Michael Bank
Venture Partner at LvlUp Ventures
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
Investment Partner
2022 - Current
-Lead investment process in pre-seed/seed stage opportunities, including deal origination, due diligence, and negotiation
Venture Partner
2024
-Actively source new investment opportunities, conduct Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A due diligence, and provide ongoing fund and accelerator portfolio support to founders
Review Committee Member / Super Scout
2023 - 2024
-Selected to join based on commitment and performance; participated in weekly calls to discuss current pipeline, provide startup feedback, and make investment recommendations -Leveraged network to generate deal flow across various industries that aligned with investment thesis
Lvlup Ventures is a pre-seed to seed stage value-add fund, focused on helping their teams reach the next level.
Investor & Advisor
2021
-Board Seats: Bakstage.AI (Seed), Soyldaria (Pre-Seed), Juice Serve (Pre-Seed), PixelPerch (Pre-Seed) -Angel Investments: RAD AI (Series A), Qube Money (Series A), Card Blanch (Pre-Seed), Positive Finance (Pre-Seed), Mercury Fintech (Series B)
Co-Founder
2020 - 2024
-Directed all financial, operational, product, and BD efforts at VC-backed B2B2C fintech startup building embedded bill management APIs for banking apps
Blip is a bill payment platform designed for financial tech companies.
Raised $2,100,000.00 from Dash Fund, Foundation Capital, Picks & Shovels, Tnt Ventures, Browder Capital, Wischoff Ventures, Austin Rief Ventures, Darkmode Ventures, Susa Ventures and Shrug Capital.
Senior Associate, Fintech Group
2018 - 2020
-Managed all facets of IPO infrastructure buildouts and provided ongoing strategic counsel for fintech companies such as Elevate Credit, LendingClub, Black Knight, Ceridian, Dun & Bradstreet, Silvergate Bank, and Shift4 Payments to develop differentiated equity stories
Associate, Financials Group
2017 - 2018
-Successfully positioned equity stories by strategizing and supporting financial institution clients such as Green Bancorp, Cascade Bancorp, Amalgamated Bank, and Cadence Bancorp
Analyst, Financials Group
2015 - 2017
-Solebury is the industry’s leading capital markets advisory firm whose footprint includes over 250 IPO and follow-on advisory assignments. The firm brings independent equity capital markets expertise to the issuer’s side of the table. Solebury partners become an extension of the senior management team and provide expertise, judgment, proprietary data and process leverage to the internal team. Ultimately, Solebury aims for a higher level of control, transparency and insight for management and owners
Solebury Capita is a financing advisory and brokerage firm.
Treasury Group Intern
2014 - 2014
-Worked in all operational aspects of the employee pension department; oversaw the examination and selection of new investment funds to help increase portfolio returns -Presented analysis to financial institutions and President of BMW U.S. Capital LLC to discuss contract renewals and account performance
Wealth Management Extern
2013 - 2014
-Shadowed Wealth Management Advisor -Researched strategies to help clients with long-term planning objectives -Operated and navigated Bloomberg Terminal