We are excited to announce our panel of judges for Startup Runway Showcase 9 on September 9th, 2020. These active venture capitalists are eager to meet high-performing underrepresented founders.

Lisa Calhoun – Founding General Partner of Valor Ventures

Lisa’s experience and entrepreneurship have contributed to over a billion dollars in exit value from emerging technologies. Lisa’s passion is investing in software platforms that deliver financial inclusion, the new frontier of value. Valor Ventures helps financially driven professional investors such as family offices, foundations, and endowments get critical exposure to high potential early-stage tech investments in leading financial platforms. Lisa is proud to be a Kauffman Fellow (Class 23). 

Consuelo Valverde – Founder & Managing Partner at SV LATAM Capital

Consuelo is an entrepreneur turned VC, with a background in electrical engineering with two masters degrees in STEM fields. She founded her first tech company at the age of 21, and is also the founder of a software development company, a science museum, an innovation center, a science magazine, a TV and podcast science series, and a business coaching company in San Francisco, California. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of SV LATAM Fund – the first VC fund born in Silicon Valley with a unique focus in Latin America. SV LATAM Capital is an early stage venture capital firm that invests in science and technology to enable startups to transform societies, environment, and health on a global scale. They partner with entrepreneurs looking to solve difficult and important global problems focused on Latin America. 

Jacques-Philippe Piverger – Co-founder and Managing Partner of Ozone X Ventures

Jacques-Philippe is an experienced investor committed to applying the use of collective expert intelligence and tech innovation in order to deliver top investment performance while helping to create companies that will solve some of the biggest issues of our time. He is especially interested in solutions around sustainability, health/wellness, education, and the future of employment while unlocking financial resources for women and minorities. Ozone Ventures is a VC firm purpose-built to invest in companies founded by women and underserved minorities.

Sarah Leners – Senior Associate at Bull City Venture Partners

Sarah is a Senior Associate at Bull City Venture Partners. Prior to joining BCVP, Sarah was an investment banker at Lazard Middle Market where she specialized in M&A execution for Consumer, Food and Retail companies. Sarah began her investment banking career at Deutsche Bank where she focused on valuation, capital structure optimization, mergers and acquisitions and strategic advisory in the Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging and Leisure sectors.

Damineh Mycroft – Investing Director at HorizonX Ventures

Damineh works across Silicon Valley to manage Boeing’s existing venture programs and discover new partnerships in the Bay Area. Mycroft joined Boeing in 2003 and spent seven years with the Space and Intelligence Systems program in El Segundo, California. In 2010, Mycroft transitioned to Boeing Defense and Intelligence Systems headquarters in St. Louis, where she managed and led the relationship with Defense Contract Audit and Management agencies. In 2012, Mycroft was selected for the Boeing Leadership Rotation Program, transitioning to Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. In 2016, Mycroft moved to the bay area to launch Boeing HorizonX Silicon Valley office. Her investments are focused in autonomous systems, alternative power, and advanced logistics/services.

Ben Metcalfe – Founding Partner of Unannounced VC Firm

Ben is a serial technical founder turned investor and is best known for building WordPress Engine. Now, he enjoys investing in inspiring entrepreneurs and their early-stage startups. He is currently focused in cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence & machine learning, SaaS applications, marketplaces and deep tech. He’s personally led three investments founded by minority-identifying founders.

Wayne Moore – Partner at Purple Arch Ventures

Working at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship is Wayne’s personal passion. He’s held positions in both successful startups and thriving technology firms and brings a wealth of operational experience building teams, executing deals, and developing clients. Prior to business school, he served in the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. He is a Partner at Purple Arch Ventures, which raises capital from Northwestern alumni and then invests that capital in seed, growth, and later-stage companies with a Northwestern connection. 

Ramphis Castro – Co-Founder & General Partner at ScienceVest

Ramphis is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. He is an experienced technologist and product strategist having led and supported venture-backed teams from idea to exit. He’s also worked extensively on grassroots startup ecosystem acceleration and support for the purpose of helping countries evolve into innovation-driven economies. He co-founded ScienceVest, a venture capital fund for hard-tech and life science companies supporting founders by providing seed-stage capital and support for connecting with the best stage-relevant investors for their journey of changing the world through breakthrough science. 

Caroline Lewis – Managing Partner at Rogue Venture Partners

Caroline identifies all new investment opportunities for Rogue and leverages her previous experience to assist portfolio companies with growth. In addition, she is the Managing Partner of Rogue Women, a Rogue fund investing in early seed stage women-led companies. Caroline is a Kauffman Fellow (Class 24) and serves on the boards of Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and Young Entrepreneurs Business Week. Prior to Rogue, Caroline was Senior Director in Strategy and Operations for Global Design, Product, and Merchandising at Nike where she managed a portfolio of strategic programs focused on consumer experience, digitization, and big data.

Kathryne Cooper, West Coast CTIP

Kathryne is a native Angeleno passionate about growing and funding early stage companies and creating an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs. She believes in applying a growth mindset to startup challenges and is interested in the integration of technology in settings that are traditionally analog. Since 2017, Kathryne has served as Co-Director of The West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP). Kathryne is the head of CTIP’s investment arm, where she selects medical device companies with commercialization potential, high clinical impact, and proprietary technology for investment and support. 

TiE Angels

TiE Angles is a sponsor of Startup Runway, committing to invest $100k to underrepresented founders this year. Learn more here

Register to attend to meet these investors and get their perspective on what they’re investing in now.