Derek Norton
Managing General Partner @ Watertower Ventures
Los Angeles, United States
Derek Norton is a seed investor at Watertower Ventures in Los Angeles focused on Audio and EdTech. Derek Norton is the Managing General Partner at Watertower Ventures. Derek Norton is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist, having spent his entire career building businesses and investing in groundbreaking technology companies.Derek is the founder and Managing General Partner of Watertower Ventures, a seed stage venture capital fundinvesting in visionary founders transforming large markets across industries that are being reimagined by AI Optimization and Proprietary Data. Areas of expertise include Capital Markets infrastructure, the Evolution of Media Tech and Proprietary IP, Embedded AI and the Future of Commerce. With a portfolio of over 50 companies, the firm makes 10-12 new pre-seed and seed stage investments per year, playing an active role in supporting the founders and companies they invest in to grow their businesses and realize their vision.Previous to Watertower Ventures, Derek founded Watertower Advisors, an industry-leading boutique investment bank advising some of the most innovative technology, internet, and digital media companies. In his role there, Derek advised over 250 companies, including Widevine, ExtendMedia, Envivio, Riot Games, and Machinima, where he created a differentiated approach to capital formation, fundraising, and M&A.Prior to Watertower Advisors, Derek founded and built three successful companies, including Entertainment Media Ventures, Jeffries Technologies, and Digital Boardwalk. Entertainment Media Ventures was a $120 million seed and early stage venture capital fund; Jeffries Technologies a technology systems integrator that became one of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies; and Digital Boardwalk was Netscape’s second commercial application partner and one of the first web service providers.Derek holds a BA in Communications from the University of Southern California. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on the subject of venture capital investing specifically in the areas of transformative technologies, the future of commerce, evolution of media, and consumer tech. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Derek and his wife support numerous charities focused on improving the lives and education of under-privileged youths, is a former member of the board of directors of The Fulfillment Fund, and previously served as Vice President of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporaries.
- Total investments:
- 8
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 25%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Derek Norton invests in
Stages Derek Norton invests in
Countries Derek Norton invests in
Contacts
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Investment Focus
Industry
- Audio 1 (13%)
- EdTech 1 (13%)
- Mobile 1 (13%)
- Eyewear 1 (13%)
- Podcast 1 (13%)
Stage
- Seed 3 (38%)
- Pre-Seed 2 (25%)
- Series A 1 (13%)
- Series B 1 (13%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 1 (13%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Improve your coding skills instantaneously using AI. Kodezi is Grammarly for programmers. | $1.1M / Pre-Seed / May 23, 2022 | ||
| Stoovo's mission is to redefine how delivery companies operate, focusing on the crucial "last meter" that traditional systems ignore. | $2.4M / Seed / Mar 02, 2021 | ||
| Wondery, a network of storytellers, creates and curates immersive podcasts including Sword & Scale, Dirty John, American History Tellers, Business Wars, Hollywood & Crime, Something You Should Know, and over 50 others. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in West Hollywood, California, United States. | $10M / Series B / Jun 27, 2019 | ||
| The home of mobile gaming’s greatest hits — all in one subscription. Available across iOS and Android. | $2.5M / Seed / May 02, 2019 | ||
| Lensabl offers an online prescription lens replacement service focused on making it both convenient and affordable for consumers to purchase high-quality lenses from the comfort of their home. The company was established in 2015 by co-founders Andy Bilinsky and Mike Rahimzadeh. | $3M / Seed / Oct 17, 2018 | ||
| Wondery, a network of storytellers, creates and curates immersive podcasts including Sword & Scale, Dirty John, American History Tellers, Business Wars, Hollywood & Crime, Something You Should Know, and over 50 others. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in West Hollywood, California, United States. | $5M / Series A / Mar 29, 2018 | ||
| Lensabl offers an online prescription lens replacement service focused on making it both convenient and affordable for consumers to purchase high-quality lenses from the comfort of their home. The company was established in 2015 by co-founders Andy Bilinsky and Mike Rahimzadeh. | $300K / Pre-Seed / May 16, 2017 | ||
| Trinity Mobile Networks seeks to improve data speed and total network bandwidth for mobile networks. The company develops wireless mesh networking technologies to provide affordable connectivity for its users.Trinity Mobile Networks has developed a new network architecture that improves the performance of mesh networks and an accompanyingandroid application which makes use of its platform. This application allows android devices to receive data through high-quality, inexpensive mesh connections and reduce their reliance on expensive cellular services. | $2.6M / Venture - Series Unknown / Apr 19, 2017 |
Co-Investors
About Watertower Ventures
We are a seed and early-stage venture capital fund actively investing in and supporting founders and their companies through a collaborative, partnership-driven approach. We want to be the first investor you speak with when you are raising your first venture round. We look to lead or play a meaningful role in your syndicate and reserve an equalamount of capital to support our founders as their companies evolve and grow.We invest in mission driven founders who are creating tomorrow's industry defining businesses that make people and work better. We focus on daily-use, vertical applications and platforms that facilitate commerce, collaboration, new forms of ownership, and authentic trusted communities across the Enterprise and Consumer.We are located in Los Angeles and invest in companies throughout Southern California, New York, the Bay Area, and Utah as well as other emerging U.S. Tech regions.
Watertower Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
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Derek Norton
Managing General Partner
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Idan Levy
Principal
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Jeremy Milken
General Partner
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Ana Carolina Scalercio
Associate
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FAQ
What does Derek Norton invest in?
Derek Norton invests primarily in Audio, EdTech and Mobile startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 8 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Derek Norton?
Public channels for Derek Norton include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Derek Norton last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Derek Norton closed in May 2022. Shizune tracks 8 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 Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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