Journey

Ryan Freedman is an entrepreneur turned investor on a never-ending journey to bring efficiency and innovation to the real world. Prior to Alpaca, Ryan founded Corigin, a real estate investment firm with $600 million AUM. He led this firm with a lens towards innovation and has been at the forefront of analyzing and adopting real estate technology to enhance operations and investment decisions. To that end, Corigin was an early pioneer of the co-living concept, infusing experience and community into multi-family long before others thought to. In 2008, Ryan co-founded Coral Capital, a tech-enabled commercial finance operation that has provided over 1.5 billion in financing to small businesses. His obsession with technology and efficiency informed his natural progression from a real estate executive to a venture capitalist and PropTech investor.

Board Seats

Zeel, Prevu, Diamond Age, Nectar

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Journey

Aubrie brings experience from both sides of the New York City startup ecosystem as both an operator and investor. Most recently, she built and sold her cult-favorite apparel and gifting brand, Bow & Drape. Aubrie drove the omni-channel brand to profitability by retailing online DTC and in over 350 Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Hudson’s Bay stores. Toward the end of her Bow & Drape journey, she spent time leading investments out of XFactor Ventures, an early stage fund of female operators backing startups with at least one female founder. There, Aubrie led investments in companies like Maude, Shiru, Pod Foods, and Tiny Organics. Prior to the above, she started her career at Fidelity Investments in the company’s internal strategy group and was a Harvard ’08 graduate.

Board Seats

Pack, Mayple, Optiversal

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Journey

After coming off his own entrepreneurial journey as Founder/CEO of FreshNeck, David joined Alpaca in 2014. He relies on empathy and personal experience to form deep bonds with founders and add value where it matters most. David enjoys partnering with startups on high-level strategy and building scalable ‘operating systems’ consisting of structured priorities and OKRs. Before getting the startup bug, David spent his early career in finance and law at the University of Miami and Fordham University. He spent three years as an Assistant District Attorney, representing the people of New York, and following that, spent three years across Merrill Lynch and Jefferies & Co.

Board Seats

Ocean Freight Exchange, EarlyDay, MoneyMade, Swoops

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Journey

Daniel’s interest in PropTech derives from his family roots in real estate. Between his immediate family, extended family, and in-laws, he’s seen the pain points and opportunities from many major stakeholder perspectives—builders, developers, brokers, landlords, owners, and investors. His thesis is that Real Estate is the largest asset class in the world, but the most antiquated industry. While funding in the space has picked up over the last few years, he believes we’re still in the very early innings. Daniel began his career at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank where he built a book of business focused on Silicon Alley Entrepreneurs and Investors. Later, he tried his hand at entrepreneurship by co-founding two companies – one in Wealth Tech (Instrument Capital) and the other in Construction Tech (Soil Connect). He received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Board Seats

Trade Hounds, Bonus Homes, Acelab

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Journey

Ray leads the operations, finance, and compliance functions for Alpaca. Prior to joining Alpaca, Ray was the CFO and CCO of Ampfield Management, an investment management firm. He previously worked at Jefferies Financial Group, a publicly traded company, where he worked on budgets, projections, and automation projects for the parent company. He began his career in hedge fund accounting & reporting with ALPS Alternative Investment Services in their Boston office. He graduated with high honors from the University of Maine with a BS in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and he also graduated from the University of Connecticut with a MS in Accounting. Ray is a Certified Public Accountant and a CFA® charterholder.

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Journey

Julie’s passion for storytelling as a vehicle for building authentic and engaged communities has played out over the last twelve years in a series of strategy and operations roles, most notably at the intersection of digital media and technology. She is a collaborator and operator at heart, having brought to life numerous business, growth and content strategies for notable startups and their visionary founders. Driven by the desire to work more closely with founders and investors across a multitude of impact-driven industries, Julie moved on to work with earlier stage businesses, which led her to Alpaca VC. She is a founding member of the Chief of Staff Mastermind Network, and a certified Climate Reality Leader with The Climate Reality Project.

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Journey

Alex’s career began in investment banking where she built her analytical foundation and curiosity for understanding different industries and business models. Driven by the desire to work more closely with companies and management teams, Alex moved on to work with earlier stage businesses at CPG and Technology focused funds. This experience illustrated the importance of finding the right ‘fit’ between founders and investors. Alex is eager to continue learning about new concepts and businesses across a variety of industries. Reflective of the variety in the Canadian early-stage ecosystem, Alex is particularly interested in AgTech and FoodTech opportunities. Most importantly, Alex is excited to bring Alpaca’s ‘all grit, no BS’ approach and enthusiasm for founder support to the Canadian market. Alex received a Commerce (Finance) degree from Dalhousie University before beginning her career.

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Journey

Andrew is passionate about working with founders to revolutionize outdated industries. At Alpaca, Andrew focuses on PropTech and construction tech, as well as metaverse enabling technologies such as AR/VR, gaming, and AI. He also leads the firm’s Asia strategy to act as the connective tissue between Asian allocators and the US startup ecosystem. Andrew’s enthusiasm for the built environment began in traditional real estate and economic development, where he worked across issues spanning housing and transportation to fiscal policy and broadband infrastructure. Most recently, he worked in acquisitions at a real estate private equity fund, where he helped close over $1B in deals across urban asset classes. Andrew received his MBA from The Wharton School and MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

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Journey

Noah covers Web3 and emerging tech for Alpaca. Prior to joining, Noah managed the investment process and accelerator program at Blue Startups, a venture accelerator based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Much of his early career was spent in and around early-stage startups, often in product and engineering roles. He also graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University, where he focused on semiconductor physics, quantum phenomena, and machine learning.

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Journey

Sophia supports the Alpaca VC investment team as an Investor Relations Associate. She brings a diverse background and valuable financial industry experience to the role. Prior to joining the team, Sophia was most recently at Blackstone, where she worked in their Hedge Fund Group to build strategic marketing materials and complete portfolio analysis. Previously, Sophia began her career in finance at Deloitte Consulting specializing in strategy and operations for financial services companies.

A graduate of the University of Miami, Sophia holds a BS in Industrial Engineering with minors in Civil Engineering and Architecture, both of which instilled a strong foundation for problem-solving and creative thinking. In her current role, Sophia channels her previous institutional client expertise and enthusiasm for finding real-world solutions as an engineer to the realm of venture capital, where she continues to focus on tackling new challenges and promoting innovation.

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