DealMakers

David Karandish is the co-founder and CEO of Capacity which is an enterprise artificial intelligence SaaS company focused on helping teams do their best work. The company has raised to date over $23 million from a Midwest network of private and angel investors. Prior to this, David built and sold Answers.com for $950 million.

Ido Susan is the cofounder and CEO of DriveNets which is a fast-growing software company that is revolutionizing Communications service provider (CSP) networks. The company has raised one of the largest Series A financing rounds to date which amounted to $120 million. Prior to this he founded Intucell which offered a self-optimizing network solution that enabled radio operators to better utilize their radio access networks. Intucell was acquired by Cisco for $475 million.

Yuchun Lee is the founder and CEO of Allego which provides a mobile video-based sales learning and development platform. Prior to this, he was the founder and CEO at Unica which offered enterprise marketing management and cloud-based marketing solutions to companies and different industries. Unica was acquired by IBM for $500 million after taking it public. Interestingly, while at MIT he was also a member of the famed MIT Blackjack Team that inspired the bestseller Bringing Down the House...

Jay Chaudhry is the co-founder and CEO of Zscaler which is a global cloud-based information security company. He took Zscaler public and currently has a $10B market cap. Prior to this, he founded AirDefense (acquired by Motorola), CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing), CoreHarbor (acquired by AT&T) and Secure IT (acquired by VeriSign).

Bill Clerico is the co-founder and CEO of WePay which is a leading provider of integrated payments for software platforms. The company raised $75 million from SV Angel, Highland Capital Partners, Ignition Partners, August Capital, and founders of YouTube and PayPal. Ultimately the company was acquired by JPMorgan for a reported $400 million.

Joe DeSimone is the cofounder and CEO of Carbon which is reinventing how polymer products are designed, engineered, manufactured, and delivered, towards a digital and sustainable future. The company has raised over $680 million from Sequoia, Google Ventures, GE, Adidas, BMW, Johnson & Johnson, and JSR. They’ve also got Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, and Madrone Capital Partners as well as investment from additional international sovereign funds. Prior to this Joe DeSimone was a university...

Tim Hwang is the co-founder and CEO of FiscalNote which uses artificial intelligence and big data to deliver predictive analytics of governmental action to determine its impact. The company has raised $230 million from investors like Mark Cuban, Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo!), New Enterprise Associates, Plug and Play, AME Cloud Ventures, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Dorm Room Fund, Winklevoss Capital, Middleland Capital, Visionnaire Ventures, or 645 Ventures to name a few.

Sanjay Beri is founder and CEO of Netskope which is a leading cloud access security broker. The company has raised $400 million at a $1B+ valuation. Investors include Lightspeed, Accel, Social Capital, and ICONIQ. Prior to this, Sanjay was the co-founder of one of the world’s first data center encryption companies, Ingrian Networks, which was acquired by SafeNet.

Michael Cammarata is the CEO of Neptunes Wellness Solutions which is a publicly-traded company around health and wellness products with a valuation north of half a billion. Prior to this Cammarata cofounded Schmidt Naturals which he sold to Unilever. From 13 to his mid-twenties he also established several other companies which brought him hundreds of millions in revenues.

Frédéric Mazzella is the co-founder and president of BlaBlaCar which is a long-distance carpooling platform that connects drivers with empty seats and passengers to share travel costs. The company has raised over $400 million at a valuation north of $1 billion. Investors include Accel, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Cabiedes & Partners, ISAI, Grape Arbor VC, Vostok New Ventures and Lead Edge Capital to name a few.

Amit Sharma is the founder and CEO of Narvar, an intelligent customer experience platform that helps commerce companies simplify the everyday lives of consumers. The company has raised $64 million from Accel, Battery, Freestyle Capital, Scale Venture Partners, and Salesforce Ventures. Prior to this Amit was a senior executive at Walmart and Apple.

Andy Ory is the co-founder and CEO of 128 Technology which allows company networks to better facilitate the delivery of business services and applications. The company has raised $70 million from G20 Ventures and The Perkins Fund. Prior to this Andy co-founded Acme Packett which provided voice, data and communications services and applications across IP networks for service providers and enterprises. Acme Packet was sold to Oracle for $2.1 billion. He also co-founded Priority Call Management...

Gene Berdichevsky is the CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. which is a chemicals and materials company making next-generation Li-ion battery materials. The company has raised $295 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Next47, and 8VC. Prior to Sila, Gene was also employee number 7 at Tesla. In this episode you will learn: The essential ingredients for raising moneyGene’s top piece of advice for his younger self and new foundersHow to...

Ray Grainger is the co-founder and CEO at Mavenlink which provides a modern software platform for professional and marketing services organizations. The company has raised so far $111 million from investors like Goldman Sachs or Carrick Capital Partners. Prior to Mavenlink, Ray Grainger was the Global Managing Partner at Accenture and also had a leadership position at InQuira.

Sid Sijbrandij is the co-founder and CEO of GitLab which is a web-based open source Git repository manager with wiki and issue tracking features and built-in CI/CD. The company has raised over $158 million from Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, August Capital, ICONIQ Capital, 500 Startups, and Sound Ventures. The valuation of Gitlab is over $1 billion.

Sanjay Dastoor is the co-founder and CEO of Skip which operates shared electric scooters for reliable last-mile transportation. The company has raised so far over $30 million from Accel, Y Combinator, SV Angels, Menlo Ventures, Initialized Capital, and Maven Ventures. Before Skip, Dastoor cofounded Boosted which builds and develops lightweight, wireless, remote-controlled motorized electric longboards. The company raised $70 million from top investors like Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and...

Sanjay Govil is the founder and Chairman of Infinite Computer Solutions which provides technology-based business process solutions, next-gen mobility solutions, and product engineering services. On its initial public offering, the company raised $1.8 billion. The company has over 7,000 employees and generates more than $700 million in annual revenue. Sanjay also founded Zyter(R) which is a cPaaS based platform that leverages the power of the connected enterprise.

Reza Merchant is the founder and CEO of The Collective which is a community of co-living, serviced living or co-working spaces. The company has raised over $850 million. The Collective currently has over 200 employees with locations in London, New York, and Berlin.

Eyal Lifshitz is the co-founder and CEO of BlueVine which provides small and medium-sized businesses with access to fast and simple financial products through an advanced, online platform. The company has raised $140 million in equity capital and over $400 million in debt financing. Its investors include the likes of M12 (Microsoft), Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners – to name a few. Before BlueVine, Eyal was a principal at Greylock Partners’ where he invested...

Mark Dankberg is the co-founder and CEO of Viasat which produces satellite and other digital communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any location. He took the company public in 1996. Viasat has a $5 billion market cap at the moment. Viasat has made more than 12 acquisitions.