrepreneur of the Year” category at the “Businesspeople of the Year” survey conducted by the Ekonomist magazine among nearly 3,000 business people.Aydin is a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Supreme Board of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, and a founding member of Galata Business Angels.Aydın was one of the 150 entrepreneurs invited from all over the world to the Entrepreneurship Summit held by US President Barack Obama on April 26-27, 2010.He was also among the speakers at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) Conference, which is deemed as one of the world's most prestigious conferences with its content on innovation and developments in the digital world. He is also an editorial advisor of GQ Turkey, one of the 5 “dragons” of the Dragons’ Den Turkey show, and a Board Member of Trabzonspor sports club. ## Pankaj Jain - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Analytics, SaaS, Mobile Pankaj Jain is the Managing Partner at Saka Ventures. Previously, he was a Partner at 500 Startups, a California based seed fund and accelerator program. Pankaj focuses on investing in early stage startups across New York City, India, South Asia and has led investments in over fifty companies at 500 Startups across 6 countries.Pankaj spent over12 years in the Financial industry at firms such as JP Morgan, Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) and GlobeOp Financial Services in various operational roles including enterprise mortgage risk management, application development, market data infrastructure, trade management, pricing infrastructure and customer service areas.In 2007, Pankaj’s adventures in India began, where he started a company building an on-demand, employment marketplace for the under-served. In 2008, Pankaj became a co-founder of the HeadStart Network Foundation and the led the efforts in Delhi. In late 2010, he began setting up Startup Weekend in India. ## Wayne Chang - Type: Angel - Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, SaaS, Internet Wayne Chang is the Founder and CEO of Patented.ai. He previously worked at Crashlytics as a Co-Founder and Chairman. Wayne Chang attended the University of Massachusetts. ## Serguei Netessine - Type: Angel - Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Artificial Intelligence, E-Commerce, Software Serguei Netessine is Vice-Dean for Global Initiatives and Dhirubhai Ambani Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Operations, Information and Decisions Department at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He lived and worked in Russia, USA, France and Singapore., author and speaker on innovation.Prof. Netessine receivedBS/MS degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology and, after working for Motorola and Lucent Technologies, he also received MS/Ph.D. degrees in Operations Management from the University of Rochester. His current research focuses on business model innovation and operational excellence and he worked on these topics with numerous organizations including Federal Aviation Administration (USA), Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Rolls Royce, Comcast, Expedia, ABB and US Air Force. He serves on advisory boards of multiple startup companies and regularly speaks on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.Professor Netessine has been the recipient of several teaching awards for delivering classes to MBA and Executive MBA students at the Wharton School and INSEAD, and he frequently teaches in Executive Education Programs. Prolific academic writer, professor Netessine holds senior editorial positions at several leading academic journals and he co-authored dozens of publications in prominent management journals, including Management Science, Operations Research, Harvard Business Review and other. His work has received extensive media coverage in CIO Magazine, the Economist, Forbes, Multichannel Merchant, New York Times, US News and Strategy & Business and other press. He regularly blogs about innovation on http://www.renaissanceinnovator.com and HBR Network. His latest book on Business Model Innovation is forthcoming with Harvard Business Press in 2014. ## Terry Jones - Type: Angel - Location: Incline Village, Nevada, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Travel, Internet, Blockchain Terry is a Special Venture Partner who focuses on identifying new investment opportunities for GC in the areas of travel and leisure, transportation, and e-commerce. He also works with the firm's existing portfolio companies on strategic partnerships and business development.Before joining GC, Terry founded Travelocity.com, a pioneeringonline travel site. He led Travelocity.com as President and CEO from its inception until May 2002. In March 2000, Terry took the Company (TSG) public. Prior to his stint at Travelocity.com, Terry was CTO of Sabre, Inc. In his 24 years at Sabre, he served at the executive level in various roles, including president of decision technologies, vice president of applications development, and vice president of product development.Terry helps travel-related companies improve their digital marketing efforts and makes frequent appearances as a keynote speaker and on major television news stations to comment on trends in e-commerce and travel. He serves on the Board of Directors of Entrust, Inc. and Overture Services, Inc.Terry is a graduate of Denison University, earning a B.A. in history. ## Sercan Alici - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Equity Crowdfunding - Focus: Pet, Hospitality, Photography Sercan Alici ## Alexandre GRUX - Type: Angel - Location: Paris, Ile-de-France, France - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Pre-Seed - Focus: Hospitality, Events, Travel Alexandre GRUX is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hyperlex and also working at Réseau Entreprendre Paris. He was the Head of Research and Innovation at Kyriba Corporation and Co-Founder of Odyssey 38. Mr. Grux graduated from Normal School Superior of Cachan with an MS in Numerical computations and mathematical optimization major. ## Cyan Banister - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Software, Internet, Social Media Cyan Banister is a partner at Founders Fund, where she invests across sectors and stages with a particular interest in augmented reality, fertility, heavily regulated industries and businesses that help people with basic skills find meaningful work. Prior to joining Founders Fund, Cyan was an active angel investor with a portfolio including Uber,Thumbtack, SpaceX, Postmates, EShares, Affirm and Niantic, creator of Pokémon GO. A self-taught engineer and entrepreneur, Cyan has held a number of technical leadership positions throughout her career. As an early employee at IronPort, which was acquired by Cisco, Cyan oversaw support infrastructure and performance for a global customer base. She has a passion for the arts and is a voracious film, documentary and media consumer.