At Threat.Technology we track over 100,000 infosec, cyber security, military and cyber startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California, United States based Managing Partner operating in the Cyber Security space. If you think a Managing Partner is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Matt Ocko
Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder of DCVC
Matt has nearly three decades of experience as a technology entrepreneur, operating executive and venture capitalist, with over 20 patents granted or pending in areas as diverse as hardware systems and social games. He still reads C++ code but admits to occasional struggles with Erlang. Matt is a cofounder of Data Collective, a venture fund with a unique team of experienced venture capitalists, technology entrepreneurs and practicing engineers, investing together in seed and early stage Big Data and IT infrastructure companies. During his venture capital tenure, he has invested in and/or helped grow a variety of companies including XenSource (CTRX), Zynga (ZNGA), Impermium, Verisign (VRSN), Facebook (FB), Virtuata (CSCO), Akimbi Systems (VMW), Cotendo (AKAM), Tango.me, MetaWeb (GOOG), FlashSoft (SNDK), DataMirror (IBM), UltraDNS (NSR), Kenshoo, Metamarkets, Fortinet (FTNT), SupportSoft (SPRT), Alantro (TXN), CouchBase, Spool (FB), BranchOut, On-Ramp Wireless, and many others.
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About AngelList, Archimedes Capital, DCVC, Uber: DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost.
John Hamer
Managing Partner of DCVC
John is a Managing Partner at DCVC Bio. Prior to DCVC Bio, John was an Investment Director for Monsanto Growth Ventures. Monsanto is a leading global, agricultural company providing products to growers worldwide. Monsanto Growth Ventures, through investment and partnership encourages entrepreneurs, and innovative start-up companies, to take on the challenge of a more sustainable future for world food production. John Hamer’s career spans more than three decades of research, senior management and investment experience in the life sciences. Prior to joining Monsanto, he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence and later Managing Director and General Partner at Burrill & Company, a San Francisco-based life sciences merchant bank with activities in venture capital, merchant banking and media. John Hamer led investments in numerous of Ag-related start-ups in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Prior to joining Burrill, John Hamer was the CSO and later CEO of Paradigm Genetics/ICORIA, a leading genomics and ag-biotechnology company that completed its IPO on NASDAQ in 2000 and was later acquired by Monsanto. John Hamer received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California at Davis and was a Visiting Scientist in Dupont’s Central Research & Development Group. He later joined Purdue University and rose to the rank of full Professor and was the recipient of several national awards including the David Lucille Packard Award, and The National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship. At Purdue, John Hamer’s research focused on crop diseases, where he pioneered molecular approaches to disease management and control and worked with numerous international agencies in China, the Philippines and South America. John Hamer lectures widely on innovation, agriculture and venture capital and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and serves on the Board of Directors for Golden Pine Ventures, a microVC fund in RTP, North Carolina. He is a passionate believer in new growth opportunities that are emerging in the agricultural value chain in food, health, energy, materials and chemicals.
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About DCVC: DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost.
Kiersten Stead
Managing Partner – DCVC Bio of DCVC
Kiersten is a Managing Partner at DCVC Bio. Prior to DCVC Bio, Kiersten was an Investment Director at Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV), the Venture Capital arm of Monsanto, which was one of the most active investors globally in agriculture. Kiersten has over 15 years of experience in Biotechnology. Prior to joining MGV, Kiersten worked at Burrill & Company, which invested broadly in Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology. Kiersten is a co-founder and Director of Pairwise, is on the Board of Atomwise, Farmlead, Plant Response Biotech, VitalFields (acquired), Understory Weather and Blue River Technology (acquired). She is also a member of the Investment Committee of Genome Canada GAAP, The Keystone Symposia Scientific Advisory Board, and the EULC, a sport-not-for-profit.
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About DCVC: DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost.
Zachary Bogue
Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder of DCVC
Zack has over a decade of experience in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur, lawyer, angel investor and advisor for big data startups. Zack is a cofounder of Data Collective, a venture fund with a unique team of experienced venture capitalists, technology entrepreneurs and practicing engineers, investing together in seed and early stage Big Data and IT infrastructure companies. Zack also is a cofounder and managing partner of Founders Den, a shared workspace for experienced technology entrepreneurs. He was previously an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and a law partner at Virtual Law Partners, where he worked with numerous start-ups and their founders, and developed expertise in technology law and Silicon Valley business practices.
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About aWhere, Cask, Citus Data, Cotendo, DCVC, Founders Den, Montara Capital Partners, Square, The World Economic Forum, Uber: DCVC backs entrepreneurs using Deep Tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost.
Aydin Senkut
Founder & Managing Partner of Felicis Ventures
Aydin Senkut is the Founder and Managing Partner of Felicis Ventures. An original super angel turned multi-stage investor, he has been named on the Forbes Midas List for the past seven years (2014-2020) as well as the New York Times Top 20 Venture Capitalists list for the past four years (2016-2019). His recent focus areas include consumerization of enterprise, security, cloud optimization, and longevity. He is well-known as an early backer of a number of iconic companies including Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), Fitbit (NYSE:FIT), Rovio (HEL:ROVIO), Adyen (AMS: ADYEN), Pluralsight (NASDAQ:PS), Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH), Credit Karma (acquired by Intuit), SoundHound & Vicarious. Prior to starting Felicis Ventures, Aydin was a Senior Manager at Google responsible for strategic partner development and account management in Asia Pacific, including Japan. Aydin joined Google in 1999 as its first Product Manager to launch Google’s first 10 international sites, its first online search licensing products, and its first Safe Search. He then became the first International Sales Manager at Google, responsible for worldwide licensing deals. Before joining Google, Aydin was the Product Manager for Data Visualization and Data Mining software MineSet at SGI. He received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with Honors from Boston University. He also earned an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton School and a master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an avid pilot, loves playing tennis, and speaks five languages: English, German, French, Portuguese, and Turkish.
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About Felicis Ventures, Guideline, Paravision: Felicis invests in seed through Series C stage companies across multiple sectors, industries, and frontier tech.
Yves Sisteron
Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Upfront Ventures
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About Upfront Ventures: Upfront Ventures is the venture capital firm focusing on early-stage technology companies.
Mark Suster
Managing Partner of Upfront Ventures
Mark Suster is General Partner at Upfront Ventures. He joined the firm in 2007 after having previously worked with Upfront Ventures for nearly 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Before joining Upfront Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com following its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, a European SaaS company that was acquired by SWORD Group. Earlier in his career, Mark spent nearly ten years working for Accenture in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Mark looks to invest in passionate entrepreneurs in early-stage technology businesses. His interests include Digital Content and Distribution, AdTech, Consumer Internet, and SaaS businesses and he has deep operating experience having started and sold his last two companies. Mark received a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Mark’s investments include: Bird, Density, Imbellus, Invoca, MakeSpace, mitu, Nanit, Osmo, and Tact.
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About SonicEnergy™, Upfront Ventures: Upfront Ventures is the venture capital firm focusing on early-stage technology companies.
Kara Nortman
Managing Partner of Upfront Ventures
Kara is a Partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest venture capital firm based in Los Angeles. Some of her notable investments include Endgame, Time by Ping, Writer, Open Raven, Parachute Home and Fleetsmith (acquired by Apple in 2020). Before Upfront, Kara co-founded the children’s e-commerce company Moonfrye and also spent seven years at IAC where she co-headed the M&A group and acted as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Urbanspoon and Citysearch. During her tenure at IAC she oversaw the initial investment in Tinder. Earlier in her career, she also spent time at Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, and Battery Ventures. She received her AB in Politics from Princeton University and her MBA from Stanford University. Kara is also a founding member of All Raise, a VC-led group dedicated to increased diversity in funders and founders and is a founder of Angel City Football Club. Kara resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three daughters.
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About All Raise, Moonfrye, Upfront Ventures: Upfront Ventures is the venture capital firm focusing on early-stage technology companies.
Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf
Managing Partner of YL Ventures
Yoav Andrew Leitersdorf founded YL Ventures, which invests early in core-technology software companies in and around the Internet, and accelerates their evolution via value-added involvement and Silicon Valley-based business development. Yoav has been a successful entrepreneur, investor, and consultant in the technology and new media fields for the past two decades. He is the founder and managing partner of YL Ventures, a global venture capital firm that invests in high-technology start-up companies and, within a short time, brings them to market. In addition to 6Scan, Yoav serves on the board of directors of ClickTale (customer experience analytics), Upstream Commerce (automated competitive pricing analytics) and BlazeMeter (self-service load testing cloud) and is the lead investor of Seculert (security threat intelligence). Yoav served on the board of AcceloWeb (browser experience optimization) until it was acquired by Limelight Networks. Yoav was the CEO and cofounder of Movota (mobile gaming) acquired by Bertelsmann, the CTO and cofounder of ExchangePath (online payments) acquired by CMGI, and the CEO and cofounder of PcEnterntainer Magazine. Yoav was also an associate at DFJ Gotham Ventures, studied at IMD, and holds an MBA from Columbia University.
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About YL Ventures: YL Ventures funds and supports seed-stage entrepreneurs in the cybersecurity sector.
Pat Wilkison
Managing Partner of Integrity Partners
Partner for Building Amazing Companies with Amazing People. Providing Effort, Integrity, Commitment, Creativity.
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About Exponential Partners, Integrity Partners, Integrity Partners, Western Digital: Modern Mobility Venture Investment Team
Michael Tedesco
Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Cyber
Michael Tedesco is one of the top technology dealmakers of his generation, with over 20 years experience advising CEOs and boards of companies both large and small at all stages of their lifecycle. He has advised on 100+ completed M&A transactions with aggregate value in excess of $125 billion. Before founding Wellspring, Michael was the Head of US M&A and Global Technology M&A at Jefferies. He held a similar role at Citi Global Markets until 2010 in addition to serving as co-head of Americas Technology Banking. Michael has experience particularly in special situations advisory assignments, with complex Founder / Board / Investor dynamics. Such advisory roles were recognized five times for the IDD Technology Deal of the Year. Through Wellspring Growth Partners, he is an active direct investor in and advisor to disruptive companies across the technology and consumer products spectrum. Investments include FIGS, Westward Leaning, WriteLab, EnerAllies, The Influential Network, Duckworth Wool Co, Peep, Geoscale and MoxTV. Before earning his MBA Michael was a Project Engineer at Conoco and played a major role inthe Polar Lights joint venture, the first oilfield development project in Russia involving an American firm. Harvard MBA with High Distinction (Baker Scholar and John Loeb Finance Fellow) and BSci Industrial Engineering Montana State University
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About Momentum Cyber, Wellspring Growth Partners: Momentum Cyber is a financial advisory firm that provides mergers and acquisitions and strategic advice to the cybersecurity industry.
Eric McAlpine
Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Cyber
Eric McAlpine has spent over 20 years in the Technology industry as a strategic advisor to Boards, Founders & CEOs, a two-time founder, and award-winning engineer. He is a highly sought out speaker on the Cybersecurity market at major industry conferences, private events, and corporate gatherings sharing insights into M&A, capital markets, and industry trends. Eric is a Founder & Managing Partner at Momentum Cyber a firm he co-founded in 2018 along with Dave DeWalt and Michael Tedesco. Momentum Cyber is the premier trusted strategic advisor to the Cybersecurity industry providing bespoke high-impact advice combined with tailored senior-level access from incubation to exit. Eric is one of the top dealmakers in the Cybersecurity industry with a prolific M&A track record advising on and orchestrating deals with industry leaders such as ADT, Symantec, McAfee, Proofpoint, Mimecast, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Amazon, CenturyLink, Google, Intel, and many more. Prior to co-founding Momentum Cyber, Eric was Founder & Managing Partner of Momentum Partners, the precursor to Momentum Cyber. Earlier in his career, Eric served as a Managing Director with Blackstone where co-founded Blackstone’s Silicon Valley office and led the firm’s Cybersecurity advisory practice. In 2010, Eric was recognized by Steve Schwarzman with the CEO Star Award and featured along with a profile on one of his transactions in Blackstone’s 25th anniversary Annual Report for extraordinary contributions to the firm. Eric began his Wall Street career at Salomon Smith Barney and Citi where he served as a senior member of the Enterprise Software Investment Banking team leading sector coverage in Security. Prior to a career on Wall Street, Eric served his country as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force where he was honored as the Military Engineer of the Year in 2000 for his engineering contributions to the Joint Strike Fighter Program, which included saving taxpayers $80 Million through an innovative stealth recoating design. Eric earned an MBA with Distinction from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management where he was a 2-year Wade Fetzer Scholar. He also earned a BS Civil Engineering from Purdue University on an Air Force ROTC Scholarship as well as his MS in Engineering Management from the University of Dayton where he was a Dayton Area Graduate Studies Institute scholar – both full ride scholarships. Eric lives in Ross, California with his family and is an avid world traveler, die hard Cubs fan, collects vintage vinyl records, and loves art, music, wine and fine food.
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About Momentum Cyber: Momentum Cyber is a financial advisory firm that provides mergers and acquisitions and strategic advice to the cybersecurity industry.
Eric Manlunas
Managing Partner and Founder (US & SE Asia) of Wavemaker Partners
Eric is a co-Founder and Managing Partner with Wavemaker Partners, a cross border early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore. He is a two-time start-up entrepreneur turned venture capitalist with a strong passion for early-stage investing. Eric co-founded Wavemaker following its merger with Frontera Group, a prior early-stage boutique venture capital firm he founded in 2003. Eric has a proven track record as an early investor in over 230 early-stage ventures, of which half remain active and growing. Those companies have collectively received over $1B in growth capital. Eric also served in a concurrent capacity as a Partner of a Los Angeles-based value hedge fund from late-2002 until its sale to a San Francisco-based commercial bank in mid-2006. Prior to Frontera, Eric founded Sitestar in mid-1999. Sitestar is an Internet service provider in the rural markets of the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Upon helping steer Sitestar in becoming one of the largest independent ISPs in the region, Eric successfully divested his remaining ownership stake in December 2002. Prior to that, Eric’s first startup was Interfoods, an online specialty foods venture he founded in early 1997. Within 3 years, Interfoods grew to become a mid-sized specialty foods provider in its market and was successfully acquired in late 1999. Eric began his career as a consulting associate with Arthur Andersen’s retail management consulting division from 1991-1995. He earned a B.S. in Communications from Florida International University and an M.B.A from Pepperdine University. Eric is currently a member of the board of a number of emerging companies. He is also a Trustee of the Philippine Development Foundation, an organization committed to social development initiatives in the Philippines, Eric’s country of origin.
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About Wavemaker 360, Wavemaker Partners: Wavemaker is a crossborder early-stage VC firm that focuses on early-stage tech startup opportunities.
Peter Fitzgerald
Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Triventures
Peter Fitzgerald is the Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology and Director of the Cardiovascular Core Analysis Laboratory (CCAL) at Stanford University Medical School. He is an Interventional Cardiologist and has a PhD in Engineering. He is Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Engineering at Stanford. Presently, Peter Fitzgerald’s laboratory includes 17 postdoctoral fellows and graduate engineering students focusing on state-of-the-art technologies in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has led or participated in over 150 clinical trials, published over 450 manuscripts/chapters, and lectures worldwide. He has trained over 150 post-docs in Engineering and Medicine in the past decade. In addition, he heads the Stanford/Asia MedTech innovation program Peter has been principle/founder of eighteen medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has transitioned twelve of these start-ups to large medical device companies.
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About Triventures: Triventures is a venture capital fund focused on investing in data driven healthcare solutions and disruptive medical devices
Barry Weinman
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of AllegisCyber
Barry Weinman has been making venture capital investments, principally in Silicon Valley, since 1980. He is Co-Founder and former Managing Director of Allegis Capital and AVI Capital. Barry and his partners in Allegis and prior funds have helped over 70 private companies go public. Barry has led and participated in investments resulting in over $25 billion in market value, including: Palm (NASDAQ), Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE), Caere (NASDAQ), Cadnetix (NASDAQ), Columbia/HCA (NYSE), Women.com (NASDAQ), Medscape (NASDAQ), Liveworld (NASDAQ), InfoGear (CSCO), Be Inc (NASDAQ), Quokka (NASDAQ), and XOMA (NASDAQ). Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Barry held management positions with AT&T, IBM, and Fairchild Semiconductor. He co-founded Interactive Applications Inc., the first on-line manufacturing software and services company, merged it with Boole & Babbage which went on to have an Initial Public Offering. In 2005 he became Chairman of DragonBridge Capital a Merchant Bank and Venture Fund in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Barry holds a B.S. from Clarkson College of Technology, and an M.A. from the London School of Economics / University of Southern California.
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About AllegisCyber, Secondaries Venture Fund, University of Hawaii Foundation: AllegisCyber invests in early stage companies developing technology and software to serve emerging markets.
Marsha Wilson
CEO, Managing Partner, and Co-Founder of ScaleSec
Wilson is a Co-founder and Managing Partner at ScaleSec, a security-first cloud consulting company that helps clients with compliance implementation and cloud security engineering. Her career has afforded her great opportunities to support clients in the Department of Defense, Energy Sector, Healthcare, and more recently in the DevOps and Automation space. Marsha holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Business Administration. Her certifications include CISSP, PMP, CISA, and OSCP, but she is always on the hunt for more.
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About ScaleSec: ScaleSec helps your company create or enhance your cloud security capabilities by diving deep, offering hands-on services.
