Alex Betancur
Alex brings over 17 years experience within the on-line tech world. Prior to founding Jump Ramp Games, Alex lead Publishers Clearing House On-line network as the GM of digital, and before that was the SVP of Redcats USA - the direct mail arm of PPR. He is a graduate of Ramapo State College, served as a Lieutenant in the US army and is a proud father.
Tony Vartanian
CO-FOUNDER
Tony combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology and e-commerce background. Prior to founding JumpRamp Games, Tony founded Cordsel, working with such clients as Publishers Clearing House, Lane Bryant, Yahoo and Major League Baseball. Prior to Cordsel, Tony spent many years helping big service and retail organizations become bigger successes on the web. He is a graduate of the Lally School at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
BOARD
Joe Medved
15 years of experience in developing multi channel e-commerce initiatives spanning the entertainment, retail, and direct marketing industries. Proven track record in the strategic development and execution of web-based businesses reflects a constant drive for excellence, a keen personal interest in emerging technology, innate problem solving abilities and strong leadership skills.
David Frankel
Over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology and e-commerce background. Prior to Jump Ramp Games, he founded New York City based technology and strategic consulting firm Cordsel in 2000. Cordsel focused on the growth and launch of online businesses and products, for both startups and multi-channel retail organizations. Prior to founding Cordsel, Tony spent many years helping big service and retail organizations become bigger successes on the web.
INVESTORS
SoftBank Capital is an independent venture capital firm focused on early stage businesses addressing ubiquitous, social computing. The firm addresses opportunities that deliver socially driven content, services and applications across platforms and devices. SoftBank Capital offers entrepreneurs valuable experience and resources, including its close association with SoftBank Corp. in Japan. The firm's historical investments include Associated Content, Buddy Media, BuzzFeed, Danger, E*TRADE, GeoCities, GSI Commerce, Huffington Post, OMGPOP, WebMD, and Yahoo!. SoftBank Capital has offices in Newton, MA, New York City and Buffalo, NY. For more information, visit www.softbank.com.
Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital fund, built by a collection of successful entrepreneurs. We are headquartered in New York City and Cambridge, but make investments all over the world
For more information, visit www.foundercollective.com
ZelnickMedia is a partnership of experienced media executives and investors. The firm manages and owns interests in an array of media enterprises, including video games and interactive entertainment, television advertising, wireless network enabling software, business information, tradeshows and media-related business services in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. Current portfolio companies include Take-Two Interactive Software, Airvana, Cannella Response Television, ITN Networks, Arkadium and Naylor Inc. The partnership is currently investing from ZM Capital, its media-focused private equity fund.
Thrive Capital is a private equity and venture capital investment firm focused on media and internet investments.For more information, visit http://thrivecap.com
ADVISORS
John Levey
Mr. Levy has worked at the intersection of technology and finance for more than 30 years and was a founding partner from 2005-2010 of L Capital Partners' where Mr. Levy led investments in the technology sector. In 2010 he became the Chairman of BioLite, a distributed energy company focusing on markets in the developing world. In 2010, Mr. Levy joined the board of Hypres, a superconductivity company, and in 2011 was named Chairman.
From 2001-2005, Mr. Levy was a partner in the Shalom Equity Fund, a seed stage technology oriented fund operating in the US and Israel. Prior to Shalom, Mr. Levy served as founding CEO of ePlanet, a computer vision company sponsored by Interval Research and Intel Corp. Before that he was a general partner of Ariel Securities Corp., an NASD-licensed broker/dealer specializing in venture capital and media-based investments.
Mr. Levy is also a board member of the Cathay Investment Fund and served on the boards of Peek, Peek India, Simparel, Evogen, WiSpry, HiGTek, OnPATH Technologies, VisionSense, Adjungo Networks and Ovex Corp. In addition he has been an adviser to Tseng Laboratories and Advanced Medical Imaging; . Mr. Levy received an A.B. from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.http://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-levy/0/15/6a8
Michael Worosz
Michael Worosz joined ZelnickMedia in 2011 and specializes in interactive entertainment, digital media, mobile, online advertising and marketing services. Mr. Worosz serves as Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Take-Two Interactive (TTWO), where he is charged with identifying and pursuing new growth opportunities through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and investments.
Before joining ZelnickMedia, Mr. Worosz served as Vice President of Business Development at CBS Interactive, the online division of CBS Corporation (CBS). In this position, Mr. Worosz was responsible for strategic partnerships and revenue growth initiatives on behalf of several leading digital assets, including Gamespot, Last.fm, Metacritic and the CBS Interactive Music Group, the interactive arm of CBS Radio.
Prior to joining CBS, Mr. Worosz worked in various product management, strategy and corporate/business development roles at Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). Mr. Worosz helped launch Microsoft Office 2007 as the Excel product manager. During his tenure in Microsoft’s Online Services business, he helped to grow revenue and increase market share through a series of partnerships and acquisitions. In his most recent role at Microsoft, Mr. Worosz oversaw business development for Massive, the in-game advertising company, where he led the team that built Massive’s network of premiere video games by structuring deals with top publishers across the industry.
Before beginning his career in digital media, Mr. Worosz was as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy, serving in the Kosovo conflict, making numerous deployments to the Middle East, and working as a staff officer at the Pentagon.
Mr. Worosz received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors in English literature from the University of Virginia.
http://www.zelnickmedia.com/about/team/michael-worosz
Per von Zelowitz
Per is the Co-founder and CEO of +n. +n is a software vendor attacking the global mobile data capacity crisis by improving mobile carrier network efficiency and providing customers with control over their bandwidth.
He also provides development resources to technology and digital media businesses as a founder and Principal of Marma Advisors. Previously, Per was a Partner with Nordic Venture Partners and an Investment Director with Argnor Wireless Ventures investing in and building technology and media businesses in Europe and the US.
Prior to his venture capital career he was a Strategic Advisor with Northstream providing strategic advice to start-up and Fortune 500 clients in the mobile and communications sectors.
Per received an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a double BA from Macalester College. He currently serves as a Trustee at Macalester College. http://www.linkedin.com/in/pervonzelowitz
