# Ric Elias

> Ric Elias is a pre-seed investor at Red Ventures backing Gaming and Mobile. See 3 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Red Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/red-ventures)
- Location: Charlotte, United States
- Total investments: 3
- Last investment: Jun 2022
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricelias
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/ricelias
- Website: https://x.com/ricelias
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ric.elias1

Ric Elias is a pre-seed investor at Red Ventures in Charlotte focused on Gaming and Mobile. Ric attended Boston College and Harvard Business School before beginning his career as part of GE's Financial Management program. Ric co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, just days before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm and by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list.In 2009, Elias was a survivor of Flight 1549, anevent which drastically changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 things I learned while my plane crashed.” Elias is cited as aspiring to create the “Google of the East Coast” within his company’s culture and facilities.Ric's leadership style earned him noteworthy recognition in 2011, when he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year. His inspirational views on both business and family have been featured on CNN, TED Talks and MSNBC.Ric Elias is the co-founder and CEO of Red Ventures, a portfolio of digital companies headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. With over 3,000 employees in 10 US cities, Puerto Rico, the UK, and Brazil, Red Ventures’s digital platform spans across many industries, including home services, financial services, health services, education, and entertainment. Through its influential brands, strategic partnerships, and powerful technology platform, Red Ventures connects millions of people to premium content, intuitive digital experiences, and consumer advice to help make life’s most important decisions.Over the last decade, Red Ventures has compounded growth at over 30%. In 2010, General Atlantic made a strategic investment in the company, and in 2015 Silver Lake also joined as a shareholder. Ric has cultivated an award-winning and technology-centric company culture, ranking as one of Charlotte’s “Best Places to Work” for ten years in a row.A native of Puerto Rico, Ric graduated from Boston College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He co-founded Red Ventures in 2000, months before the dot-com bubble burst. The company weathered the storm; by 2007 it was ranked 4th on the Inc. 500 list. Ric’s leadership style has earned him noteworthy recognition; in 2011, he was named an Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2016 he was inducted into the Carolinas Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.In 2009, Ric survived Flight 1549, also known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” an event which changed his life and led to his widely viewed TED Talk “3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed.” In 2019, he launched a podcast, “3 Things with Ric Elias,” where he shares conversations and insights with top business leaders, athletes, and remarkable guests.In addition to being deeply committed to his family and Red Ventures, Ric is passionate about creating economic mobility opportunities for underserved groups who have the motivation and work ethic to succeed. In 2013, he founded and funded what is now Road to Hire, a 501(c)(3) that connects young adults with on-ramps to professional development and high-earning careers. Programs provided through the Road to Hire platform include career-readiness classes in Charlotte Mecklenberg Title 1 high schools, digital marketing courses at Johnson C. Smith University, on-the-job training and placement with top employers in Charlotte , and scholarships for high-performing undocumented students seeking college degrees.Additionally, in 2018 Ric launched Forward787, a $100M social enterprise committed to building digital businesses based in Puerto Rico. To date, the program has trained and supported more than 100 Puerto Rican professionals, fueling a new economic growth engine on the island.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Ric Elias: 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/ric-elias?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Gaming | 1 | 33% |
| Mobile | 1 | 33% |
| FinTech | 1 | 33% |
| Payments | 1 | 33% |
| Real Time | 1 | 33% |

7 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 33% |
| Series A | 1 | 33% |
| Series B | 1 | 33% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brazil | 1 | 33% |
| United States | 1 | 33% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 33% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Semafor | Semafor is the global news media. | $25M | Pre-Seed | Jun 22, 2022 |  |
| Wildlife Studios | Wildlife Studios is a mobile gaming company that develops games that will mark a generation. The company strives in its major disciplines, which are product, engineering, art, marketing, and data, expanding and building talented and passionate teams in its offices in Argentina, Brazil, Ireland, and the US. | $60M | Series A | Dec 05, 2019 |  |
| SwervePay | SwervePay develops payment solutions for the healthcare and auto service industries. The company’s products include a patient payment platform that integrates into an EHR in real-time and allows patients payments with no app to download or portal to log into; and a solution named “SwervePay Auto” designed to streamline the payment cycle from startto finish in the auto service industry. | $10M | Series B | Feb 09, 2016 |  |

3 of 3 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Base Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/base-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Benchmark](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/benchmark) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Bessemer Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bessemer-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [GE32 Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ge32-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Human Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/human-capital-da7c) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Next Play Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nextplay-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Red Ventures

VC Fund · Fort Mill, United States

Over the last twenty years, Red Ventures has built a portfolio of influential brands, digital platforms, and strategic partnerships that work together to connect millions of people with expert advice. Through premium content and personalized digital experiences, Red Ventures builds online journeys that make it easier for people to make importantdecisions about their homes, health, travel, finances, education and entertainment. Founded in 2000, Red Ventures has 3,000 employees in 10 cities across the US, as well as in the UK and Brazil. Red Ventures owns and operates several large digital brands including Healthline, The Points Guy, Bankrate, MYMOVE, and Allconnect.com.

5 contacts available at Red Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Brian Kelly | General Manager | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brian-kelly-aaba |
| Dan Feldstein | CMO and Co-Founder | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dan-feldstein |
| Jonathan Cobb | VP Engineering | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jonathan-cobb |
| Joshua Leibner | Director, Paid Media | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/joshua-leibner |
| Mark Brodsky | CFO & Founder | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mark-brodsky |

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## FAQ

### What does Ric Elias invest in?

Ric Elias invests primarily in Gaming, Mobile and FinTech startups, most often at Pre-Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 3 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Brazil. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Ric Elias?

Public channels for Ric Elias 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 Ric Elias last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Ric Elias closed in Jun 2022. Shizune tracks 3 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.

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