About Republic
For the first time in history, the majority of the US population can invest in tech startups.
In May 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enacted Title III of the JOBS Act, allowing non-accredited investors — the majority of the US population — to invest in startups. But the complicated legal requirements demanded for a founder and investor-friendly, easy to use platform to make startup investing truly accessible.
That’s why we built Republic: to democratize investing and level out the fundraising landscape for founders and investors alike. We’re SEC-registered, FINRA-licensed, and if you’re at all interested in startups, you’ve heard of our past work: Republic is part of a family of startup platforms together with AngelList, Product Hunt, and CoinList — one of the most trusted online startup ecosystems in the world.
Why we’re doing this
Startups are here to save the world, but they need money to grow. Many startups’ success depends on their ability to get funded.
Silicon Valley is an amazing place. It’s fostered and funded tech startups for decades, but its limitations have become increasingly apparent: It’s held back by its geography, philosophy and lack of diversity.
Recent legislation has created the opportunity to bring the best of the Silicon Valley to the rest of the country and the world.
It gives the 97% of people previously left behind access to startup investing: the power to choose the future we want to see by funding the companies we believe in.
And, equally important, it makes room for more entrepreneurs — because in a world where anyone can fund anyone, more ideas should get off the ground and grow.
More ideas = more opportunities = more innovation = better future.
That’s why we’re doing this.
Why we focus on diversity
We welcome all kinds of entrepreneurs, but we’re encouraging more startups with diverse teams and backgrounds to apply . Why do we have a special focus on the underserved — women, minorities, immigrant and veteran founders?
Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. Equalization of the fundraising landscape will allow more talent to have a chance to build companies, creating more investment opportunities for investors.
Traditional VCs notoriously don’t fund as many female founders as males, or as many Black or Latinx founders as white founders. The same applies to geography: the majority of funded startups come from Silicon Valley & New York.
We believe that most hidden gems for our investors can be found beyond the places where everyone’s looking.
Why we love mission-driven startups
Because we believe that startups are the way to a better future. The greatest companies are mission driven: they start with a vision of the better future — the future they will create.
This isn't just fanciful ideology. It’s highly pragmatic: having a mission helps founders see the big picture and set big goals, to persevere through tough times, and to lead and inspire their team along the way. Building a company isn’t easy. Ultimately, a mission makes it possible for founders to succeed.
Who we are
We're a team of founders and investors, just like you.
Republic was founded by alumni of AngelList — the world's largest online investment platform for accredited investors. AngelList was instrumental in passing the JOBS Act that enabled equity crowdfunding and remains our strategic partner.
Our team has extensive experience in investing, online fundraising, business, law, engineering and community building. We have been founders and investors, builders and operators.
Kendrick Nguyen
CEO
Founding advisor of CoinList. Previously General Counsel at AngelList. Worked at Permal Group and Goodwin Procter. Former Stanford Fellow and securities litigator.
Caroline Hofmann
COO & CCO
Previously at McKinsey & Company in New York and London. Harvard MBA, Masters from London School of Economics.
Peter Green
Head of Product
Previously Founder of Mine, MeetingPulse, Volga Verdi. Worked at Leo Burnett. Masters of management from HSE Moscow.
Kenneth Ballenegger
Managing Director Republic Crypto
Angel in 40+ startups, Partner at Oyster Ventures. Previously engineering at AngelList, founder at FreshPay, founding architect at Chartboost, and product at Tapulous (acq. by Disney)
Leo Galley
Product
Previously Engineer at CoinList, Design Director at AngelList, and Head of UX & Design at Mitoo.
Chuck Pettid
Business
GP at RainmakeMe. Worked at Merrill, Pinnacle. Repeat founder. Active investor. Studied business at Nebraska and Fordham.
Nikhil Gopalani
Business
Co-Founder at Ambition.vc. Investor in Verdigris, Drchrono, Samba TV & FabFitFun. Previously at Orange, VentureBeat and Accredible.
Maxwell Rich
Legal & Compliance
Regulatory advisor to CoinList. Previously at Liberty Mutual and the Clearing House. Boston University JD, Drew University BA.
Laurent Mazouer
Product
Previously Associate Technology at SapientRazorfish. Studied Computer Science at Columbia University.
Bryan Myint
Republic Crypto
Partner at Blocksauce Foundation and Token Sale Advisor. Previously Strategy Consultant at Enterey and Operations Manager at Breeze. Studied engineering at UCLA.
Austin Federa
Marketing
Head of Marketing for Republic. Previously marketing and digital content for Superpedestrian. Worked for Boston Globe, PRI, launched in public radio. Lawrence University Government and Environmental Studies BA.
Ayesha Kiani
Republic Crypto
Previously at SingularDTV, a Consensys spoke. Venture Partner at NextGen Ventures. Previously growth at Overlap and corporate law at Skadden Arps. Degrees in Law and Business from New York University.
Bianca Caban
Business
Co-founded Koban Holdings and AccessLatina. Banking and investment at Credit Suisse, Blackrock, and Atlas Merchant Capital. Harvard BA; Columbia MBA.
Ahrham Cho
Business
Previously Finance and Operations Manager at Noom Inc. Worked as a CPA in a private accounting firm.
Szandra Fuzesi Ford
Business
Formerly Partner at Climb Capital Partners and Management Consultant at Capgemini. MBA from NYU. Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan.
Matt Melbourne
Business
Previously Business Development at Global Citizen. Studied government & English at Georgetown.
Dmitry Chernyshev
Design
Previously at Sweatcoin, COUB, Theory&Practice and Trends&Brands. Created Identity and design for web version of Andy Warhol Interview Russia magazine.
Jed Halfon
Republic Crypto
Formerly corporate attorney at Mayer Brown. JD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania. Dabbled in DJ'ing and journalism. Crypto enthusiast.
Loc Nguyen
Business
Previously marketing at Proximi & Zapflow. Studying International Business at Aalto University.
Kanwar Sahdra
Business
Copywriter, podcaster, researcher, engineer. Studying Medical Sciences & Computer Science at Western University.
Paul Menchov
Advisor and Co-Founder
Head of CoinList Capital. CTO and Co-Founder at CoinList. Previously, CTO at Republic and Head of Fundraising Infrastructure at AngelList. Worked at Zynga. Studied at Cornell University.
Naval Ravikant
Advisor
Chairman and Founder at AngelList. Founder at Venture Hacks, Vast and Epinions. Invested in Twitter, Heyzap, Uber.
Shaherose Charania
Advisor
Co-Founder of Women 2.0, Founder Labs. Board of Directors at Good World Solutions.
Shiza Shahid
Advisor
Founder of NOW Ventures and Malala Fund. Investor and social activist. Studied at Stanford University.
Katherine Krug
Advisor
Founder of BetterBack, Everest, Fundrah. First solo woman to break $1M on Kickstarter.
Christian Sullivan
Advisor
Entrepreneur and angel investor. Seed investor in Yandex, Cruise, and other notable tech and social impact startups.
