Matt Singer, CEO, Ecotrak (right) at the National Restaurant Show held in May 2025. MATT SINGER CEO ECOTRAK LLC WHY: Former controller for Costa Mesa-based restaurant chain Lazy Dog Restaurants, joined as CFO of Ecotrak in 2018, year it was founded. Became CEO in 2021. Software company helps restaurants, car Read More
Carey Ransom CAREY RANSOM MANAGING DIRECTOR BANKTECH VENTURES WHY: Seeking to invest in entrepreneurs who want to help transform the future of community banking to make them more efficient, competitive and compelling. Helped co-found and is chairman of Bonus Homes—(see Kyle Kamrooz profile.) Also founder and managing partner of Operate, Read More
Dan Rodrigues Dan Rodrigues CO-FOUNDER / CEO TEBRA TECHNOLOGIES INC. WHY: Co-founded Scour, a music search engine that was sold in 2000. In 2004, founded company to make medical billing easier for doctors and their staff. In 2022, raised $72M with a $1B valuation. Tebra was derived from “vertebrae” and Read More
Nate and Rebecca Raabe and family NATE RAABE CO-FOUNDER / MANAGING PARTNER RX3 GROWTH PARTNERS REBECCA RAABE INVESTMENT PARTNER SPRIG EQUITY WHY: Power couple in PE investments. Nate Raabe co-founded San Juan Capistranobased RX3 Growth Partners, with investments from professional athletes invests in growth-stage consumer brands. Has raised more than Read More
Henry Pyle HENRY PYLE CO-FOUNDER/OPERATING PARTNER CHARTWELL REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT WHY: Has accumulated 2M square feet of real estate since founding Chartwell Real Estate Development in 2017. Also bought Balboa Fun Zone on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula in 2020 and plans to revitalize the amusement park. Father is David Pyle, Read More
RYAN WESTERDAHL CO-FOUNDER / CEO TURION SPACE CORP. WHY: Worked for eight years as dynamics engineer at SpaceX. Co-founded Turion in 2021 to clean up junk in space and mine asteroids for precious metals. Has more than 70 employees. As of December, has raised $26.5M when the value of its Read More
Todd Watts, co-founder/CEO, PatientFi TODD WATTS CO-FOUNDER / CEO PATIENTFI WHY: Co-founded company that developed a payment technology platform for elective procedures. Estimated to have helped 320K patients qualify for over $3B in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses to date. Started PatientFi in 2017 with a few people in a small office Read More
Ethan Thornton, founder/CEO, Mach Industries ETHAN THORNTON FOUNDER / CEO MACH INDUSTRIES WHY: Founded Huntington Beach defense startup Mach Industries as a teen in 2023. Aims to make nimbler, smarter next generation weapons for the U.S. military. IN THE NEWS: Defense company in March said it will make military drones Read More
Wil Smith, founder of Greenlaw Partners WIL SMITH FOUNDER / CEO / PRESIDENT GREENLAW PARTNERS WHY: Founder of Greenlaw Partners, which has completed more than $10B worth of transactions across 340-plus deals. The Irvine-based real estate company has about 12M square feet of assets under management and another 15M square Read More
TEJ PATEL CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT FLUXERGY TEJ PATEL CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT FLUXERGY WHY: Co-founded medical diagnostics company with the goal of making pointof-care testing more accessible via its Fluxergy Analyzer, which can run a majority of lab tests in one compact system. Was among the first in the country during the pandemic Read More
