# Howard Marks

> Howard Marks is a seed investor backing Advertising and Social Media. See 5 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Oct 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: Los Angeles, United States
- Total investments: 5
- Last investment: May 2015
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardemarks/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/howardmarks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howard.marks

Howard Marks is a seed investor in Los Angeles focused on Advertising and Social Media. Howard Marks is the founder and co-chair of StartEngine, Los Angeles' largest startup accelerator, determined to make LA a top tech entrepreneurial city.Marks was the founder and CEO of Acclaim Games (now owned by Disney), and the co-Founder of Activision and Chairman of Activision Studios (1991-1997). In 1991, Marks and a partnertransformed ailing video game giant Activision into a $14B market cap video game industry leader. Marks has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, is bilingual and is a triple national of the U.S., United Kingdom, and France, and has over 30 years of experience as a veteran of the technology industry.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Howard Marks: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/howard-marks?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Advertising | 2 | 40% |
| Social Media | 2 | 40% |
| SaaS | 1 | 20% |
| Video | 1 | 20% |
| Gaming | 1 | 20% |

18 industries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| truBrain | truBrain is building the next generation performance food and beverage brand. We leverage neurotechnology to redesign solutions in food and beverage, starting by disrupting the energy drink market with products that support direct focus instead of caffeine-induced alertness.truBrain is backed by SherpaVentures, Brightstone Venture Capital, andthe Start Engine accelerator fund. | $1.4M | Seed | May 07, 2015 | http://trubrain.com |
| Enplug | Enplug is the first large-scale open platform for digital displays. Enplug’s mini device turns any TV into interactive and realtime displays for businesses. The software technology is unique in the industry because it is plug-and-play, showcases interactive and realtime social media, and is built as an app framework. The Enplug App Market letsbusinesses choose a variety of content to display including live social media feeds, product videos, news, weather, and many other third-party developed apps.350+ companies use Enplug to manage and distribute content on their network of displays including Marriott, Silicon Valley Bank, Toyota, Crossfit Gyms, Los Angeles International Airport, and Rok Sushi. | $2.5M | Seed | Apr 17, 2014 | http://www.enplug.com |
| Flinja | Flinja is the Uber for Work. Initially targeting the college demographic, Flinja has a marketplace of over 100,000 students and alumni who have been vetted by school and area of expertise. Businesses come to Flinja to hyper target students to hire for a variety of projects. Flinja matches real time demand with real time supply.On Flinja, bothstudents and alumni can post a service, write and read reviews on each other, and create a work profile for the world to see.Flinja has won several accolades including Best Social Product at Demo Fall 2012, Top 5 Startups to Watch by GigaOm, LeWeb Paris 2013 Top 3 Finalist, and was recently a SXSW Edu 2013 Finalist.53% of recent college grads are finding themselves under or unemployed, yet there are millions of jobs left unfilled. Flinja solves this by providing a platform where students can gain skills and build relevant work experience completing projects while in school. It allows startups and large companies alike to quickly test out the talent of tomorrow at a fraction of the cost. | $20K | Seed | Oct 13, 2013 | http://www.flinja.com |
| Synosure Games | Synosure Games is a mobile game builder that creates console-like experiences on mobile that give players quality content, depth, and re-playability. It currently develops games for Virtual Reality on Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus.Synosure Games’ first game, CostZ of Living - Zombie Wholesale is an action packed Zombie Defense Game with roleplay elements, strategic social friend team-ups, and a game experience that is viral in itself. CostZ of Living - Zombie Wholesale is free to play with premium downloadable content.Synosure Games can easily port its games to Synosure Games was launched in 2013 by | $20K | Seed | Feb 04, 2013 | http://www.synosuregames.com |
| Ember, Inc. | Ember is the first demand-side online advertising platform solely focused on video. We help advertisers reach their target audiences. Using fine-tuned proprietary algorithms, Ember’s technology allows advertisers to allocate their video advertising budgets efficiently and effectively, reaching desired target demographics even without the use ofcookies. |  | Seed | Oct 01, 2012 | http://www.goember.com |

5 of 5 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Blueberry Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/blueberryventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Brightstone Venture Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brightstone-venture-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Idealab](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/idealab) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Juniper Networks](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/juniper-networks) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Kaplan EdTech Accelerator](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kaplan-edtech-accelerator) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Oaktree Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/oaktree-capital-management) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Howard Marks invest in?

Howard Marks invests primarily in Advertising, Social Media and SaaS startups, most often at Seed stage. Most of the 5 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 Howard Marks?

Public channels for Howard Marks include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook. 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 Howard Marks last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Howard Marks closed in May 2015. Shizune tracks 5 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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