Derek Au Principal, Startup Investment Orange. He currently focuses on venture investments at Orange Silicon Valley. He works closely with the domain experts at Orange Silicon Valley to identify early-stage technology investment opportunities emerging from across North America. Previously Derek worked for several years in investment banking focusing on middle market technology M&A advisory. Derek has a Master of Engineering Management from Duke University, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Engineering from The University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Interviews
Alyse Killeen, Partner Stillmark Co #blockchaininnovation
Alyse Killeen Venture Capital Investor with seed stage to pre-IPO investment experience in enterprise and consumer technologies, now Managing Partner at StillMark Co., a venture capital investment and advisory firm. Alyse is a member of the Satoshi Roundtable, an annual retreat for the top 50 thought leaders in blockchain technology, and in 2015, the UN Foundation named her a Top 70 Bay Area Digital Leader. An international speaker on blockchain, sharing economy, and IoT, Alyse has presented at events including the IMF SKBI Conference 2016 and TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing 2015. Featured in publications including Forbes and Bloomberg, in 2015 Alyse authored a book chapter in the award-winning Handbook of Digital Currency. Alyse is a Mentor at Plug and Play Tech Center Accelerator and the Alchemist Accelerator, and a member of New York Fashion Tech Lab’s Expert Network. She is a Venture Partner at Vinetta Project, the largest organization serving women founders, and a member of the Board of Directors at BitGive, a startup NGO modernizing the nonprofit ecosystem using blockchain technology.
Aldo Carrascoso, CTO AlignCommerce #blockchaininnovation
Aldo Carrascoso Founder/COO / CTO Align Commerce San Francisco based ,a next generation replacement for outdated wire and telegraphic transfer systems. Align uses the blockchain and its proprietary multi-rail systems to change the way global cross border payments are done – making the process simpler, faster and more transparent to over 60 countries. Some of the company’s investors include Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers (the same venture capital responsible for Google, Twitter, Amazon, Uber, Waze, Slack and SnapChat among others), Silicon Valley Bank Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners, and NYCA Investment Partnership LP (led by Hans Morris, former President of Visa and Max Levchin, founding CTO of PayPal). Prior to founding Align, Aldo was the Founder and CTO of Jukin Technologies / Jukin Media – one of the world’s largest User Generated Content (UGC) payments and licensing platforms with over 35 billion global views, 50 million platform shares and over 10 million active contributors and subscribers in 221 markets. Jukin is currently being used by some of the world’s largest television networks and production companies including ABC, BBC, CBS, Comedy Central, CNN, Discovery, ESPN, FOX, HBO, MTV, NBC, TruTV, Vh1, and hundreds of other websites, and platforms throughout the world. Jukin’s main properties include FailArmy, JukinVideo, People Are Awesome, the Pet Collective, World’s Funniest on FOX and That’s Funny! on UK’s Channel 5. Samsung Investments, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments Inc., Launchpad LA, and Maker Studios are some of Jukin’s lead investors. Aldo is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and technology disruptor. Prior to Jukin, he founded a number of ventures in global B2B matchmaking, international trading / finance and business process outsourcing. Aldo has an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Babson and degree in Psychology from Ateneo De Manila University.
Orion Parrott, Lendsnap #buildfintechbusiness
Orion Parrott, Lendsnap Orion’s mission is to transform consumer finance through intelligent fintech design. He created Lendsnap to restore profitability to retail mortgage lenders and give consumers the easiest way to shop for a mortgage. Orion is an electrical engineer (MSEE Northeastern University) who has invested in real estate since he was 18. He helped design and program the national missile defense system and now applies his systems engineering and machine learning experience to consumer lending. Orion earned his MBA at Berkeley Haas where he met his cofounder Mike Romano.