Dealmakers

Christina Cacioppo has gone from academia to a VC firm to becoming an operator. Leveraging that breadth of experience, she has not only raised $200M for her own venture, but is also helping other software startups launch and accelerate themselves. The startup, Vanta, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like CrowdStrike, Y Combinator, Craft Ventures, and Diogo Monica.

Austen Allred is on a mission to help people level up their skills and incomes, and his startup is helping thousands of them find new roles in tech fields, online. The venture, BloomTech, raised funding from Gigafund, a top-tier financier.

Mike Fey has gone from playing soccer to writing software to building really big businesses. His venture, Island, attracted funding from top-tier financiers like Insight Partners, Sequoia Capital, Stripes, and Cisco Investments.

Pete Flint has taken two companies through IPOs, as well as taking one through a $3.5B merger. Now he is heading up his own venture capital fund to help empower the next generation of founders. The initiative, NFX, raised a total of $1.1B across 5 funds, their latest being NFX Capital Co-Investment SPV.

Since growing and selling a company for 10 figures, Brian Requarth has created a community and fund for other entrepreneurs aspiring to create highly successful startups of their own. His company, Latitud, attracted funding from top-tier investors like David Vélez, Carlos Garcia, Ann Williams, and Daniel Vogel.

Des Traynor is the cofounder of Intercom which creates modern Customer Service software that redefines how businesses support their customers. The company has raised over $241 million from top tier investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Bessemer Venture Partners, or Index Ventures to name a few.

Eytan Bensoussan has taken on the mission of reinventing financial services for small businesses, and dramatically increasing their survival rates. His startup, NorthOne, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Operator Stack, Drew Brees, and Battery Ventures.

Mike Evans raised $84M for his first startup, before taking it public. He’s now working on a new gender-inclusive venture that is creating jobs at a great scale. The company, Grubhub, gas acquired funding from top-tier investors like Amazon, Yum!, T. Rowe Price, and Mesirow Financial.

Shelby Clark raised over half a billion dollars for his first company. Now he has switched to the other side of the table to invest in new emerging medicines and as a startup investor. His startup, Turo, attracted funding from top-tier investors like Expansion Venture Capital, Webb Investment Network, Quiet Capital, and General Motors.

Gurjeet Singh funded, scaled, and sold his first startup. Now he has raised $37M to make IVF treatment more customer-focused, reliable, and attainable for those eager to have children. Oma Robotics has acquired Free Solo Ventures, Global Asset Capital, Jack Tai, and Jon Symonds.

Phil Libin has already launched and sold several startups. His latest venture aims to bring even more great products to life. The startup, All Turtles, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like General Catalyst and Bossanova Investimentos.

Court Lorenzini is a true serial entrepreneur. With several successful exits under his belt, including building one company with a market cap of over $60B, he has certainly created an impressive portfolio of startups. His latest venture, MetaBrite, has attracted financing from top-tier investors like Duke Angel Network, Camp One Ventures, and Acorn Ventures.

Chris Maurice has built a disruptive fintech serving the people of Africa. A startup that has already raised close to $60M as it strives to make peer-to-peer payments even more affordable for everyone. The venture, Yellow Card attracted funding from top-tier investors like Polychain, Valar Ventures, Pat Duffy, and Third Prime.

Eric Satz is a serial entrepreneur who sold one of his companies for $560M. His latest venture, which is empowering individuals to invest in more alternative assets with great tax advantages, has already rasied $70M through a Series B round. The venture, Alto, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Unusual Ventures, Alpha Edison, Foundation Capital, and Acrew Capital.

Omri Geller’s startup is helping fuel the growth of artificial intelligence, by equipping others to build better and faster. His venture, Run:AI, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Insight Partners, S Capital, and TLV Partners.

Andrew Ponec sold his first startup after just four years. Now he has raised $80M to tackle climate change in a $100B a year industry. His venture, Antora Energy, has attracted financing from top-tier investors like Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Energy giant Shell’s venture arm.

Rafael Stark is now on his second tech startup. This time around, he has already raised tens of millions of dollars from the likes of Jeff Bezos, and business leaders from Slack and Coinbase. His venture, Hummingbird, has attracted investment from top-tier financiers like Rahul Mehta, Ribbit Capital, Bezos Expeditions, and Lachy Groom.

Ryan Begin recently exited his startup to a private equity firm for $200M. A venture that’s all about diverting what would be wasted food. The company, Divert, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Ara Partners, GIC, and Ontario Power Generation. Eventually, it was acquired by Ara Partners.

Luca Ferrari is the CEO and co-founder of Bending Spoons—a technology platform that specializes in giving birth to and scaling digital products and AI startups. He has raised $500 million between secondary sales and debt. The venture has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco BPM, Keisuke Honda, and Maximum Effort.

After selling his first startup, John Tomich has already raised $130M in financing for his latest venture. The company, Credit Key, has acquired financing from top-tier investors like Bonfire Ventures, Greycroft, RedBird Capital Partners, and Fortress Investment Group.