Mike Rothenberg

Mike founded Rothenberg Ventures in 2012 to build communities and solve problems while a student at Harvard Business School. Mike couch­surfed across the country to raise $5m from 50 founders & CEOs for the first fund. As a student, Mike ran the fund and led the investments including Robinhood, SpaceX, Matterport, Revel Systems, and Patreon. Today, Rothenberg Ventures manages $50m with more than 100 startup holdings, three unicorns, and at least a dozen exits. In January 2015, Mike launched the River Accelerator program to help build early ­stage Frontier Technology startups and the Virtual Reality ecosystem. Mike is a globally recognized thought ­leader in Frontier Technology known for calling the Virtual Reality tipping point, and has keynoted major conferences on Frontier Technology and Virtual Reality on multiple continents. In 2016, Mike founded River Ecosystem LLC with Nick Canafax, which now operates the River Accelerator program for early-stage frontier technology startups, the River Lounge creative space in SOMA, and the River Network. Together, Rothenberg Ventures and River Ecosystem help Frontier Technology startups grow from the R&D stage and mass ­market adoption. As of 2017, Rothenberg Ventures is the top ­ranked Venture Capital firm in Frontier Technology and Virtual Reality (according to Goldman Sachs, CB Insights, and Pitchbook).