Our Ventures Team.

<p>Ivan Zgomba is a Partner at Plug and Play Ventures, the Investment Arm of Plug and Play Tech Center. As one of the founders of Plug and Play’s themed innovation platforms, Ivan leads investments across number of evolving verticals. Under Ivan's leadership, Plug and Play has invested in over 100 rapidly growing technology startups and ​has ​helped portfolio companies collaborate with corporations from around the world.</p><p>Ivan was privileged to invest ​in ​many well-known and brilliant entrepreneurs. His direct portfolio includes: Tenor (formerly Riffsy), Naturebox, ​api.ai (acquired by Google), Chronos (acquired by Life360), Prevedere, Context360, Token, Fitpay, Onfido, Betterworks, Quiet Signal, Knightscope, Rappi, Scout, Popslate, Dynosense, Swifly, Relimetrics, Flo Technologies, Frame (formerly Mainframe2), Deltabid, Graphwear, Joyrun, Honey, GameCommerce, Augmented Pixels, Skylights, Koniku, among many others.</p><p>Prior to Plug and Play, Ivan was with Avondale Partners, Nashville based investment bank where he focused on equity research covering the retail and technology sectors. Ivan received his MBA with highest Honors and ​​BSc in Finance from Southern Illinois University.</p>

<p>George Damouny is a Partner at Plug and Play Ventures (previous investments include Dropbox, Paypal, LendingClub, and many more). With a diverse background of founding start-ups to operational roles, George took his experience and applied it to venture investing in early 2014. Since then, George has led venture deals in over 60 start-ups, primarily in the <a href="http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/fintech">fintech</a> and <a href="http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/retail">retail</a> space.</p><p>His deals have successfully raised subsequent capital from institutional investors like Matrix Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Canaan Partners, KPCB, and many more. As an active adviser and investor, George is passionate about helping entrepreneurs grow and reach their goals. George is one of the founding members of Plug and Play Fintech, Plug and Play Retail, Plug and Play Materials, <a href="http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/paris-accelerator">Lafayette Plug and Play (Plug and Play Paris)</a>, and more.</p><p>George holds a B.A. in Behavioral Science with a Minor in Communications in the Informations Age from San Jose State University where he graduated with both the President's and Dean's Honors Awards.</p>

<p>Ali Safavi is the Global Head of our Insurtech program and Principal at Plug and Play Ventures.<br/></p><p>Ali is also a Principal in <a href="http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/investment">Plug and Play Ventures</a>, our venture arm, where he invests in startups in different spaces including insurance, travel and hospitality, and <a href="http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/internet-of-things">IoT</a>.</p><p>Ali has published numerous articles on data analytics, machine learning, and insurance, as well as holds an M.Sc. in Computer Engineering.</p>

<p>Andy is the Investment Director for Plug and Play in Germany.</p>

<p>Alex Tran is the Senior Associate for Plug and Play Ventures, focusing on the Insurtech and Health &amp; Wellness verticals.</p>

<p>Tulsi is the Ventures Assosciate for our Food &amp; Beverage and New Materials &amp; Packaging programs in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Gijs is the Ventures Associate for our Insurtech program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Kevin is an early stage investor at Plug and Play Ventures (prev. investments include PayPal, NatureBox, Honey, Dropbox, etc.) focusing on brand, retail, and e-commerce solutions.</p><p>Leveraging Plug and Play's corporate network, Kevin collaborates with TJX, Rakuten, Mars, Kohl's, and 15+ other large corporations to find and implement frontier technologies. He engages with the retail ecosystem internationally through PNP's operations in Paris and Munich with anchor partners Galeries Lafayette and MediaMarktSaturn respectively.</p><p>Prior to his current position, Kevin was an investment analyst at Centripetal Capital Partners in Stamford, CT and co-founded a pure play custom clothing startup. Kevin studied finance at Baruch College, City University of New York, where he graduated as a Macaulay Honors Scholar.</p>

<p>Gabrielle is the Program Director for Fintech in Paris.</p>

<p>Noorjit is the Ventures Associate for our Insurtech program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Tarek is the Senior Ventures Associate for Mobility in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Sahil is the Ventures Associate for our Supply Chain &amp; Logistics program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Sahil is the Senior Ventures Associate for Fintech and Insurtech in New York.</p>

<p>Paulette is an operations admin for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Evan is the Ventures Associate for Fintech in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Harvey is the Ventures Associate for our Supply Chain &amp; Logistics program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Ariel is the Ventures Analyst for our New Materials &amp; Packaging program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Nate is the Director of our Cybersecurity program in Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Cédric is the Ventures Director for Fintech in Paris.</p>

Kevin Wang is an Associate on our Ventures team. He is primarily responsible for sourcing Travel and Hospitality startups, developing relationships with institutional and corporate venture capital, as well as creating content around blockchain, AR/ VR, robotics, drones, etc. <br/><br/><p>Prior to Plug and Play, Kevin worked at a boutique Private Equity shop focused on manufacturing and distribution. He has had two venture-backed companies in edtech and digital recruitment. Kevin holds a Bachelors of Science in Finance from Case Western Reserve University.</p>

<p>Amy is an operations admin for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Kia is an Associate at Plug and Play Ventures where he focuses on Real Estate investments.</p><p>Prior to joining Plug and Play, Kia spearheaded partnerships and business development efforts at Kash (acquired by a public financial services company).</p><p>In a past life, Kia was a Real Estate Analyst at Real Facilities (acquired by Savills Studley), EA to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and an entrepreneur.</p>

<p>Ahmed is an Analyst for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Amit is an Analyst for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Salina is an Operations Assistant for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Milad is an Analyst for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Janis is an Analyst on the Ventures team at Plug and Play, where he does research and due diligence in the realm of <a id="44" linktype="page">Mobility</a> and <a id="43" linktype="page">IoT</a>. In his life, he aspires to write a book, step on TED Talks stage, and stumble upon the next unicorn in the startup world.</p><p>Previously he worked for EY dealing with financial statements so numbers have been the only friends of his for quite a while. He’s had a publication and has done extensive research during his Bachelor’s and Master’s studies.</p><p>Janis has experience in brand activation and working with small design companies back in Latvia. Coincidentally, he speaks Latvian as his native language, but he is also able to express his thoughts in English and Russian. He can make 3-worded sentences in Estonian, too.</p>

<p>Martins is an Analyst for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Annabelle is an Associate for Plug and Play Ventures.</p>

<p>Kimberly is the Ventures Associate for our <a id="47" linktype="page">Health &amp; Wellness</a> program in Silicon Valley.</p>