Championing Founder-First Venture Banking 3.0 | MD @ Stifel | Leading Platform, Ecosystem & Growth | First-Gen Wealth Builder | Entrepreneur, Investor & Advisor

Katya is on a mission to provide capital and guidance to diverse founders and emerging fund managers who are tackling global challenges in innovative ways. With her venture and operator experience, she aims to bring companies and investors into a balance between profit and impact. With over 10 years of professional experience on Wall Street and in the startup ecosystem, she invests in companies that reduce inequalities. Areas she invests in are health and wellness, fintech/financial services, responsible consumption, and sustainable production. Currently, she is an active angel investor and helps founders and emerging fund managers with capital tools and strategic planning (from capital raise to exits or liquidity events to a better understanding of how that translates into their wealth and legacy transfer). She built an investment management practice at Techstars that supported over 4000 portfolio companies. Prior to co-founding Amadeo, she launched a few enterprises and co-founded Starta Ventures, an ecosystem and investment platform for immigrant founders to help them scale in the U.S. and globally. Katya has mentored and invested in over 150 startups from all over the world, raised 4 funds, and achieved multiple exits not only for her ventures but for portfolio companies as well. Since 2013, the total investments and exits through her activity exceeded $500M. She has been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and other publications globally. She advocates for immigrant entrepreneurship and founded the Immigrant Entrepreneurship Foundation. In her free time, Katya writes books for children, donating the royalties to charity.