Early-stage VC fund investing in SaaS, Marketplaces, EdTech, FinTech, and Entertainment
Somersault Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in startups at the Seed and Series A stages, mainly in B2B and B2C software, Marketplaces, FinTech, and Entertainment.
We're a remote-first team operating out of Dubai, London, and San Francisco. We have diverse experience in finance, operations, and product, and would be happy to become one of the founders' early partners in a long value-creation journey.
We target investing the majority of our first institutional Somersault Ventures Fund I in teams building fundamentally strong businesses where at least one of the founders is affiliated with UC Berkeley and/or has a CEE background.
Alex is a co-founder of Somersault Ventures and a seasoned investment professional with over 15 years of experience in private markets, including roles as a TMT banker in Eastern Europe and an Investor in a UAE-based VC firm.
In his individual capacity, Alex has done a number of angel investments and managed syndicates investing in later-stage companies, where he acted as a board member and a corporate development advisor. Over the years, he gained expertise in such areas as vertical and enterprise AI software, two-sided marketplaces, EdTech, and consumer apps, among others.
In his free time, Alex is an avid tennis player, snowboarder, and frequent visitor to rock concerts and festivals. Alex received his MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and has a Bachelor's degree in Mathematical Economics.
Alex is a co-founder of Somersault Ventures. Over his 15+ years in VC, Alex has gone from investing in hard science of fuel cell and biotech that makes everything greener to software that brings tailored automation to most overlooked and backward industries and all things B2C, from PropTech to FinTech to EdTech and more.
Most of Alex's journey happened as a partner at I2BF Global Ventures, but along the way, he has also managed to co-found the #1 independent alternative lender in Eastern Europe (acquired by the #1 in all of Europe) and make a name for himself as an angel investor.
When not pondering what churn needs to be for valuations to make sense, Alex could be found teaching his 4-year-old daughter where to find unicorns in London. Alex holds an MSc in Finance and Risk from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Biophysics and puts both to good use.
Julia is a founding Venture Partner at Somersault Ventures. She is a Director of Product at Twitch, a live-streaming platform owned by Amazon. Before Twitch, she led product teams at YouTube and Google. Overall, Julia has over 15 years of experience in Product, specializing in consumer tech and multi-sided marketplaces. She has kicked-off new verticals for existing businesses and launched multiple "zero to one" products across gaming, entertainment, event ticketing, online search, and fintech industries.
Julia is a guest speaker at Stanford GSB and UC Berkeley Haas MBA programs. She serves on the Senior Programming Committee at Women in Product, and mentors multiple Product Managers with Ukrainian origins. Julia holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics.
When not thinking about what to build next, Julia sails in San Francisco Bay, skis on Tahoe, or rides her motorcycle on beautiful California roads. At the end of every August, you can find her in Black Rock City.