Partner, Okapi Venture Capital
Jeff is Okapi’s lead on our investments in Candid Wholesale, TrackStreet, WhiteFox Defense Technologies, Nimble for Good, CLI Studios, Trellis Research, Daasity, WeGive, Network Perception, Trnsact and Chargezoom.
Prior to joining Okapi as a Partner in Okapi’s third fund, Jeff worked has served as venture capitalist since 2001, having invested $100+M in 40+ companies and having served on the boards of 25 businesses.
In addition to his VC experience, Jeff had 3+ years of operating experience helping lead the scaling of a rapidly growing tech startup, Mophie. Jeff was the original VC investor in Mophie and served on the board before joining the Executive team full time to help manage the company’s rapid growth and global expansion. Jeff helped grow Mophie’s revenue from <$10 million in 2010 to $250+ million in 2015, and to the eventual sale of the company in early 2016 to ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG).
Prior to joining Mophie, Jeff was a Managing Director at Beringea for 11 years where he sourced, led or managed the technology and media investments for 30 of Beringea’s portfolio companies and served on 22 corporate boards across several of Beringea’s $50 – $150 million venture funds; including such companies as: Mophie (Acquired: ZAGG), Mergermarket (Acquired: Pearson) and Sakti3 (Acquired: Dyson).
Jeff was also one of two angel investors in Duo Security (Acquired: Cisco – $2.4B – a 100+x return) and has made other promising angel investments, including Acorns. His work prior to Beringea included an early-stage tech VC in London (Saffron Hill Ventures), and marketing roles for BMW of North America and startup beverage company, Honest Tea.
Jeff also has served as a Lead Instructor of the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Program, teaching at Stanford University and the University of Michigan. Additionally, during his venture capital career, Jeff was a contributing blogger for The Huffington Post — his series focused on technology and venture investing in the Midwest.
Jeff earned a B.A. in Government and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; and a Master of Business Administration with high honors from the University of Virginia. Jeff currently resides Newport Beach, CA with his wife and four children.
