Ryan Bloomer is a seasoned, entrepreneurial investor who founded K50 Ventures to capitalize on opportunities often overlooked by traditional VCs. Designed to be the first institutional check and long term partner for founders who believe technology has the potential to unlock access and affordability for the world’s working class, with his leadership K50 has become a trusted investor globally with deep knowledge across health, finance, and work. Prior to founding K50, Ryan founded two startups and was an investor at early-stage VC firm Blumberg Capital (Investors in Nutanix ($5.8B), Braze ($4.8B), DoubleVerify ($3B); first business hire at 1-Page (IPO: 1PG); and on the BD team at Jumptap which was acquired by Millennial Media.

Daniel Vasquez is a former K50 LP from Fund I and Venture Partner in Fund II. He joined the firm as Senior Partner in Fund III to lead investments across Spanish-speaking Latin America. Daniel began his venture career leading his family office, 10X Capital, which has been instrumental in powering the LATAM startup ecosystem as an early investor and supporter of many notable companies such as Bitso, Kueski, Bold, Betterfly, Gaia, Kushki, and Rimac. Prior to 10X Capital, Daniel was an integral part of JPMorgan’s M&A team for LATAM, before returning to Colombia to lead his family office and grow their family business, Auteco – the second largest private motorcycle assembler in LATAM.

Daniel received a B.S. from Georgetown University and MBA from Harvard Business School and lives in Medellin with his wife and two children.

Adriel invests in both the US and LATAM and leads our focus on Work & Learning. He’s led investments such as Worc, Shift One, Pallet, and Nirvana Health. Prior to K50, Adriel was on the investment team at Flybridge Capital Partners, a leading Boston and NYC Seed fund, sourcing and supporting partners on investments such as Imperfect Foods, Wethos and Narrator. Before Flybridge, he co-founded a consumer messaging app and held operational roles at Dreamit Ventures and venture-backed Offerpop.

When he’s not working, Adriel is fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs in NYC, volunteering for organizations like Defy Ventures and New York on Tech. He received a B.S. in Entrepreneurship from Cornell University and splits his time between New York City, Mexico City and Istanbul.

Nick is a Senior Partner with over 20 years of experience as an operator, builder, advisor and investor in financial technology, mobility, and marketplace businesses. Some notable roles in Nick’s career include launching and building Amazon’s embedded lending business into a 100M+ profit business around the world, scaling and running all vehicle supply globally for Uber, and serving as President and as CEO of CircleUp (USV, Canaan, Rose Park, GV).

Nick serves as an advisor and board member for a variety of other venture firms and private companies. Some of Nick’s investments, where he has also sat as a board member, include Payjoy, Shipper, Rapido, TravClan and AltBank. In 2013 the World Economic Forum named Nick a Young Global Leader in recognition of his work on financial innovation, and he is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Nick received a B.S. from Georgetown University and MBA from Wharton and lives in Palo Alto with his family.

Ariel Russo is an investor who supports our partners and founders. He started his career as a financial analyst in wealth management, analyzing macroeconomic trends in LATAM and leading the business expansion in Central America. He then led his family business, Grupo Raphael, the biggest hypermarket chain in the country, where he helped transform the company’s digital channels by developing and managing the online marketplaces. He also sits on the board of the company. 

Ariel speaks four languages (Spanish, English, Italian, and Hebrew) and currently lives in Miami. He received his BS from Babson College and earned an MBA from the University of Miami.

As Head of Platform, Jessica wears many hats. She’s the glue that holds together our portfolio of over 170 companies, is at the forefront of all K50 marketing initiatives, and is on a mission to make the founder journey less lonely and more community-driven. 

Jessica has dedicated her career to building communities. Prior to joining K50, she managed the Grand Central Tech Residency program and community at Company Ventures, working directly with pre-seed and seed founders. Before that, she served as the User Experience & Community Manager at OneTable, a nonprofit dedicated to building community around the dinner table, supporting thousands of people weekly. And prior to that, she was a teacher at Success Academy Charter Schools, where she taught first and fifth grade.

Jessica graduated from the University of Michigan with BA in English and Community Action Social Change, then went on to earn a Masters in General and Special Education from Touro College. She lives in New York City.

Stefanie owns all day-to-day operations. She joined the team after spending her career at various hedge funds, supporting investor relations, marketing, and client services. As the Deputy Head of Client Services at FRM of the Man Group – which managed $12B in assets at the time – Stefanie led a team of six, and was responsible for the delivery of reporting and firm updates across 12 products. Previously, she also worked at Millburn Ridgefield Corporation, Citco Fund Services, and Sansar Capital. 

Stefanie is a graduate of the Questrom School of Management at Boston University and lives in New York City.

Kirby Kaplan manages all of our fundraising initiatives and LP relationships. She oversees all investor communications, and is the driving force behind K50’s fundraising efforts.  

Before joining K50, Kirby worked on the Investor Relations team at Centerbridge Partners, L.P., where she was able to contribute through multiple fundraises. Kirby also co-founded a non-profit, Cycle for Suz, raising money for Breast & Ovarian Cancer awareness, prevention and early detection.

Kirby graduated from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan with her BBA and lives in Chicago.