Our Background
We have been successfully building and investing in startups since 2003. Our energy and inspiration comes from working with exceptional founders to build tomorrow's greatest companies.
Our Approach
MVC invests in optimism, ingenuity and humanity’s insatiable desire to creatively improve. We back incredible founders with strong domain knowledge who are tackling real, durable problems. We look for opportunities with very high growth potential in large and growing markets.
Meet the Team
David Wieland
Founder & Managing Partner
Two years out of college, David founded and ran InnFlux, one of the largest and most profitable hotel WiFi and telecom companies before successfully exiting in 2011. in 2006, he launched media Private Equity firm iEstates, which builds new and buys existing digital media businesses. He later seeded and eventually operated one of the largest and most profitable video hiring platforms, RIVS, before successfully exiting in 2019.
In 2012, David co-founded IrishAngels, a Notre Dame affiliated angel investor group that now deploys more than $10mm per year into early-stage companies. David serves as Chairman of IrishAngels and Mentor at startup accelerator Techstars.
David earned a BA in Government and Philosophy from Notre Dame, earned an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, and studied Venture Capital and Private Equity through Harvard’s Executive Education program.
Lauren Deluca
Founder & Managing Partner
Lauren co-founded and served as Managing Partner of Oxford Intelligence Partners, a FinTech company serving Fortune 500 Investor Relations Officers until its 2015 sale to Q4, a Toronto-based strategic acquirer. Lauren was also a founding partner of Victory Networks, a low-latency trading infrastructure provider that sold to QuantHouse in 2017. Additionally, Lauren founded two proprietary trading firms, Sumo Capital and Budo Holdings, before successfully exiting in 2017, and served as RIVS Director from founding through exit.
Lauren has been an active early-stage investor since 2012, both as an individual and as a member of IrishAngels and serves as a mentor at startup accelerators 43North and Founders Institute.
Lauren earned his BA from Notre Dame and his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business.
Jackson Bubala
Senior Associate
Prior to joining Motivate, Jackson was an Associate at Founder Equity & Digital Intent where he sourced and led diligence for numerous investment opportunities and worked closely with portfolio companies to evaluate performance and growth. He also managed Digital Intent clients and worked with their corporate innovation and technology teams to build, launch, and grow internal startups, and develop new technology products for internal and external use.
Jackson has a degree in Government from Dartmouth College, where he was a pitcher for the Varsity Baseball Team.
He writes about VC, technology, and baseball at Stealing Signs.
Courtney Trunk
Associate
Before Motivate, Courtney was an MBA Associate at Chicago Ventures where she assisted with deal sourcing and investments across a variety of sectors, internal projects and investment strategy refinement, and portfolio company support projects. She also spent time at West Loop Ventures, a fintech-focused early stage VC firm in Chicago. Prior to launching a career in venture, Courtney was a Vice President at Duff & Phelps and spent five years in financial consulting and valuation, working for clients in financial services, technology, and several other industries.
Courtney has a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and recently graduated with her MBA from the Northwestern Kellogg School of Management with a major in Finance and a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital.
When not looking for new investment opportunities or working with Motivate portfolio companies, you can likely find Courtney running along the lakefront in preparation for her next marathon.
Jake Goldstein
Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)
Jake is a fitness-industry expert, and currently one of the top Peloton cyclists in the world.
He previously served as Head of Finance, Operations, and Business Development for NowPow, a Chicago-based Health Tech platform leveraging Social Determinants of Health to facilitate non-clinical referrals between community organizations and large U.S. Health Systems & Payors.
Before NowPow, Jake was a hedge fund investor in New York City with Melvin Capital, where he covered large-cap CPG and FinTech businesses. Jake began his career in investment banking with BofA Merrill Lynch, specializing in M&A advisory services for Fortune 500 banks and specialty finance companies.
Jake holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, where he also competed as a Division I NCAA swimmer.
Next Steps...
If you're a founder interested in learning more about working with MVC, please reach out.