Lorine Pendleton
Managing Partner at 125 Ventures
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
Founder & Managing Partner
2024 - Current
Investing in early-stage companies in sports, media, and entertainment at the intersection of tech. • In the sports sector, the fund focuses on women's sports, which is experiencing unprecedented growth and is projected to grow 300% through 2030. Women's sports will generate the biggest alpha in sports in the near future. • Other areas of investments include tech companies in AI/Data Analytics, Name, Image & Likeness/College Athletics, Creator Economy & Communities, and Live and Immersive Events. • Previous investments in these sectors: Rhode Island Football Club & Tidewater Stadium (pro soccer team and new stadium), Oura Ring (popular wearable sleep & fitness device), Canela Media (popular Latinx streaming service), Scout (investment and financial literacy platform for college athletes), Curastory (2-way marketplace for content creators & brands), CEEK (VR/AR music and sports platform), and Whetstone (media company dedicated to food & culture).
Member Board of Directors
2024
Storj transforms unused global storage space into a massive global network utilizing blockchain, eliminating the need for costly data centers and providing enterprise-level durability and high performance without data replication. Businesses save up to 90% on cloud storage costs and significantly reduce their carbon intensity. • Serve as an independent director of the company and Member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. • Attend and participate in regularly scheduled meetings of the Board. • Provide guidance and consultation to members of the Board and Company management. • Study and review the company's business, operations, and historical financial performance. • Make introductions to select potential partners and sales prospects for the company.
Board Advisor and Audit & Compensation Committee Member
2020 - 2024
Advisor and co-head of Audit Committee. Also member of the Compensation Committe. Storj is disrupting cloud storage by utilizing blockchain technology offering enterprise-grade cloud storage. Storj is the company behind the STORJ token, a cryptocurrency on the Etherum blockchain powering digital storage and data retrieval on its cloud storage platform. It raised $30 million in its token sale.
Investor
2023
Investor in the only pro sports team in Rhode Island and its new state-of-the-art $130 million 10,500-seat waterfront Centreville Stadium (formerly Tidewater Stadium). RIFC is a team in the USL Championship League (Pro soccer).
Investment Partner
2019
• Created and launched a $6M Fund I (October 2019) & a $7M Fund II (August 2021) focused on investing in early stage and growth companies in the US led by underrepresented founders positioned for significant growth and profitability. • Both Funds are top-performing funds for vintage year 2020 at gross IRR 39%, and II (2022) top decile fund for vintage year 2022 at gross IRR 14%. • Between the two funds have made 30 investments. Standout investments include Canela Media, Maven Clinic, Madison Reed, MoCaFi, Suma Wealth and Goalsetter. • Lead fundraising by prospecting and building relationships with investors and raised capital from high-net-worth individuals, family offices, foundations and corporate VCs. • Performed deal sourcing to uncover and source deals and make successful investments into startups that will increase in valuation and return capital to our investors. • Performed due diligence on investment candidates for the fund. • Conducted press interviews with Yahoo! Finance, Motley Fool, Mergers & Acquisition, Fox Soul, Black Enterprise, market and promote Portfolia and the fund’s brand and present at speaking events. • Provide portfolio support by working closely to support portfolio CEOs.
Limited Partner
2016
• LP in the first Portfolia funds - Rising Tide and Enterprise Funds - both had substantial exits. Portfolia designs investment funds for women to back innovative companies for returns and impact. Combining a venture fund's professional management and diversification with the engaging and accessible experience of angel investing, Portfolia focuses on opportunities in high-growth segments that are routinely undervalued or poorly understood by traditional venture capital. Each fund is diversified across up to 10 - 12 entrepreneurial companies. Portfolia’s 15 venture funds have made over 150 investments with five significant exits since its initial fund founding in December 2015. Portfolia is now ranked in the top quartile of all venture funds in the U.S.
Portfolia creates investment funds designed for women, backing innovative companies, for returns and impact
New York Chair
2017
• Facilitator and connector of ultra-high-net-worth and wealth creators to grow their business and personal network by providing a platform to discuss issues such as wealth preservation, family dynamics, philanthropy, and investment opportunities in a confidential environment. • TIGER 21 is the most exclusive brand in the peer-to-peer learning sector, with chapters in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and its 1,600+ members collectively manage $100B+ in aggregate investable assets. • Recruit members, facilitate and curate monthly group member meetings to harness their peers' varied expertise and collective intelligence in confidential, feedback-rich learning conversations.
TIGER 21 is a North America’s premier peer-to-peer learning network for high-net-worth investors.
Investment Committee Member for UB Foundation
2022
The endowment for the University at Buffalo, New York’s #1 public university offering 500+ degree programs. The UB Foundation is proud to manage a sizable endowment on behalf of the university. This endowment — which consists primarily of funds donated for the betterment of UB through the years — is designed to support the UB community in perpetuity by providing a long-term source of expendable funds for UB students, faculty, and staff. • Serve as an Investment Committee member responsible for promoting long-term stability for the UB Foundation and the University at Buffalo by overseeing our investments, including establishing performance measures and reviewing goals for our $1B+ endowment.
Board Member, Investment Committee
2023
• Serve on the Board of the Investment Advisory Committee for New York Ventures' (New York State's venture capital arm) $100M direct investment fund for Seed through Series B technology companies across New York State. • Actively deploying capital to fuel New York’s innovation with investments in diverse high-growth start-ups across the state to contribute to a healthy, sustainable, and economically vibrant future for all New Yorkers in life sciences, climate tech, AgTech, Manufacturing, AI/Computing or Social Impact.
New York Ventures is a capital firm aimed at financing and consulting entrepreneur's from early on intheir project stage.
Investor & Advisory Board Member
2020
An Investor and Advisory Board Member at Mobility Capital Finance (MoCaFi), a fintech mobile-based banking platform with features and services designed to address the financial inequality for the under and unbanked (an 88 million US addressable market). Products include the MoCaFi Mobility Bank Account with the MoCaFi Mobility Debit Mastercard which provides access to no charge ATM withdrawals and options on how to load funds, in addition to Tap & Go contactless payments, mobile wallet functionality and advanced security features such as Mastercard ID Theft Protection.
MoCaFi is a developer of a personal financial platform that improves the financial behaviors of underbanked communities.
Raised $43,310,767.00 from Wells Fargo, BNY, Tom Hutton, Commerce Ventures and Truist Ventures.
Member
2013
Graduate and member of Pipeline Angels which trains women to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice. Fellows commit to invest in a woman-led for-profit social venture in exchange for equity and a board seat. (www.pipelineangels.com). We are now 600+ members with a growing network of seasoned women investors with over 120 investments in women-led companies and over $8 million in capital invested.
Pipeline Angels is changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur In Residence
2021 - 2022
Served as a mentor and resource for current students at Brown University pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. I host regular office hours and events throughout the academic year.