DealMakers: Entrepreneur | Startups | Venture Capital

Kishor Patil has dedicated his career to building a lasting company that has gone through an IPO, and is now worth over a billion dollars. His venture, KPIT, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like CX Partners, KPitalism, and Chrys Capital.

Luka Ivicevic is now on his third startup. After having his highly successful fintech company acquired, he’s now on a mission to help this generation to live to 150 years old. His latest startup, Index Health, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like LAUNCHub Ventures and Inovo VC.

Jonathan Steinberg has built one of the world’s largest financial services companies, which is also the fourth largest gold manager in the world. His venture, Wisdom Tree, invests in exchange-traded funds (EFTs) via the WisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Fund, WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund, and WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Fund.

Elad Gil has now launched two startups of his own. He sold one to Twitter, and has raised almost half a billion dollars for a second. That’s along with investing in some of today’s most successful companies, like Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase. His latest startup, Color Genomics, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like T. Rowe Price, Kindred Ventures, Pegasus Tech Ventures, and General Catalyst.

Dr. Michelle He has already raised $700 million for her 3.5-year-old fintech startup that is increasing access to credit and affordable loans, beyond just relying on credit scores.

Arik Shtilman is the cofounder and CEO of Rapyd which is a payments platform that inserts fintech services into any app and simplifies

JP Errico has developed an incredible amount of IP in the medical space. On the way he has built, financed, sold, and taken companies public. His venture, electroCore, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like American Investment Holdings, Easton Capital Investment Group, Tullis Health Investors, and Knoll Capital Management.

Aviv Leibovici took a different route than many of his peers. Yearning to have a real world impact with his work he dove into a big industry that has been begging for modernization. His venture, Buildots, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like TLV Partners, Future Energy Ventures, Maor Investments, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Troy Helming is a Unicorn Founder (with 6 company exits) and a modern-day industrialist. He’s an inventor (60+ patent claims), an elite athlete, an author (1 book + 100s of articles), and a clean energy executive. He’s founded companies that have generated more than $30 Billion of economic impact, and he serves on numerous boards. He's a longtime wellness practitioner & yogi.

Dee Choubey is the cofounder and CEO of MoneyLion which is a mobile banking platform for borrowing, saving, and investing. The company raised over $250 million prior to going public in 2021 from top tier investors which included Edison Partners, DHVC, or Capital One Ventures to name a few.

Jonathan Chen took his previous company FiscalNote public for $1.3 billion and now has raised $61 million for Nitra which is overhauling the healthcare industry with radically efficient and transparent solutions - starting with spend management. So far the company has raised financing from top tier investors such as New Enterprise Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, or Gaingels to name a few.

Now on his second startup, Aidan Rushby has raised over $100M to help transform the experience of financing your next car. His new venture, Carmoola, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like QED Investors, VentureFriends, InMotion Ventures, and NatWest.

Nick Cromydas is the cofounder and CEO of Hunt Club which is a talent company that leans on subject matter experts to help clients find their next hire.

Joey Levy is now on his third startup. A venture with Jake Paul that went right into raising a $50M Series A round to take over the sports betting space. His venture, SimpleBet, attracted funding from top-tier investors like GoodPaper Ventures, Sachse Family Fund, FJ Labs, and Grit Capital Partners.

Stuart Lombard has built and sold several companies, as well as having been a VC on the other side of the table. His latest venture, ecoBee, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Energy Impact Partners, Thomvest, Relay Ventures and Amazon's Alexa Fund.

Karl Jacob has now started and sold several companies. Including a $300M acquisition by AT&T. His latest venture has already raised $50M to disrupt and multiple trillion dollar market, thanks to the backing of investors like Richard Branson.

Keith Peiris became the CEO of his first company at a very young age. His latest venture has already raised $81M on its mission to help us communicate and understand each other better. The startup, Tome, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Audacious Ventures, Greylock, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Wing Venture Capital.

Adam Nathan went from working in the White House to launching a tech startup that has raised sizable seed and Series A funding rounds. The venture, Almanac has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Leore Avidar, General Catalyst, Indicator Ventures, and Floodgate.

Kurtis Lin has been involved with several successful startups that have had great exits. His latest venture aims to disrupt the way our credit and borrowing power is valued, by using more data. Pinwheel has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Indeed, Coatue, First Round Capital, Upfront Ventures, and Franklin Templeton Investments.

Even with dyslexia, Peter Majeranowski has invested in building companies all over the world, worked with the Pentagon, and has gone on to raise tens of millions of dollars for his clothing tech startup. The venture, Circ, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Card Sound Capital, 8090 Partners, Alante Capital, and Circulate Capital.

The Glezer brothers brought their take on fintech to support and fuel a massive market. Their startup, Agrolend, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Lightrock, Barn Investimentos, Provence Capital, and Verde Asset.

Jack Greco built one of the first unicorn startups in a tier two city. After taking that venture public he has gone on to become an angel investor and VC fund manager. His VC, Stealth Venture Fund, has invested in startups like Go Fish Capital, Bounce Imaging, ShearShare, and Patient Pattern.

Pushkar Mukewar is helping small and medium sized businesses on three continents survive and scale with his growing fintech platform. The startup, Drip Capital, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like Raison Asset Management, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, and TI Platform Management.

Greg Bailey has now been involved in an almost dizzying number of startups. Now with his latest venture he is aiming to help you live healthier, and for longer. The startup, Juvenescence, attracted funding from top-tier investors like Longevity Vision Fund, Foresite Capital, Fastforward Innovations, and Grok Ventures.

Federico Travella went from turning his childhood hobbies into businesses to launching a fintech start that has transacted well over a billion dollars. The company, Novicap, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Fasanara Capital, Techstars, Partech, and The Net Street.

Michael Bronfein got his start as a butcher in a family supermarket. Since then he has built a billion dollar business, run a multibillion dollar private equity fund, and is now operating a growing wellness company with an emerging portfolio of cannabis based products. The venture, Curio Wellness, will invest in over 50 startups backed by women, minorities and disabled veteran entrepreneurs.

Mikhail Kokorich has created some incredible companies, against great odds. From retail to space, to hydrogen fueled transportation, he has been breaking ground all over the earth, and beyond. His startup, Destinus, has raised funding from top-tier investors like Liquid 2 Ventures, Cornelius Boersch, Quiet Capital, and Cathexis Ventures.

Rajiv Khemani has now raised over $500M for his string of successful startups. Including building more than one billion dollar company, and achieving multiple exits. His latest venture, Auradine, has attracted funding from top-tier investors.

Trevor Best ditched the oil fields to take up his role in the fight for climate change. His startup has now raised over $100M on their journey, as they set a fast pace for fueling the transition to greener sources of energy. The venture, Syzygy Plasmonics, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Goose Capital, and The Engine.

Srikanth Velamakanni has raised over $685M for his AI startup. A company that has now been working in this space for over 20 years, and raised funding from top-tier investors like TPG Capital Asia, Khazanah Nasional, Apax Partners, and TA Associates.

Sundie Seefried saw the opportunity to step up and help the underserved cannabis industry with the financial solutions they needed. That has since turned into a public company operating in 40 plus states. The venture, Safe Harbor Financial, has attracted funding from top-tier investors and has recently acquired Abaca.

Nick Boyle has created one of the biggest renewable energy companies in the world. Helping us make the shift from old sources of energy to more sustainable ones. His startup, Lightsource BP, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Entergy Arkansas Llc and NatWest Group.

After successfully launching and exiting his own startup, Cem Sertoglu has gone on to manage a 200M Euro fund. From which he is looking to write other entrepreneurs their first $5M to $10M checks. The venture, Earlybird Venture Capital, has invested in startups such as TastyUrban, Nosh, and Ariceum Therapeutics.

Amit Haller has had startups acquired, taken them public, and is now onto his biggest venture so far. His new startup, Veev, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Khosla Ventures, Western Technology Investment, Bond Capital, and Eclipse.

Jamieson Christmas has been inspired to make holographic displays a reality since his youth. After starting out bootstrapping his first company, he has since raised over $100M to put his augmented reality technology into the next generation of vehicles. His venture, Envisics, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Arcadia Investment, Hyundai Mobis, GM Ventures, and Stellantis Ventures.

James Tan has gone from startup founder to operating an $80M venture capital fund to fuel the growth of other early-stage ventures today. Now on his third fund, he’s already helped create four unicorn companies. His investment company, Quest Ventures, has funded ION Mobility, Carousell, Carro, and Hepmil.

Muddu Sudhakar has already enjoyed several of his companies being acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars in value. His latest startup, Aisera, has already raised well over $100M and is on its way to disrupting yet another industry. Which may also be one of the few companies out there that are currently hiring, and in every department. The venture has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Webb Investment Network, World Innovation Lab (WiL), True Ventures, and Thoma Bravo.

Rob Biederman has gone from founding his own startup to leading a $100M plus venture capital firm that is eager to fund great entrepreneurs, even at the pre-seed stage. The firm, Catalant, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like General Catalyst, Morningside Venture Investments, 40 North Ventures, and Highland Capital.

Jacob Krogsgaard continues to lead the way in renewable energy through hydrogen. A journey that has seen him start companies, fund and scale them, and take them public. His latest startup, Everfuel, raised funding from top-tier investors like European Commission, Swedish Energy Agency, Force Technology, and Danish Energy.

With a presence on every continent, Jussi Salovaara’s firm already has $700M in assets under management, across 15 early-stage startup funds. His funding platform has attracted investors like Eduardo Saverin, Canica, Credit Saison, and Christen Sveaas.

Daniel Yu has been championing a huge problem in what may be one of the biggest markets in the world. His startup, Wasoko, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Avenir Growth Capital, Binny Bansal, Catalyst Fund, and Growth/Expansion.

David Waxman sold his first company to Microsoft, took his second public for $1B in just 12 months, and then launched an $18M fund to support other investors to capitalize on their startups. His venture capital firm, TenOneTen Ventures, has several co-investors like Act One Ventures, Amplify Private Equity, Correlation Ventures, and Greycroft.

Before others saw the need or believed it was possible, Ajay Kochhar was working on how to recycle EV batteries. He’s now turned that into a billion-dollar, global, and public company. The venture, Li-Cycle, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like US Department of Energy, Koch Strategic Platforms (“KSP”), and Glencore.

Ben Lamm has already started a handful of companies, with just as many exits. He is now onto his biggest adventure year. An effort to rewild the planet, which has already attracted $225M in capital and 50 advisors. The startup, Colossal Biosciences, acquired funding from top-tier investors like Thomas Tull, Breyer Capital, Draper Associates, and At One Ventures.

Gautam Gupta has gone from VC investor to startup founder and is now back to investing in other entrepreneurs. His $460M fund is open for business and may be one of the few actively looking to fund good startups right now. The fund, TCV, has invested in companies like ByteDance, Cognite, Celonis, and Klarna.

Don Muir made the leap from traditional investment banking and private equity, to disrupting the traditional financial services space for the tech ecosystem. His startup, Arc Technologies, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Bain Capital Ventures, Torch Capital, Y Combinator, and Clocktower Technology Ventures.

Joe Spector has helped take his first startup from zero to being worth over a billion dollars. Then after taking that company public, he decided to apply his experience to helping pet owners and veterinarians too. His latest, startup, Dutch Pet Inc., has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Forerunner Ventures, Adapt Ventures, and Eclipse Ventures.

Nadayar Enegesi has gone from building companies out of Canada, back to the entrepreneurial hotbed of Nigeria for his biggest startup venture yet. His new company, Eden Life, has acquired funding from top-tier investors like EXPERT DOJO, Goodwater Capital, Village Global, and Google for Startups.

Ramji Srinivasan is now on his second big startup and is working to help people extend their lives. His latest venture, Teiko, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Altitude Lab, Tau Ventures, Founders Fund, and Pathfinder.

Joseph Riley has become a master of turning challenges into profitable opportunities. Including building a big real estate startup that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. The venture, Patriot Family Homes, acquired funding from top-tier investors like TRT Holdings and Miramar Holdings.