Top 50 Recruiting Angel Investors in January 2026

Paul Forster

Elad Gil is the Co-Founder of Color Genomics. He previously worked at Twitter as a Vice President. Elad Gil attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sam Altman is the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI. He is a Partner of Apollo Projects. Altman was the president of Y Combinator. Sam attended Stanford University.

Bashar Hamood is a Venture Partner at FasterCapital. He previously worked as an Associate Director at Logica. He attended Heriot-Watt University.

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.

Jack Altman is the founder and CEO of Lattice.

Dan Rosensweig is the Executive Chairman of Chegg. He previously worked at Yahoo! as a Chief Operating Officer. Dan Rosensweig attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Kyle Vogt is the CEO of The Bot Company.

Binny Bansal is an Indian software engineer and Internet entrepreneur. In 2007 he co-founded the e-commerce platform Flipkart with Sachin Bansal (not related) and was serving as the Chief Operating Officer until 11 January 2016 and was promoted to Chief Executive Officer. In January 2017 he was promoted to Group CEO of Flipkart. Binny is fromChandigarh and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.

Hesham Zreik is the CEO of FasterCapital. He previously worked at DreamApps as a Project Manager. Hesham attended the University of Westminster.

Xavier Niel is based out of Paris, Ile-de-France and is the Co-Founder and CEO of NJJ Capital. Xavier previously worked at Worldnet as a Founder. Xavier Niel attended Saint Michel de Picpus Catholic private high school.

David Windley is the President at Caldwell. He attended San Francisco State University, Lam Family College of Business.

Daniel Gross is the Co-Founder of Pioneer. He previously worked at Y Combinator as a Head of AI.

Paul Graham is the Founder of Y Combinator.

Tikhon Bernstam is an American entrepreneur who cofounded the companies Scribd and Parse.

Alex Macdonald is the Co-Founder and CEO Sequel. He previously Co-Founded Velocity Black. He attended The University of Manchester.

Will Martin - Founder and Director @ Portfolio Ventures

Hans Robertson serves startups as an investor and advisor. He is the former chief operating officer and the vice president of products at Meraki. Previously, he served EMC as the group product manager.Prior to EMC, Robertson was an accounts manager at VMware. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a Master of Engineering degree fromMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ilya Sukhar currently works as the General Partner for Matrix Partners. He previously worked at Y Combinator as a part-time partner.

Eric Wu is the President of Opendoor. He previously worked at Trulia.com as a Head of Geo/Social Products. Eric Wu attended the University of Arizona.

Lauren DeLuca is a Founder and Managing Partner of Motivate Venture Capital, a Chicago-based Pre-Seed and Seed investor.He co-founded a family of niche FinTech firms and was an active Angel investor. In 2012, he co-founded Sailfish Systems, a managed services and market data provider for trading firms, banks, and hedge funds. Sailfish merged withVictory Networks in 2013 to serve clients across the US and Europe. The combined business was ultimately sold to QuantHouse, a Paris-based trading technology provider, in 2017.He co-founded Oxford Intelligence Partners at the beginning of 2015, a boutique stock market-analytics firm. Clients included many Fortune 500 companies before a successful exit to Q4 Inc., a Toronto-based strategic acquirer serving 1000+ clients. His personal Angel portfolio spans a multitude of B2B/B2C verticals and contains over thirty early- and growth-stage businesses, including Chime, HomeChef, TradingView, Appcast, Popular Pays, DeskPass and PostProcess Technologies. He received my MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame where he graduated Cum Laude in 2001.

Jessica Livingston is a Co-founding partner. She is also the organizer of Startup School, the big annual startup conference, and the author of Founders at Work, a collection of interviews with successful startup founders.

Aaron Levie is Chief Executive Officer, Cofounder and Chairman at Box, which he launched in 2005 with CFO and cofounder Dylan Smith. He is the visionary behind the Box product and platform strategy, incorporating the best of secure content collaboration with an intuitive user experience suited to the way people work today. Aaron leads the companyin its mission to transform the way people and businesses work so they can achieve their greatest ambitions. He has served on the Board of Directors since April 2005.Aaron attended the University of Southern California from 2003 to 2005 before leaving to found Box.

Charles Songhurst is a founding partner of Katana Capital, a long-short equity hedge fund. He also runs the Songhurst Group, which holds assets in a variety of private companies.Charles ran corporate strategy for Microsoft and focused on partnering and M&A. He was involved in the Yahoo acquisition and commercial deal, and the Skypeacquisition. Before running corporate strategy, Charles was focused on the emergence of Google and the growth of the search industry.Prior, Charles was an analyst at McKinsey & Company in London. Charles received a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in politics, philosophy, and economics.

Martin Henk is the Co-founder of Pipedrive.

Emmett Shear was the Founder and CEO of Twitch (www.twitch.tv), the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers. Mr. Shear was also a Co-Founder of Justin.tv and a part-time Partner at venture capital firm Y Combinator, where he advises fledgling startups on product and strategy. Mr. Shear graduated from Yale University in 2005 and in2012 was included in Forbes Magazine on their 30 under 30 list. Twitch launched in 2011, and in 2014 The Wall Street Journal cited the brand as having the 4th largest peak internet traffic in the U.S.

Jens Schumann, born on 6 June 1973, was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LOTTO24 AG on 19 June 2020. Before that, since 2 May 2012, he was already Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board. He is one of the two founders of today's ZEAL Network SE (former Tipp24 SE) and was Managing Director and a Management Board member of Tipp24SE from 1999 to 2009. Jens Schumann has been a member of the Supervisory Board of ZEAL Network SE since July 2011. From 1998 to the formation of Tipp24 SE, he worked as a business consultant at Icon Medialab AG. Schumann studied law at the University of Münster from 1993 to 1998 and finished his studies with the first State Exam.

Phanindra Sama is the Advisor of WestBridge Capital. He previously worked at redBus as a Founder and CEO. Phanindra Sama attended Stanford University.

Avichal is Managing Partner at Electric Capital. He is a serial entrepreneur and technology executive. Avichal sold two companies and was most recently Director of Product at Facebook, which acquired his company Spool in 2012. He previously worked at Google on search ranking and ads ranking, is part-time at YCombinator, and an active angelinvestor.Avichal's firm, Electric Capital, focuses on cryptocurrencies that are rooted in technological utility. Electric performs deep technological diligence, such as compiling code, profiling nodes, and analyzing blockchains with in-house software. The founders of Electric have started and sold five companies, have been investing in cryptocurrencies since 2013, and are investors in Anchor, Bitwise, Chia, Coda, dYdX, Dfinity, Oasis, Thunder and many other crypto projects.

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.

Kunal Shah

Michael Seibel is the Managing Director and Group Partner of Y Combinator. He previously worked at Socialcam as a CEO. Michael Seibel attended Yale University.

Tatsuo Sakamoto is a Head of Sales, Japan at MOLOCO. He Attended The University of Tokyo.

Volker Rofalski is the founder of WebStock AG, which he sold to BAADER Bank in 1999 and TradeCross AG, which he sold to VEM Aktienbank in 2005. Since then, Volker was director of Equity Capital Markets and authorized officer of the VEM Aktienbank. Prior to this, he held several managing positions in diverse industries e.g. CFO at ELA Medical &Porges and Internet2000 AG. He studied business economics at the University of Augsburg. Volker is a member of the supervisory board of several listed and non-listed companies.

Brian Requarth co-founded Viva Real and was the company's CEO from 2009 to July 2016 when he became Chairman. The company bootstrapped its operation and eventually raised over $74 million USD. Under his management, the team scaled to over 500 team members and acquired suahouse, a leading real estate CRM provider serving home builders and datacompany Geo Imovel.He led merger negotiations with ZAP Imóveis (owned by Grupo Globo, Latin America’s largest media company). The deal closed in December 2017. Requarth is Chairman of the combined company, Grupo ZAP.In March 2020, Grupo ZAP signed a deal to be acquired by OLX Brasil for R$2.9bn. The deal was approved by anti-trust authorities in Brazil and the transaction closed October 30, 2020.As an angel investor Requarth has invested in 40+ tech startups in Brazil and Latin America and he has recently started Latitud, a new project focused on helping early stage founders build iconic companies in Brazil and Latin America.

James Beshara is the founder of Magic Mind.

Founder Acrobator Ventures, Tech Investment Fund. Founder Acrobator.com, growth hack and marketing advisory firm. Co-Founder Netherlands for Ukraine Foundation (NL4UA.org) supporting Ukrainians affected by the war since 2022. Digital Dutchman, entrepreneur-turned-investor. eCommerce expert, growth hacker and marketeer since 2000. Assisted 100+companies worldwide as CMO, MD, board advisor, consultant. Ranked #1 Foreign Angel Investor in Russia (EWDN); Top 10 Angel Investor (Firrma.ru/SLON), Crunchbase: #1 Dutch (2019) & Top 50 EU angel investor. Techcrunch / Crunchbase: "Bas Godska is one of the most prolific Western investors in Eastern Europe." Bas' Angel Fund (>EUR 100mn AUM) ranked by PitchBook as #2 in success by IRR (2021). Top 50 SuperAngel worldwide (Arete Index, 2024-25)Roles Europe/Russia/CIS (2003-2019): CMO lastminute.com ; Country Manager Sportingbet ; CMO Europe Ebookers.com / Orbitz.com ; MD Gogol Media. CMO / dep. CEO Ozon.ru ; VP Marketing Gloria Jeans ; CMO Lamoda.ru (Rocket Internet) ; CMO Digital KupiVIP.ru ; eCommerce Director a.i. Enter | Svyaznoi ; MD myThings.com ; Guest Lecturer Digital Marketing at Skolkovo MSM MBA (2013), Guest lecturer Stanford IGC Exec MBAAngel investor in decacorn Miro, Harver (exit to Rubicon PE), Chocofamily, Piano. Bas' angel investments (~50) have helped founders raise over $1 billion from investors like Iconiq, Accel, Insight, Salesforce, Google, YC, and Techstars. The combined market cap of these companies, based on their latest funding rounds, is ~$20 billion. As a VC/LP Bas invested in 400+ companies including 20+ unicorns.

Drew Houston is co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. Since founding the company in 2007 with Arash Ferdowsi, Drew has led the company’s growth from a simple idea to a service used by over 600 million people around the world. Drew received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2006. After graduating, he turnedhis frustration with carrying USB drives and emailing files to himself into a demo for what became Dropbox. Today, Dropbox is one of the world's leading business collaboration platforms, with 15 million paying subscribers and nearly 3000 employees across 12 global offices.

Jacob Gibson is the Co-Founder and Partner of Better Tomorrow Ventures. He is a former co-founder and COO at NerdWallet. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of 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.

Will Brooks - Founder & Director @ Portfolio Ventures

Joined Intelligence in 1999. Established Key Players Inc. in 2005. Consultation with more than 3,000 managers and career counseling for more than 10,000 individuals. In addition, we have invested in more than 55 outside directors, advisors and angels in Silicon Valley and Bangladesh in Japan. Over 100 lectures on careers, entrepreneurship andstartups.

Jens Schumann, born on 6 June 1973, was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LOTTO24 AG on 19 June 2020. Before that, since 2 May 2012, he was already Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board. He is one of the two founders of today's ZEAL Network SE (former Tipp24 SE) and was Managing Director and a Management Board member of Tipp24SE from 1999 to 2009. Jens Schumann has been a member of the Supervisory Board of ZEAL Network SE since July 2011. From 1998 to the formation of Tipp24 SE, he worked as a business consultant at Icon Medialab AG. Schumann studied law at the University of Münster from 1993 to 1998 and finished his studies with the first State Exam.

Diego Piacentini has served as Senior Vice President, International Consumer Business, since February 2012. From January 2007 until February 2012, Diego Piacentini served as Senior Vice President, International Retail, from November 2001 until December 2006, he served as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Retail and Marketing and, from February 2000until November 2001, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, International. Prior to joining Amazon.com, Piacentini was Vice President and General Manager of Apple Computer Europe, where he headed operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Piacentini joined Apple Computer in 1987. He held several financial management positions both in Apple Italy and at a European level through 1993. Piacentini served as Sales Director for Apple Italy in 1994 and was promoted to the post of General Manager for Apple Italy in May 1995.Piacentini holds a degree in economics from Bocconi University of Milan. An Italian national, he has traveled and worked across Europe, Asia and North America.n Senior Vice President of International Consumer at Amazon.com Inc. since February 2012.

Michael Lynton is CEO of Sony Entertainment, where he oversees Sony's global entertainment businesses, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Lynton is also Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), managing the studio's overall global operations, which includemotion picture, television and digital content production and distribution, home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, and the development of new entertainment products, services and technologies.At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lynton has focused on digital transformation, worldwide growth, content diversity and financial discipline, leading the studio through an era of innovation and success, putting Sony Pictures on the cutting edge of an industry experiencing rapid technological and global change.Sony Pictures' Motion Picture Group has enjoyed a remarkable run in the past several years, releasing such hits as Best Picture Oscar® nominees American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and The Social Network, as well as blockbuster franchises like The Amazing Spider-Man, Grown-Ups, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Smurfs.Between movies and TV, SPE received 26 nominations for the 2014 Golden Globes® and won seven awards, more than any other studio.Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, around the world and for a multitude of platforms. In addition to one of the industry's largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. In addition to its U.S. production business, SPT has 19 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 13 countries.SPT's worldwide media networks include 150 channel feeds available in 178 countries, reaching more than 1.3 billion cumulative households worldwide. Popular channel brands include AXN, Animax, and SET (Sony Entertainment Television), as well as the studio's ad-supported VOD service, Crackle.Sony Pictures Home Entertainment distributes Sony Pictures produced and third-party acquired theatrical and non-theatrical product on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and other digital media globally. Among the more than 3,500 titles in SPHE's catalog are the Spider-Man and Men In Black franchises, the Seinfeld TV series, and film classics on such as Lawrence of Arabia, Taxi Driver and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.Sony Pictures is also home to Imageworks, the only major studio Academy Award®-winning in-house visual effects unit.Under Lynton, Sony Pictures has been an industry leader in the migration to digital entertainment, from production and distribution to the introduction of new formats. The studio championed the industry's UltraViolet digital entertainment format, helped re-introduce 3D to the entertainment industry and is deeply engaged in the rapidly expanding 4K marketplace.Prior to joining Sony Pictures, Lynton worked for Time Warner and served as CEO of AOL Europe, President of AOL International and President of Time Warner International.From 1996 to 2000, Lynton served as Chairman and CEO of Pearson plc's Penguin Group, where he oversaw the acquisition of Putnam, Inc. and extended the Penguin brand to music and the Internet.Lynton joined The Walt Disney Company in 1987 and started Disney Publishing, serving as its President. From 1992 to1996, he served as President of Disney's Hollywood Pictures.Lynton holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and literature from Harvard College and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.Lynton is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of the American Film Institute, the Smithsonian Board of Regents, the Harvard Board of Overseers, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, USC School of Cinematic Arts and the RAND Corporation.In addition, he sits on the board of directors of Snapchat and Ares Management, L.P.Lynton resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Elizabeth Jamie Alter Lynton, and their three daughters, Eloise Lynton, Maisie Lynton and Lucinda Lynton.

Stefan Ciecierski

Anand Chandrasekaran is a Partner at General Catalyst. He previously worked at Facebook and attended Stanford University.

Joel Peterson is the Founding Partner of Whitman Peterson.

Russell Fradin is the Vice Chairman of Carbon Health. From October 2005 to April 2010, Russell co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Adify Corporation, an on-line advertising company sold to Cox Enterprises. Prior to that time, Russell was comScore’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, Senior Vice President ofBusiness Development at Wine.com and Vice President of Business Development at Flycast Communications. Russell currently serves as a Member of the Board of Directors at comScore, TubeMogul and CoachArt and has previously served on the boards of Udemy, Outside.in and several others. Russell holds a B.S. degree in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shervin Pishevar is the Co-Founder at Virgin Hyperloop.