Upfront Investor Summit Speakers
February 26, 2025
As a creative artist, tech entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of FYI (a Web 3.0 AI messenger) will.i.am has been recognized by a CLIO Award, an Emmy Award, nine Grammy Awards, the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award, A TIME 100 Impact Award, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, and an Honorary Fellowship by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). In February 2024 he joined an exclusive group of music artists who performed at two Super Bowl Halftime Shows (2011-Dallas, 2024-Las Vegas).
He is simultaneously a creative innovation advisor, futurist, multi-platinum Grammy-winning music artist, producer, entertainer, (Coach on “THE VOICE” UK edition for 13 seasons; Host of “THE FYI SHOW” radio program on SiriusXM), and a tech entrepreneur as part of his cross-disciplinary career. He invests in and develops businesses in a range of sectors including the FYI Web 3.0 creativity & productivity tool, automotive, consumer tech, fashion, food & beverage, software (AI, Natural Language Understanding, Voice Computing) and telecom.
His early work as Futurist and market opportunity spotter was with Beats Electronics. As a founding equity stakeholder in the company, will.i.am was instrumental in helping to transform Beats By Dre™ into a global consumer electronics brand. Beats Electronics was purchased by Apple in 2014 for US$3 billion.
will.i.am teams with the world’s leading companies helping them to embrace future technologies, what’s next in cultural trends and develop new business initiatives. Organizations he has collaborated with includes Apple, Atom Bank, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Telekom, Epic Records, Expo 2020, Formula 1, Honeywell, Intel, LG, Majid Al Futtaim, Marvel Comics, Mercedes-AMG, Microsoft, Pepsi, Salesforce, SiriusXM and Uproxx Studios.
In 2023, will.i.am switched up how and where music is enjoyed by forging an innovative collaboration with Formula 1, the world’s largest motor sports organization. He is their first Artist in Residence and serves as a Curator of the program. Two F1-inspired tracks have been released, “THE FORMULA” and “LET’S GO.”
What drives will.i.am’s entrepreneurial spirit in innovation and technology is his work as a philanthropist, encourages inner-city, disadvantaged youth to apply themselves in STEAM fields so they can get prepared for an AI, autonomous, robotic and highly technical tomorrow. An advocate for lifelong learning, will.i.am returned to school and completed Harvard Business Schools’ Owner/President Management Executive Education Program in October 2024.
His i.am Angel Foundation supports STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education programs for more than 14,000 disadvantaged youth in grades K – 12 in Los Angeles, including the i.am College Track after-school tutoring center and college scholarship program, the Boyle Heights STEM Magnet High School, and hundreds of after-school robotics clubs in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District and FIRST robotics. He also sits on the boards of directors of College Track, FIRST Global and the Smithsonian Institution Science Education Center’s Ad Hoc Committee For Innovation.
Prem Akkaraju is the CEO of Stability AI, best known for its groundbreaking generative AI model, Stable Diffusion. In 2023, Stability AI was named one of "TIME100 Most Influential Companies.” Stable Diffusion models have been downloaded over 269 million times and generated over 80% of AI images online in 2023. In 2024, legendary filmmaker and visual effects pioneer James Cameron invested in Stability AI and joined its Board of Directors.
Chelsea Clinton is an advocate, storyteller, investor, mentor, teacher, and most importantly, mom to her three kids. As vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, Chelsea works alongside the Foundation’s leadership and partners to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, create economic opportunity and growth, and inspire emerging leaders across the United States and around the world. A longtime public health advocate, Chelsea also serves as vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and uses her platform to increase awareness around issues such as vaccine hesitancy, childhood obesity, and health equity. In addition to her Foundation work, Chelsea is the co-founder of Metrodora Ventures, she teaches at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and has written several books for young adults and readers including the #1 New York Times bestselling She Persisted. Chelsea holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford, a Master of Public Health from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, and both a Master of Philosophy and a Doctorate in international relations from Oxford University.
Michael Eisenberg is General Partner at Aleph, an early-stage venture capital fund with $850M under management that’s invested in over 60 companies, including Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), Windward (LON: WNWD) Melio and Empathy. Prior to Aleph, he was Benchmark Capital’s partner responsible for their Israeli portfolio, where he invested in and sat on the boards of some of Israel’s leading startups, including Wix.
Michael has published 8 books (6 in Hebrew and 2 in English) and lectures on Venture Capital, Israel, and Entrepreneurship. Michael hosts “Invested”, a podcast where he talks with business leaders about the values behind their businesses, the impact technology can have on humanity, and the humanity behind digitization.
In 2020, Michael established, and remains Chairman of, Nevo Network, a fellowship program to elevate immigrants to Israel working in high-tech and is the Chairman of HaShomer HaHadash. Michael lives in Jerusalem with his wife and eight children.
Sarah Guo is the Founder and a Partner at Conviction, an AI-native venture capital firm founded in 2022. Prior, she was a General Partner at Greylock. She has been an early investor and partner to 50+ companies including Figma, Harvey, Sierra, HeyGen, Mistral, Cognition, Stackblitz and more. Sarah is from Wisconsin, has four degrees from University of Pennsylvania, and lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three kids. She co-hosts the AI podcast "No Priors" with Elad Gil.
Vinod Khosla is an entrepreneur, investor, and technology fan. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures, focused on impactful technology investments in software, AI, robotics, 3D printing, healthcare and more. Mr. Khosla was a co-founder of Daisy systems and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. One of Mr. Khosla’s greatest passions is being a mentor to entrepreneurs, assisting entrepreneurs and helping them build technology-based businesses. Mr. Khosla is driven by the desire to make a positive impact through technology to reinvent societal infrastructure and multiply resources. He is also passionate about Social Entrepreneurship. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from IIT, New Delhi, a Master's in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Annie Lamont co-founded Oak HC/FT in 2014. Prior to founding Oak HC/FT, Annie spent 28 years at Oak Investment Partners, where she served as a Managing Partner and led the healthcare and fintech practices. Over the course of her career, she has invested in category-defining companies across the healthcare and financial services industries, including athenahealth, OneMedical, VillageMD, Castlight Health, iHealthTechnologies (which becameCotiviti), Aspire Health and NetSpend.
Annie has been featured on the Forbes Midas List, Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list, Institutional Investor’s FinTech Finance 40 list, and the Top 100 Venture Capitalist rankings published by CB Insights. She also served as a core participant of the Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary’s Innovation and Investment Summit (DSIIS).
In addition to her portfolio company board seats, Annie serves on the Board of Directors for Bloomberg Inc. and has served on the Board of Trustees for Stanford University, from which she holds a B.A. degree.
Shaun Maguire is a Partner at Sequoia Capital, focusing on enterprise and frontier technology. At Sequoia he led our investments into SpaceX, The Boring Company, Bridge, Eon, Decart, AMP Robotics, Watershed, Vise, Knowde, and others. Prior to Sequoia, Shaun co-founded Expanse, a cybersecurity company that was acquired by Palo Alto Networks for $1B. Shaun has also held positions at GV and DARPA. Shaun earned a BS in Mathematics from the University of Southern California, an MS in Statistics from Stanford University, an MS in Control and Dynamical Systems from Caltech and a PhD in Physics from Caltech.
Mike Maples is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was also named a “Rising Star” by FORTUNE and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship.
Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.)
Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, Chegg, Demandforce, and Applied Intuition.
Shervin Pishevar is a serial entrepreneur and investor who has been instrumental in creating or championing eleven groundbreaking industries, including Hyperloop, the On- Demand Economy, Ride-Sharing, Cloud Computing, Cloud Kitchens, the Sharing Economy, App Stores, Social Gaming, Social Networking, Quantum Computing and AI, and New Cities–Network States industries.
From Humble Beginnings to Global Impact
Born in Iran, Shervin Pishevar immigrated to the United States with his family as a child, carrying with him the resilience and determination instilled by his parents. Arriving with just $35, his parents worked tirelessly—his father as a taxi driver and his mother as a maid—despite holding advanced degrees in their homeland. Their sacrifices enabled Pishevar and his siblings to access the education and opportunities that define the American dream.
This formative experience shaped Shervin’s unrelenting drive to create industries that empower others to thrive. His journey from humble beginnings to becoming a globally recognized innovator and investor earned him the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an accolade given to only 100 people, recognizing his profound contributions to American society and his embodiment of the immigrant ethos.
A Multi-Billion-Dollar Track Record
Since 2011, Pishevar’s early investments have generated over$7 billion in value, with more than $3 billion distributed inprofits—an astonishing 88% IRR. Forbes recognized his investing acumen, naming him to its prestigious Midas List of the top 100 venture investors for four consecutive years. He was also featured on the magazine’s cover. Pishevar has achieved over 93 exits in his 27-year career in tech.
As the early lead investor and board member of Uber, he played a pivotal role in transforming ride-sharing into a global phenomenon. Pishevar also helped introduce Travis Kalanick to the CEO of Baidu, which led to the joint venture creating Uber China. Pishevar invested $50 million to help launch Uber China and contributed another $50 million after its merger with Didi.
As co-founder and first Executive Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, Pishevar introduced the world to a new era of high-speed transportation, building both a global brand and a new industry. Pishevar’s career is defined by a Midas touch. As Managing Director at Menlo Ventures, he was recruited to build their consumer practice, and he led investments in early-stage giants like Uber, Warby Parker,Machine Zone, and Tumblr. He also invested in Poshmark, Betterment, and Dropcam (acquired by Google). At Menlo, he established the Menlo Talent Fund, the firm’s first seed program, completing over 35 seed investments, includingParse (acquired by Facebook) and Scan (acquired by Snap).
Backing Transformative Founders
As an angel investor, Pishevar has backed over 200companies, including early investments in Facebook, Uber (seed and Series B), Hims, Casper, and seed rounds of Postmates (acquired by Uber), Dollar Shave Club(sold to Unilever for $1 billion), TaskRabbit (sold toIKEA), Cherry (sold to Lyft), Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, Rapportive (acquired by LinkedIn), Aardvark(acquired by Google), Mercury Bank (Series A), and frontier deep-tech startups like Varda Space, Gambit AI(a defense-tech company), and Gameto, a reinvention ofIVF.He also hired and trained the future founder of TrueBilland seed funded it and housed him in our offices.TrueBill was sold to Rocket for $1.3B. Pishevar’s ability to identify transformative ideas and founders early has cemented his reputation as one of the most visionary investors of his generation. Pishevar has a knack for backing world-changing founders like Travis Kalanick, Brian Chesky, Elon Musk, Vlad Tenev, and more. He recruited talents like Anthony Casalena, whom he hired at 15 while at WebOS, his first startup out of Berkeley, and supported him in foundingSquareSpace. He also recruited the founders ofWebs.com and Quizlet, when they were teenagers, to work at Webs. At Webs, he hired the future founder of Instacart when he was 18 and the future founder ofTrueBill when he was 21.
Revolutionizing Venture Capital
Pishevar’s influence extends to founding new models for venture capital through Edison Fund, Edison Labs, and Sofreh Capital (his family office fund), which have become engines of innovation in venture capital and venture studio models. Through his venture studios, he has co-founded transformative companies like Hyperloop, Telly (Telly.com), SLAI (SLAI.com), and more. At Sherpa Capital, which he also co-founded, Pishevar managed $650 million across three funds, raised an additional $500 million in co-investments, and ushered in the era of SPVs with over $200 million in SPVs. His co-investments and SPVs have generated an additional $2 billion in profits for his investors, complementing the $3 billion distributed through his funds. His portfolio includes titans like Airbnb, Robinhood, SpaceX, Slack, IonQ, DraftKings, Ipsy, Astra Space, OpenDoor, Rent the Runway, Quip, OpenGov, and Curology, among others. Silicon Foundry and Beyond Pishevar also ideated and founded Silicon Foundry, a corporate innovation advisory firm and incubator, where he recruited Salesforce, eBay, Comcast/DreamWorks, and Condé Nast as founding members. At Silicon Foundry, he spun out and incubated Do.com from Salesforce, selling it to Amazon, and ideated and incubated Brandless. Silicon Foundry, which Pishevar built into a corporate innovation powerhouse, was later acquired by Kearney. In 2022, Pishevar achieved another milestone by taking quantum computing pioneer D-Wave (QBTS) public through his SPAC, DPCM Capital. Partnering with figures like Emil Michael, Eric Schmidt, and Peter Diamandis, he raised $300 million for the venture, propelling D-Wave to a valuation of over $1 billion.
Beyond Business: A Legacy of Impact
Pishevar’s influence extends far beyond the boardroom. Through the Pishevar Institute, his family charity, he has given back to the community, endowing a professorship at Howard University and supporting organizations like Build.org and the Malala Fund. President Obama recognized Pishevar’s contributions to global innovation and education, appointing him to the prestigious Fulbright Board. Pishevar is deeply committed to spreading economic opportunity and advancing democracy and freedom technologies. Before his entrepreneurial journey, Pishevar was a scientist at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Labs, where his groundbreaking research led to patents on malaria treatment and publications in esteemed journals like JAMA and Neuroscience Letters. At just 19 years old, Pishevar was instrumental in creating the Istanbul Protocol, which bans doctors from participating in torture. This achievement stemmed from a research article he published in JAMA.
A Vision for Tomorrow
With a career defined by innovation and a vision for the future, Shervin Pishevar continues to look ahead, shaping industries that will define the next generation of human progress. Whether pioneering quantum computing, reimagining transportation, or funding groundbreaking technologies, Pishevar remains a force for change, building bridges and connecting talent to realize tomorrow’s possibilities. For Pishevar, innovation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a deeply held ethos and a set of values he is actively shaping, one industry at a time.
With three decades of experience as a technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the US and globally, Matt is Co-Founder of DCVC and Co-Managing Partner across its family of funds. Matt’s current investments on behalf of the firm span from computational drug discovery and synthetic biology to geospatial and space access platforms, robotics, applied AI, anti-terror systems, and large-scale enterprise platforms including quantum computers.
Many of Matt’s prior investments were in companies that either enjoyed large IPOs or were acquired to become core capabilities of companies like Illumina, Cisco, Google, IBM, Amazon/AWS, VMware, Salesforce, and Akamai. His venture investments prior to DCVC include Zoom (ZM), Fortinet (FTNT), D‑Wave Systems, Uber (UBER), AngelList, Xensource (CTRX), and Facebook (FB). Matt founded and was VP of R&D of Da Vinci Systems, a pioneering email software vendor with over 1 million users world-wide prior to its acquisition.
Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Yale University, and he is an inventor on over 50 granted or in-process patents in areas as diverse as computer systems virtualization, fraud detection, and AR. Matt has spent decades helping to ensure the engines of American innovation are available to national security missions and is known across the federal government for his proactive investment in capabilities needed for the missions of the future. He is an adviser to (and through his firm, frequent co-investor with) In-Q-Tel, a long-time member of and adviser to BENS (Business Executives for National Security) led by General Joseph L. Votel, U.S. Army (Ret.), a founding sponsor of and adviser to the Defense Intelligence Memorial Foundation, a major donor to and Ambassador for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation led by DCVC Operating Partner Major General Clayton M. Hutmacher, U.S. Army (Ret.) and is/has been a frequent pro bono adviser to senior staff of the FBI, CIA, SOCOM, and certain interagency committees on select technology and policy matters.
Deven Parekh is a Managing Director at Insight Partners. Since joining Insight in 2000, he has made more than 140 investments in enterprise software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, including in North America, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, Israel, Africa, Latin America, and Australia.
Currently, Deven serves on the Boards of Directors for Alteryx, Checkout.com, CoreLogic, Diligent, DistroKid, Fanatics, Gamma, iad, and PDI. Other companies within his portfolio include Calm, Kpler, FloQast, Chargebee, Splitwise, Zest.ai, Slice, Saks.com and Saks OFF 5th, Vinted, and Automattic (WordPress).
Deven’s previous investments include Duck Creek (IPO), Appriss Insights (sale to Equifax), Twitter (IPO), eVestment (sale to NASDAQ), Alibaba (IPO), JD.com (IPO), Bullhorn (sale to Stone Point Capital), Buddy Media (acquired by Salesforce), Website Pros (IPO), Yext (IPO), Enverus (sale to Genstar), EveryAction (sale to Apax), and Turnitin (sale to Advance).
In addition to his work at Insight, Deven currently serves as a Board Member for the Council on Foreign Relations, NYU Langone, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Tisch New York MS Research Center, and the Economic Council of New York. He was also confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
He has previously served on the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on the Advisory Board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and on a Technical Advisory Council of the Federal Communications Commission. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Publicolor, a non-profit organization focused on New York City public schools, and also served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
In December 2021, Deven was named a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award. He is also a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.
Prior to joining Insight, Deven was a Principal at Berenson Minella & Company, a New York-based merchant banking firm, where he served on the M&A Committee. He also worked for Blackstone on M&A and other investment activities. Deven has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Other awards:
-Named one of GrowthCap’s Top 25 Software Investors of 2020
-Named to the Forbes Midas List in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018
-Selected as a Top 100 Venture Capitalist by CB Insights in 2016, 2018, and 2019
-Named a Venture Capital 100 winner by AlwaysOn in 2014 for his investments in Twitter and Chegg
An original super angel turned multi-stage investor, Aydin has been named on the Forbes Midas List for the past nine years (2014-2022) as well as the New York Times Top 20 Venture Capitalists list for four consecutive years (2016-2019). Before starting Felicis, he was the first product manager at Google and helped launch their first ten international sites. He received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with Honors from Boston University, an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School, and a master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Aydin currently sits on the Graduate Board of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lior is an investor, entrepreneur, and the Founder and Managing Partner of Eclipse, a venture capital firm dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs rearchitecting the industries that are critical to people’s lives and national economies. He is passionate about building groundbreaking technology companies. During his time at Flex, a multinational manufacturing leader — where he led the hardware investment platform, Lab IX — Lior witnessed firsthand the headwinds physical industries were facing, in addition to inefficiencies and eroding of competitive advantage these negative forces were causing. Convinced that digital transformation would strengthen physical industries and support both economic and national security, Lior began to build Eclipse in late 2014. An unlikely venture capitalist, Lior grew up on a kibbutz and spent many years in the Special Forces of the Israeli military. A relentless optimist with a passion for company building, Lior believes that the world needs a New Economy and wants to help the best entrepreneurs build it.
Jason Warner is the CEO and Co-Founder of poolside, using AI to push the bounds of software creation to unlock humanity’s potential. Before poolside, Jason was Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures and previously had the privilege of leading the world’s most used operating system (Ubuntu), the most beloved developer platform (VP Heroku), and notably, the most popular developer tools (CTO GitHub) where he launched GitHub Actions, Packages, Connect, Codespaces and incubated GitHub Copilot. Additionally, Jason contributes his expertise as a member of the operating board at Bridgewater Associates. Jason graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelors in Computer Science and received a Masters of Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic University.
Moderators
Michael Broukhim is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FabFitFun, a lifestyle brand that inspires happiness and personal growth through discovery. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates and Upfront Ventures, FabFitFun is best known for its seasonal subscription box that delivers a curation of full-size products ranging from beauty and wellness to home and technology.
Prior to FabFitFun, Brouhim was Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Charlie (formerly, Opera New Media), where he directed digital strategies for celebrities, politicians, Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits. His clients included Samuel L. Jackson, Tumblr, Rudy Giuliani, Rachel Zoe, Pfizer Inc., and the Golden Globe Awards.
Broukhim was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses to film and business students. In 2015, USC recognized Broukhim as a finalist for the Steven J. Sample Teaching Award.
Broukhim is an active angel investor with an emphasis on working with Los Angeles based companies during their earliest stages. Broukhim graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he served as Editorial Chair of the Harvard Crimson, co-founded the Leadership Institute at Harvard College, and won the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for his research on ethical consumption. Broukhim continued his education at Stanford Law School earning his J.D. in 2013.
Kobie has been a partner at Upfront since 2016, with a core investing focus in SaaS, marketing technology, and emerging technologies including VR and AR. His notable Upfront investments include Bevy, Wave, Cordial, MetaCX and Valence, which he also founded. Prior to Upfront, Kobie was an investor at Accel, helped found OpenView Venture Partners, and was an investor at Insight Venture Partners; over his career he invested early in companies including Exact Target (sold to Salesforce for $2.5B) and Oculus (sold to Facebook for $2B). He was also the Chief Marketing Officer at LA-based REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-commerce players. Kobie graduated from Harvard College.
Ben Fritz is Artificial Intelligence Editor in The Wall Street Journal's technology bureau. He was previously West Coast Editor for U.S. News. Before that, Ben covered the entertainment industry for The Journal, as well as The Los Angeles Times and Variety. He reported and hosted The Journal podcast miniseries "With Great Power:The Rise of Superhero Cinema" and is author of the bestselling books "The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies" and "All the President's Spin."
Allie Garfinkle is a senior finance reporter for Fortune, covering venture capital and startups. She authors Fortune’s weekday dealmaking newsletter Term Sheet and co-chairs Fortune Brainstorm, a community and event series featuring an annual retreat in Deer Valley, Utah. A regular contributor to BBC’s Business Matters podcast, Allie is also a frequent moderator at major conferences such as SXSW. Before joining Fortune, she covered Amazon and Meta at Yahoo Finance and helped produce Emmy-nominated PBS Frontline business documentaries, including Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover and The Power of the Fed. A graduate of The University of Chicago and New York University, Allie currently resides in Los Angeles.
Stuart runs all non-investment activities at Upfront. He joined the firm as a partner in April 2014 having spent 14 years in various operational roles at tech companies. He was previously CMO at CareerArc, a social recruiting platform and CMO at Internships.com, the world's largest internships marketplace which was acquired by Chegg. He was also COO at BuildOnline, a SaaS document management company that was acquired by SWORD Group. Earlier in his career, Stuart was an attorney with the international law firm Herbert Smith, where he worked on M&A and corporate finance transactions. Stuart received a first class honors degree in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds and a law degree with distinction from the College of Law in London, England.
Aditi Maliwal is a partner at Upfront Ventures, investing in early stage companies across financial technology and enterprise software. Aditi partners with founders at their earliest stages of inception and supports them throughout the stages of company building. While at Upfront, she has partnered deeply in this way with Arcade, Clair, Renew, Stem, WriterAI and ZestAI amongst others.
Before joining Upfront, Aditi was at Google, first on the Corporate Development team leading acquisitions across various sectors including AI, commerce and fintech, and then on the Next Billion Users team building products for users in emerging markets. Prior to Google she worked in early stage venture at Crosslink Capital where she invested in Chime, BetterUp, and PowerToFly among other companies. She began her career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, in the technology banking group. She has a B.A. from Stanford University. She has lived between Mumbai, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Singapore and San Francisco.
Natasha Mascarenhas is a venture capital reporter at The Information and co-authors Dealmaker, an award-winning column on startup investing. She's based in San Francisco.
Dana Settle is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Greycroft. As a member of Greycroft’s management committee, she is responsible for the firm’s operations, investment strategy, and vision. Dana is on the investment committee for all Greycroft funds and has been involved in all phases of Greycroft’s growth. Dana’s active investments include Acorns, Anine Bing, Avaline, Citizen, Goop, HamsaPay, Happiest Baby, Mayk.it, Merit Beauty, MNTN, Rembrand, Seed Health, Stability.ai, Thrive Market, and Versed. Her notable exits include Bumble (IPO), Maker Studios (acquired by Disney), Pulse (acquired by LinkedIn), The RealReal (IPO), Trunk Club (acquired by Nordstrom), and WideOrbit (interest sold to company management). Dana is a Board Director to IMAX Corporation and she is a founding member of the non-profit Baby2Baby and the female mentorship collective, All Raise. Prior to Greycroft, Dana spent several years as a venture capitalist and advisor to startups in the Bay Area, including six years at Mayfield, and investment banking at Lehman Brothers. Dana holds a BA in Finance and International Studies from the University of Washington and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Thomas Storch has held prominent roles at the White House and the U.S. Department of Energy, including Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. In this capacity, his portfolio focused on economic and national security policy, particularly in areas such as international trade, energy, and U.S. economic competitiveness. Storch served as the United States’ lead negotiator at the G20 and led the coordination of the G7 during the United States’ host year in 2020. At the White House, he co-led the development of the economic framework for the Peace to Prosperity plan for the Middle East and was part of the team that negotiated the Abraham Accords normalization Agreements.
He also served as Senior Director for Global Economics, Finance, and Development at the National Security Council (NSC) and as a senior official for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy. After his tenure in the White House, Storch became a Managing Director at Affinity Partners, focusing on energy and commodities.
Storch holds an A.B. in Social Studies from Harvard College and an M.A. from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where he was awarded the Lawrence Freedman Prize for his dissertation on the key drivers and characteristics of a potential Japanese nuclear weapons program.
Mark Suster has been a Managing Partner at Upfront since 2007, where he has led notable investments in companies including Invoca, Density, Nanit, and Maker Studios (acquired by Disney). He previously was the founder & CEO of two successful enterprise software companies, the most recent of which was sold to Salesforce.com where Mark became VP, Products. Prior to being a founder, Mark was a software developer at Accenture where he lived and worked in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Mark is a graduate of UCSD and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Kevin Zhang is a partner at Upfront, where he has a focus in healthcare and interactive gaming. Notable investments include Bionaut Labs, Canvas Medical, Pragma, and Seriously (acquired by Playtika). Prior to joining Upfront in 2012, Kevin was at The Boston Consulting Group, where he advised on strategy, M&A and operations for technology, healthcare, and industrial goods clients in the US and Asia. Previously, Kevin worked at Verisk Health (now Cotiviti), a healthcare software startup in Boston, focusing on data analytics product development selling into payers and providers. Kevin studied Biology at Harvard College.