Kasia Kostun
Vice President at Humla Ventures
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
Founder
2024 - Current
Providing strategic advisory and operational support to emerging venture fund managers. Specialized in fund formation, operational management, finance, accounting, fundraising, investor relations, and distribution strategies. • Fund Formation: Advising on fund structuring, legal frameworks, and regulatory compliance for venture capital funds. • Investor Relations: Managing investor relations strategies, including capital raising, LP communications, and reporting. • Financial and Audit Support: Designing and implementing financial and operational infrastructure to ensure fund efficiency. • Growth: Developing go-to-market strategies for funds targeting institutional and high-net-worth investors.
Vice President
2023
Market Engagement & Thought Leadership • Launched an industry-focused podcast to drive thought leadership and enhance investor engagement. • Managed investor communications and reporting, strengthening relationships with LPs and institutional investors. • Led strategic initiatives to position Humla Ventures as a key player in the fintech and blockchain investment space. Selected Investments: • Calculum – AI-powered financial analytics optimizing supply chain finance. • Kwik – African last-mile delivery fintech scaling e-commerce logistics. • Purpl – Lebanese fintech democratizing digital payments and remittances in the MENA region.
Investment Manager
2022
Investment Execution & Portfolio Management • Conducted due diligence, deal sourcing, and investment structuring for fintech, AI, and blockchain companies. • Negotiated deal terms, managed investment execution, and oversaw legal documentation to secure strategic investments. • Provided post-investment strategic guidance and governance support to portfolio companies.
Senior Associate
2021
Fund Structuring & Capital Raising • Led the structuring and scaling of Humla Ventures’ second fund, successfully raising $50M+ and expanding investments across 50+ early-stage blockchain, AI, and fintech startups globally. • Developed investor onboarding processes, ensuring compliance with KYC/AML regulations. • Coordinated fund audits, financial reporting, and regulatory compliance to maintain transparency and operational integrity.
Associate
2019 - 2021
Managed venture investments for XBTO Humla Ventures Fund I & II, focusing on fintech infrastructure and financial services innovation. Contributed to brand development and strategic partnerships. • Conducted market research, investment due diligence, and deal negotiation for fintech and blockchain startups. • Built financial models and business cases for investment decisions, ensuring alignment with fund strategy. • Negotiated and structured the Inter Miami x XBTO multi million jersey sponsorship, securing a high-visibility partnership. • Led investor outreach and fundraising efforts, preparing pitch decks and investor communications. • Oversaw portfolio management, advising companies on growth strategies, product-market fit, and capital allocation. Selected Investments: • Nayms – Decentralized insurance platform for crypto-native risk solutions. • Credora – Institutional credit infrastructure for blockchain-based lending markets. • Decrypt – Leading blockchain media platform focused on industry insights and education. • Formidium – Fund administration and reporting platform for digital asset funds.
XBTO Humla Ventures is a trusted digital asset innovator and investor.
Senior Associate
2021 - 2022
Managed venture investments for XBTO Humla Ventures Fund I & II and contributed to brand development and strategic partnerships. • Conducted market research, investment due diligence, and deal negotiation for fintech and blockchain startups. • Built financial models and business cases for investment decisions, ensuring alignment with fund strategy. • Negotiated and structured the Inter Miami x XBTO multi million jersey sponsorship, securing a high-visibility partnership. • Led investor outreach and fundraising efforts, preparing pitch decks and investor communications.
Associate
2019 - 2021
• Led marketing and website design efforts for crypto custodian Stablehouse, owned by XBTO Group. • Initiated legal conversations for Humla fund formation, laying the groundwork for future investments. • Documented processes and developed an internship venture program to nurture talent within the team.
XBTO is a cryptofinance company that provides institutional-grade liquidity to major trading platforms.
Finance Project Manager
2017 - 2019
• Reported directly to the Directors of Finance and Development; • This is a newly created position that requires taking initiative and independently leading complex projects within an unstructured environment; • Financial Strategy: Driving cross-business analytic projects to provide data driven recommendations to business partners; Projects include performing wide range data analysis, financial planning, long term budgeting and variance analysis to understand how gift revenue is generated and spent; The ultimate goal is to design and create the future landscape for the financial treatment of 20,000 annual donations (~$300M); • Management Consulting: Assessing current processes involving the intake, budgeting, accounting and reporting of all incoming gifts to NYU Langone Health ($300M annually) and identifying opportunities for improvement; • Change Management: Identifying pain points and managing the organizational transformation across the offices of finance, legal, accounting, financial aid, philanthropy and senior leadership. This year, we worked with our customers to better understand how they spend their philanthropic dollars to improve our cash management strategy. • New ERP Implementation: Implementing the financial module within the new CRM for donors and gifts (Blackbaud CRM Product). We are currently designing a change strategy that involves cleaning and reconciling the financial revenue related to gifts and endowments, and building the requirements for the future financial management of gifts in compliance with legal, accounting and financial rules.
Senior Financial Analyst
2015 - 2017
• Reported directly to the Director of Finance Transformation • Main projects: (1) Managed the Implementation of the new Business Intelligence Software and (2) Improved the Monthly Close Process by 50%; (1) Managed the institution-wide implementation of the new Business Intelligence ERP Software (Oracle - PeopleSoft): - Gathered business requirements from all financial offices (Procure to Pay, Financial Reporting, Budgets, Research, Special Purpose Funds, Payroll, Corporate, General Accounting, Strategy) - Designed the 200 reports for the financial management of ~$3B annual revenue; - Collaborated with developers to define the feasibility and structure of the reporting suite; - Managed a team of analysts to complete data validation, usability testing and community training; - Successfully sunset the previous platform and gradually implemented the new business intelligence software to 30,000 employees. (2) Financial Monthly Close Process Improvement: - Managed a cross departmental task force involving all finance business teams; - Increased the performance by 50% allowing NYULH to close the month in 5 days compared to 10 previously; - Documented and mapped 40 detailed procedures related to reconciliation, communication and accounting; - Identified accounting risks and opportunities for improvements and outlined the business impacts; - Proposed streamlined processes and implemented clear communication and escalation strategies to enable the teams to close the month in a more efficient manner; - Designed learning materials and SharePoint websites to provide a sustainable educational platform for all stakeholders.
Financial Analyst
2013 - 2015
• Reported directly to the Finance Manager of Research Finance • System Optimization: Built a model (Excel VBA) that generates financial reports 6 times faster saving the Institution 50% of an FTE's time and effort; • Financial Analysis: Performed wide-ranging quantitative and qualitative analyses in support of the allocation, reporting, and presentation of the financial activities related to the Research Mission of the school; • Data Integrity: Identified data integrity risks and proposed and implemented automated reconciliations to avoid future discrepancies.
Business Research Analyst
2012 - 2013
• Reported directly to the Directors and Business Development Associates • Assisted in the account management, business development and daily in-depth company and industry coverage • Participated in the negotiation for new deals and in the valuation process of potential acquisitions.
CoBe Capital is a private equity firm specializing in acquisitions, non-core corporate divestitures, distressed/vulture and turnarounds.
Finance/Controllership and Accounting Analyst
2010 - 2010
• Directed the cross-cultural financial process enhancement project across 10 satellite offices in Europe in preparation for the Comcast merger; • Identified accounting risks in preparation for the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley’s standards; • Audited the financial business processes for all 20 finance areas which lead to the write off and cleanup of £3M due to inconsistent asset impairment assessments; • Assisted the Comptroller in reviewing monthly financial reports and discovered an unexplained £7M entry.
GE Intelligent Platforms is a global provider of software, hardware, services, and embedded computing platforms.