Online Event

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Speaker bio’s

Carmen Palafox | 2045 Capital

Carmen Palafox is Founding Partner of 2045 Capital, a Los Angeles pre-seed and seed fund focused on tech startups led by immigrant, female, or BIPOC founders in climate, health, and fintech. She is also Partner at MiLA Capital (hardware) and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at USC Marshall. Previously VP at Dimensional Fund Advisors, she scaled AUM from $75B to $300B.

Steven Sarfati | Tech Coast Angels

Steven Sarfati is a strategic sales and marketing executive and entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience, based in Los Angeles. He is associated with Tech Coast Angels (now TCA Venture Group), one of the largest and most active U.S. angel networks, which invests in early-stage companies across Southern California and provides mentoring and capital to founders.

Howard Ko | Morpheus Ventures

Howard Ko is Investment Partner at Morpheus Ventures, a Los Angeles firm investing in early-stage tech including robotics, healthcare, InsurTech, FinTech, and PropTech. He sources deals and supports portfolio companies, serving on boards such as Rize, RIOS, Rugged Robotics, Ingenious.Build, and Tagnos. Previously at Mission Ventures and Salomon Smith Barney’s tech banking group.

David Mandel | Emerging Ventures Capital

David Mandel is Managing Partner of Emerging Ventures Capital, investing $100k–$500k in seed-stage, capital-efficient B2B tech startups. A former “super angel” with 500+ personal investments, he built and exited 4 insurance/finance businesses over 28 years using systems thinking and math expertise. He is active in angel groups, frequently judges pitch events, and focuses on execution-driven founders. He is active in angel groups, frequently judges pitch events, and focuses on execution-driven founders.