Monique Villa

Senior Investment Advisor

2023 - Current

Trusted advisory firm specializing in impact investing and philanthropy strategy for legendary investors, cultural leaders, and global brands, including Pivotal Ventures, an organization created by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress. Current focus areas include caregiving, consumer wellness, sustainable fashion, and cultural impact.

Board Member

2025

Co-Founder

2018 - 2025

Our mission is to increase the number of startup success stories in the Southeastern U.S. by leveraging a cross-regional, collaborative network of entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, and investors. Together, we #BuildInSE (translation: Build in the Southeast).

Entrepreneur in Residence

2023 - 2025

Mucker provides capital and support for software and Internet startups outside Silicon Valley, investing across North America and beyond.

Chief Investment Officer

2022 - 2023

Served as Launch Tennessee's first Chief Investment Officer to launch InvestTN - a new $70M fund for Tennessee-located startups and venture capital funds. InvestTN is made possible by the $10B SSBCI 2.0 program led by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Led all aspects of LaunchTN's capital team, portfolio, and investor-related programming for limited partners, venture capital firms, and angel investors.

Entrepreneur In Residence

2022 - 2022

Investor

2018 - 2022

Mucker provides Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A capital and support for software and Internet startups outside Silicon Valley, investing across the United States, Canada, and Latin America. We partner with exceptional entrepreneurs who have deep domain expertise to provide their earliest institutional funding and work side-by-side to help launch and scale their new ventures.

Chief of Staff

2016 - 2018

Core Innovation Capital is a leading venture capital firm investing in companies empowering small businesses and everyday Americans. Our portfolio delivers more efficient, well-designed solutions that save people time and money, create upward mobility, and scale broadly - driving both profit margins and consumer value. Investments include Ripple, HealthSherpa, Mosaic, and NerdWallet, among many others.

Programs Manager / Startup Accelerator Lead

2014 - 2016

• Managed 25 schools and 83 classrooms across the Greater Los Angeles area • Led all aspects of Startup Summer, NFTE's accelerator program in partnership with Citi Foundation, working closely with 15 entrepreneurs to launch 13 startup companies • Produced 100+ pitch competition events across the Greater Los Angeles region, recruiting industry leaders to serve as mentors and judges from ideation through launch

Head Of Investor Relations

2013 - 2014

Velos Partners is a consumer growth capital firm investing in companies at the intersection of consumer and technology where the exponential pace of innovation is transforming traditional consumer behavior and business models. Portfolio companies include Silvercar, Hampton Creek, Hopscotch, Bilna, NJOY, Pong Research, Surf Air, ChowNow, Peek, Thync (formerly Neurotrek), Twenty20 (formerly Insta.canvas), Oscar Health, Trumaker & Co., Aloha, and LightMiner Systems.

Manager, Business Development & Client Services

2012 - 2013

TAG Strategic is a digital entertainment consulting firm focused on leveraging our collective experience and expertise in building relationships, identifying market opportunities, growing brands and defining best practices for the entertainment, technology and mobile industries.

Production Assistant

2009 - 2012