# David C. Novak

> David C. Novak is a seed investor at Yum! Brands backing Apps, Sports and Baseball. See 2 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Yum! Brands](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/yum-brands-inc)
- Total investments: 2
- Last investment: Jan 2022
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-novak-ogo

David C. Novak is a seed investor at Yum! Brands focused on Apps and Sports. David C. Novak became Chairman of the Board on January 1, 2001, and Chief Executive Officer of Yum! on January 1, 2000. He was also President of Yum! from October 1997 to May 2012. David previously served as Group President and Chief Executive Officer, KFC and Pizza Hut from August 1996 to July 1997, at which time he became acting Vice Chairman ofYum!. He also held senior management positions at Pepsi-Cola Company, including Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Novak shapes the Company’s overall strategic direction, including three key strategies: 1) build powerful brands through superior marketing, breakthrough innovation and compelling value with a foundation built on winning food and world class operations; 2) drive aggressive unit expansion everywhere, especially in emerging markets, and build leading brands in every significant category in China and India; and 3) create industry-leading returns through franchising and disciplined use of capital and maximize long-term shareholder value. Additionally, he devotes much of his time each year to personally teach leadership skills to the Company’s management and franchisees, emphasizing teamwork and a belief in people that rewards and recognizes customer-focused behavior.Reporting to him are the division Chief Executive Officers of Yum! Restaurants China, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the President of Yum! Restaurants India and senior corporate officers. Novak is on the board of directors of the Yum! Brands Foundation and World Food Program USA. Additionally, he is a member of The Business Council and The American Society for Corporate Executives, while also devoting considerable personal support to the United Nations World Food Programme and Dare to Care Food Bank hunger relief. Novak is the recipient of the 2012 UN World Food Program Leadership Award for Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief effort that raises awareness, volunteerism and funds to address this global problem. He is also the recipient of the national 2008 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Apps | 1 | 50% |
| Sports | 1 | 50% |
| Baseball | 1 | 50% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Mustard | Mustard is an elite-level motion analysis app for broad athletics coaching. Mustard's platform conducts complex data analysis of video captured in-app on a player or coach's mobile phone and delivers easily understandable report cards along with personalized, actionable drills to optimize performance. The robust AI technology andapplication suite, to expand into additional sports, and to build out an elite and robust mental performance training platform for all athletes.Mustard was founded in 2019 by Tom House, Jason Goldsmith, Luke Collis, and Rocky Collis. | $3.8M | Seed | Jan 18, 2022 |  |
| Mustard | Mustard is an elite-level motion analysis app for broad athletics coaching. Mustard's platform conducts complex data analysis of video captured in-app on a player or coach's mobile phone and delivers easily understandable report cards along with personalized, actionable drills to optimize performance. The robust AI technology andapplication suite, to expand into additional sports, and to build out an elite and robust mental performance training platform for all athletes.Mustard was founded in 2019 by Tom House, Jason Goldsmith, Luke Collis, and Rocky Collis. | $1.7M | Seed | Sep 04, 2020 |  |

2 of 2 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Intersect VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/intersect-vc) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Shasta Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/shasta-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Global Rugby Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/global-rugby-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [LEAD](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lead-sports-accelerator) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [leAD Lake Nona Sports & Health Academy](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lead-sports-lake-nona-accelerator) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [MLS Players Association](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mls-players-association) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Yum! Brands

VC Fund · Louisville, United States

Yum! is a quick-service restaurant brand that primarily operates the likes of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Yum! Brands has over 39,000 restaurants in more than 130 countries and territories and more than 1 million associates worldwide. It was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

5 contacts available at Yum! Brands.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| David C. Novak | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-c-novak |
| David Russell | Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-russell-3 |
| Greg Creed | Chief Executive Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/greg-creed-2 |
| Jonathan Blum | Senior Vice President, Chief Public Affairs and Global Nutrition Officer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jonathan-blum |
| Mirian M. Graddick Weir | Board Of Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mirian-m-graddick-weir |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does David C. Novak invest in?

David C. Novak invests primarily in Apps, Sports and Baseball startups, most often at Seed stage. Most of the 2 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did David C. Novak last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for David C. Novak closed in Jan 2022. Shizune tracks 2 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co