Our Investors
Julia Klim is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Ventures at Equinox Group, the leading luxury high performance brand, reporting directly to the Chairman. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a First Class Honors in Bachelor of Science in Computer Sciences and Management from University College London. Julia was born and raised in Poland.
Since joining Equinox in early 2019, Julia has been pushing the boundaries of what we know today as wellness. In an effort to create hyper-personalized experiences, she helped launch Equinox’s digital venture and created a data connected ecosystem, driving more meaningful engagement and affinity for the brand across Equinox’s 2 million community reach. Today, Julia is building Equinox’s strategic partnerships, defining new pathways to growth through web3 technology and reimagining health and wellness’s role in fashion and culture.
Prior to Equinox, Julia worked at PJT Partners in NYC, an investment bank, and PIMCO, an asset management house in CA.
Nina Chang is a Silicon Valley attorney with a solo practice focused on SaaS services and software licensing transactions for technology companies. Having been the Head of Legal at various startups, she now serves as a fractional General Counsel consultant for day to day matters for companies that don't have an in-house legal department. Nina is the 4th generation of her family to be born in Honolulu, Hawaii and now resides along the coast in Half Moon Bay, California.
Dr. Vasu Appalaneni is a board-certified gastroenterologist with 16+ years’ experience practicing in Dayton, OH. She is an advanced endoscopist with expertise in Endoscopic Ultrasound. As the Executive Vice President, Clinical Innovation at One GI, she focuses on quality patient care, agile leadership with changing needs of the era, building teams and company culture, identifying and communicating value to future acquisitions for M&A and governance to shareholders, integration of technology for practice efficiencies. Prior to this role, she served as the practice board member at Dayton Gastroenterology Inc for over 14 years. She currently serves on national committees including “Practice Operations” at ASGE, and prior to this, she served on “Standards of Practice Committee” at ASGE.
Dr Appalaneni earned her medical degree from Guntur Medical College in India, and residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Gastroenterology at Wright State University, and advanced fellowship in Endoscopic Ultrasound at Medical University of South Carolina, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
She is also actively involved in local community outreach activities, fundraising, and served on non-profit boards. In her free time, she enjoys playing golf, poker, reading, and traveling.
Fanny is a highly accomplished scientist with a PhD in Biotechnology and vast experience spanning Nanotechnology, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Process Scale-up. As the Process Technical Leader for billion-dollar FMCG brands, she has launched 200+ new innovative products yielding YOY profitable sales growth. Her entrepreneurial ventures include co-founding startups in biotech, cosmeceuticals, and social platforms, with her latest venture being SupraCool Cooling Fabrics (SupraCool.com). As a passionate advocate for sustainable science, Fanny also cofounded Green Your Lab (GreenYourLab.org), a global initiative that promotes eco-friendly practices in the scientific community. In her off-hours, you will find her volunteering at the local soup kitchen, organizing activities for refugees, traveling, or trying to learn a new skill.
Julie is a seasoned investor with several profitable exits—most notably, the first check into The Climate Corporation which resulted in a 40x return. She was also involved in her ex-partner’s business which sold to Google and became Google Analytics. In the 90's and 00's, she developed hundreds of websites (many firsts) working as a coder, project manager, web software developer, and entrepreneur in LA, San Diego, and SF. After having children, she continued in tech part-time, and began building a start-up investment portfolio. With dozens of investments to date and over 10 years in Silicon Valley, she is an experienced angel investor. Simultaneously, she started investing in real estate and fixing up properties. Her design sense became sought out and she now works part-time as an interior designer.
Joanne is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of WEL Silicon Valley. She is the Founder & CEO @ Connection Silicon Valley, helping connect Canadian companies to the US market and to help them raise capital. Joanne founded the Canadian Women's Network (CWN), the preeminent startup community that connects Canadian female founders to Silicon Valley to help them grow and scale. She is on the Board of CELS in Silicon Valley (Canadian Entrepreneurs in Life Science) and Innovate Edmonton. Joanne hails from Alberta and has lived in Silicon Valley since 1999.
Currently Group Product Manager @Google leading Google Assistant Communications, previously COO of Lenda (a Fintech company in the mortgage space acquired by Reali), and has been a product Co-founder for a number of early stage tech startups.
Jenn Bouyoukos is a savvy award-winning HR professional with more than 25 years experience in leading and transforming cultures at high-performing media, tech and financial services companies, including eOne, Workbrain, SAP, Manulife, Kobo, and RBC. A certified Prosci Change Manager, Certified Diversity Executive, M&A expert, and HR tech pioneer, Jenn is recognized as a global expert in her field by organizations such as LinkedIn, Forbes.com, and Socialmedia.org. She is a Forbes Councils member and advisor for companies in the HR technology space. Passionate about students and education, Jennifer is a past President of CACEE (Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers), a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, and a mentor at Futurepreneur.
Kristina Cleary is the Founder and Chief Leadership Coach of Accelle Inc. Her previous position was Chief Marketing Officer at Ceridian where she led the global marketing organization, culminating in an IPO on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges. She is also an executive coach and Executive in Residence at the MaRS Discovery District where she leverages over 25 years of leadership experience and her international coaching certification to help grow organizations to $100M+ in revenue. As the founder of ACCELLE, she is laser focused on providing products and services that help increase the number of women in senior leadership positions by accelerating their personal and professional journeys through a unique mix of content, collaboration and coaching.
Kari is an award-winning entrepreneur based in London and New York City. Her portfolio consists of a range of business ventures assisting brands launch and scale their businesses. She is an investor through her incubator and design agency. With a specialty in luxury sectors, Kari’s clientele boasts from large corporations to start-ups to influential individuals including, celebrities and royalty. With her success, Kari launched her brand, Kari C., a lifestyle boutique in the heart of Knightsbridge called The Collective by Kari C., and a multi-disciplinary brand consulting agency Kari C. Design Ltd. Kari is regularly sought after for style tips and trend forecasts and has been featured in Vogue, Fashion TV, Luxurious Magazine, Wedding Ideas and styled high profile photoshoots for Harper's Bazaar and GQ Magazine.
In 2018, she launched a highly curated business platform and investor club – The Atlantic Society (TAS). TAS is a global community of entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders in both public and private sectors from both sides of the Atlantic committed to making a meaningful impact through our collective work for a better tomorrow. With a particular interest in driving thought-leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem development with our community of members on both sides of the Atlantic, our TAS network platform and tactile approach fosters relationships through connecting with peers, building skills and knowledge-sharing through bespoke events and promotes scalable growth through active investing.
Caroline’s professional background is in software sales, and she is currently working with a former colleague to start a sales consulting company. Previously, she sold software to utility-scale solar asset owners at a start-up. She is passionate about deepening her knowledge of the climate-tech space. Caroline earned her M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Florida, where she researched sea-level rise and its impact on coral reefs. She was awarded a grant from the National Geographic Society to conduct fieldwork in Western Australia during graduate school. Caroline lives in Boulder, CO with her husband and their two miniature dachshunds, and spends her free time hiking, biking, and skiing.
Natasha Allen is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP, serving as Co-Chair for Artificial Intelligence within the Innovative Technology sector, Co-Chair of the Venture Capital Committee, and is a member of the Venture Capital, M&A, and Transactions Practices. She also serves as Pro Bono chair for the firm’s Silicon Valley office.
Natasha has a significant background advising startups, emerging companies, and late stage companies on debt and equity financing, venture capital financing, commercial matters, and general corporate matters including formations, corporate governance, structuring, and share issuances across a variety of industries including Artificial Intelligence, FinTech, robotics, and life sciences. Natasha’s robust transactional experience includes mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, including domestic and cross-border buy-side and sell-side transactions in Augmented/Virtual Reality, software, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and healthcare industries. She also regularly advises Canadian startups looking to establish themselves in the United States on structure, financing, and other issues as they enter this market.
Prior to joining Foley, Natasha was a founding partner at a corporate and transactional law firm, as well as managing counsel at a technology enabled law firm where she acted as external general counsel for clients.
Briana Brownell is a data scientist turned entrepreneur, widely regarded for her visionary approach to AI and technology. Her pioneering work as the founder and CEO of Pure Strategy has established her as a leading authority in technology consulting and AI software development. With her academic publications and keynote appearances at top conferences globally, Briana is a celebrated voice in the industry. She has been recognized for her dedication to promoting thoughtful innovation, first-class board governance, and effective public policy in the technology sector, winning top accolades, including VentureBeat's AI Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2021.
Siwan is a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group and Co-Founder of INTO Financial Coaching. She is passionate about financial freedom, not just for herself, but also supporting others on their journey. She has been investing in real estate and the stock market since her early 20s and has recently added start-ups to her portfolio. She loves exploring the world with her family and is usually based in Berlin.
Stephanie is an experienced lawyer skilled at collaborating with a wide variety of teams to take a practical approach to meet business objectives. She has worked with a number of companies ranging from startups to public companies on business transactions, product development, marketing, corporate governance matters, financings, public offerings, acquisitions, and post-acquisition integrations. When she's not elbow deep in building companies, you can find her mucking around in her kitchen, off on a hike, or plotting her next trip.
Dr. Christiane Mueck has been following her passion as a strategy consultant and expert advisor at the intersection of strategy consulting, entrepreneurship and human capital development for the last 15 years in Europe and the Middle East. Her work focuses on education (HE, TVET, K-12) and the non-profit sector. She has advised Ministries, SWF and MNC during her tenure at the Boston Consulting Group, built a medical college and restructured a national university in Qatar, and currently supports Misk Foundation in growing its portfolio of 30+ youth-focused programs. She has co-founded several start-up companies at the intersection of EdTech and FinTech and is an active angel investor and mentor to for profit and impact start-ups. She holds a PhD in Education Economics and is a trained executive coach.
Leila is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of WEL Silicon Valley. She is a Silicon Valley veteran in healthcare tech, having spent 10 years in the SF Bay Area. She did her undergrad at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, and started her healthcare career while getting a Master’s in Public Health also at UC Berkeley, and has worked on both the health system side and for healthcare tech startups. The last three startups Leila worked for became unicorns - Innovaccer, Truepill and Wheel. She has also angel invested in 10 seed-stage opportunities. She currently consults for various healthcare technology startups through her company LYHC Consulting, LLC, with a heavier focus on telemedicine/digital health and mail order pharmacies. She is a California native coming from Orange County, and currently resides there.
Shakespeare was her passion at the University of California, Los Angeles. While she had set out to become a literature professor, her professors encouraged her to join the workforce first before returning to graduate school. That’s when she landed at Charles Schwab, where she found a new passion for educating people about investments, the stock market and financial planning. She followed that career trajectory for 25+ years, working also for mPower Advisors (an early robo advisory firm for 401k participants), Barclays Global Investors, iShares / BlackRock and Alesco Advisors. Her passion now continues through founding Fairlight.
Jennifer is a tech veteran with global consulting and partnerships experience in digital transformation, supply chain and big data. After a range of companies including startups, DocuSign and Dell, she took a career break which included summiting Kilimanjaro with an all-female group of climbers and guides. Jennifer is a member of the UC Berkeley Canadian Studies Advisory Board and a former member of DocuSign Women’s Global Steering Committee. Originally from Ottawa, Jennifer has lived in San Francisco since 2000.
Amy is a growth & leadership coach, helping hundreds of individuals and organizations since 2002. She is the host of The Growth Moment podcast and offers 1:1 coaching, groups and workshops. Amy's first act was running high tech startups with a degree in computer science and a master's in counseling psychology. She lives in Santa Ynez, California with her husband and 17 year old son.
Kristina McDougall is the founder and Managing Partner at Artemis Canada, a boutique executive search firm serving growth stage tech companies. Kristina has 25 years experience working with tech companies, providing recruitment and leadership advice and solutions. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Kristina is an active angel investor and an engaged member of the Canadian technology ecosystem.
Reem Althawadi is an executive Leader and strategy consultant with board advisory experience. She has 15+ years of cross-industry global expertise in change management and transformation, organizational and leadership culture, and implementation of complex strategies. She has personal interest in early-stage startups in emerging sectors, especially in synthetic biology and food-tech. She currently resides in Dubai, UAE.
Believing that innovation, and specifically AI, will be transformational for microregions, Jasmine Pachnanda serves as CEO Leadership Alliance Orange County’s (CLAOC) Senior Vice President, working collaboratively with Southern California leaders to develop and implement a strategy to transform SoCal into a leading artificial intelligence (AI) superhub. Jasmine brings a broad set of experiences in management consulting, finance, and education with a focus on value-driven leadership in service of uplifting all communities.
A native of Orange County, CA, Jasmine graduated from UCLA with a degree in Business Economics and earned her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Registered In-house Counsel in California, Licensed in New York and Registered before the USPTO.
Catherine Lacavera most recently served as Color’s Chief Legal Officer. Previously she served as Vice President at Google, overseeing global litigation, employment and regulatory investigations. She is a frequent angel investor and LP in several funds, and has served as an advisor to numerous startups and incubators, including Xooglers, a global network of 25,000 former Google employees founding and funding startups. She also served on Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative committee. She received an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Toronto, was named one of Fortune’s top 40 under 40 and one of the most influential people in the world of IP, and was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Anushree has an extensive background in healthcare, on the both medical and business side. She completed her medical training in India, and did her residency in Pathology, which remains her first love. She got interested in the business side of healthcare while serving as a consultant for a leading diagnostic chain. After a move across the globe and an MBA with a healthcare focus, she started working with a few healthtech startups to drive business growth, strategy, and sales/customer success. Thus she considers herself a Physician Executive given her extensive background across diagnostics and medical devices. She is an independent investor and advisor to start-ups, and currently lives in the Bay area with her husband. She is a proud mother of Atharv and Viyoni, and loves to practice Bollywood/fusion dance, travel, hike, and learn different cuisines. She is also an avid reader, and has recently ventured into the world of travel blogging.
Our Partners
