"The team from MVM helped me transform Academy123 from a nascent technology to a well-funded, significant business in 9 months."
Matt Ridenour - Managing Director
Prior to founding Momentum Venture Management, Matt spent more than 10 years working in private equity, venture capital and as a CEO in successful early-stage companies. He has been a principal in more than 25 private market transactions with an aggregate value of more than $200 million. Prior to founding Momentum Venture Management, Matt served as CEO of UNX, the world's largest independent institutional equity trading platform, where he secured $20 million in venture funding. He also founded Gazelle TechVentures, a $60 million VC firm where he continues to serve on the executive committee. Previously he was a principal in Blue Capital, a private equity firm spun out of McKinsey & Company, and also spent two years focusing on private equity advisory at Bain & Company. Matt holds a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College and graduated with High Honors as a Baker Scholar (top 5% in his MBA class) from Harvard Business School.
Matt currently serves on the Board of Directors of nQueue (Chairman), Sendio (Chairman), TherMark, Cyber-Rain, Gazelle TechVentures and iModules.
Since founding Momentum Venture Management, he has led several other companies through the fundraising process:
- In 2003 Matt led the turnaround of Powerfile, a nearly bankrupt technology company. After hiring key members of the executive team and restructuring the company he led a fundraising effort that culminated in securing a $4 million investment from Sequoia Capital.
- Matt served as interim CEO of Academy123, where he structured the company, developed a strategy to optimize the value of its technology, and inked a landmark deal with AOL. He led a $5 million fundraising campaign, recruited the replacement CEO and introduced him to the Discovery Channel, which served as a key partner before buying Academy123 in 2006.
- Starting in fall 2005 Matt worked with TherMark, a developer of patented technologies that allow manufacturers to place photographic-quality marks on virtually any hard surface material. He consolidated many of the company's operating subsidiaries, restructured TherMark as a Delaware C corporation, recruited a new management team and led a fundraising effort resulting in a $1.7 million investment by TechCoast Angels and Pasadena Angels. The company's sales and margins have quadrupled since Matt's initial engagement.
- From January to October 2006 Matt served as CEO of Sendio, an Orange County-based developer of anti-spam hardware. He secured bridge financing, helped double sales in four months, hired a replacement CEO and led a $4 million fundraising effort.