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Mel started her career as a first grade teacher in Philadelphia, and a journalist working at both The Center for Public Integrity and Runner’s World magazine.","recentPosts":[]},{"id":35697,"name":"Michelle Larivee","title":"General Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Ramble Redefining the campground asset class"],"linkedinUrl":null,"twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]},{"id":35701,"name":"Guy Friedman","title":"General Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Mood Health"],"linkedinUrl":null,"twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]},{"id":35705,"name":"Bethany Bongiorno","title":"General Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Stealth Humane"],"linkedinUrl":null,"twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]},{"id":35707,"name":"Jordan Pascasio","title":"Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Consumer and healthcare innovation"],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-pascasio-8279b717/","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":"Jordan Pascasio is a Partner at Next Ventures, where he invests at the intersection of consumer and healthcare innovation. He is passionate about shifting engagement and access upstream to enable a more proactive and interconnected care delivery system. Since joining Next Ventures in 2021, Jordan has been responsible for investments in select companies such as Pair Team, Trial Library, BranchLab, Evergreen, Cofertility, Eternal, and Vital Bio. He also leads the content creation effort at the fund.","recentPosts":[]},{"id":35708,"name":"Lance Armstrong","title":"General Partner","seniority":null,"focusTags":[],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/lancearmstrong/","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":"Lance Armstrong is a General Partner at Next Ventures, a former professional cyclist, achieved early success in endurance sports and became the Road Race World Champion at the age of 21. More recently as a cancer survivor, he founded Livestrong and helped raise $500 million, serving over 3 million people. He also created the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas through a $3 billion bond initiative and made a $50 million donation to the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, Austin. These contributions have had a significant impact on the fight against cancer. In 2019, he co-founded Next Ventures. Prior to this he was an active angel investor and LP in funds that invested in companies such as Uber, DocuSign and Active.com. Through his creation of the media platform WEDU, he hosts two chart-topping podcasts, THEMOVE and The Forward, with over 10 million annual listeners.","recentPosts":[]},{"id":35710,"name":"Felix Kim","title":"Principal","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Addressing access challenges by investing in technology and technology-enabled services businesses that serve patients, payors, providers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers"],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixkim93/","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":"Felix Kim is a Principal at Next Ventures, focused on addressing access challenges by investing in technology and technology-enabled services businesses that serve patients, payors, providers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Before joining Next Ventures, Felix was an investor at Longitude Capital and held various operating roles at Transcarent and Truepill. Prior to that, Felix was a Healthcare Investment Associate at GI Partners and an Investment Banking Analyst at Evercore Partners. Felix holds a BA in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Based in San Francisco, Felix enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and french bulldog (Cashew).","recentPosts":[]},{"id":35711,"name":"Dani Kolkebeck","title":"Associate","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Early-stage investment research, diligence, and founder support shaping more accessible, proactive care"],"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-kolkebeck-80689a18/","twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":"Dani Kolkebeck MBA Associate Dani Kolkebeck is an MBA Associate at Next Ventures, where she supports early-stage investment research, diligence, and founder support shaping more accessible, proactive care. Prior to Next Ventures, Dani worked at Kaufman Hall, a healthcare advisory firm, in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice, advising healthcare organizations and strategic buyers on complex transactions. Dani earned her BBA from the University of Notre Dame and is currently pursuing her MBA at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. At McCombs, Dani is a Hildebrand Scholar and is actively involved in Venture Fellows. Based in Austin, Dani enjoys exploring Austin’s food scene, CorePower yoga, and runs around Lady Bird Lake.","recentPosts":[]},{"id":15581,"name":"Kelly Ryan","title":"Founder & GP","seniority":null,"focusTags":["Marketplace","Gig Economy"],"linkedinUrl":null,"twitterHandle":null,"blogUrl":null,"thesisSummary":null,"whyThisPartner":null,"recentPosts":[]}],"funds":[],"activity":{"lastInvestmentYear":null,"investmentsLast12Months":0},"investorType":"vc","preferredApproach":"warm intro preferred","prefersFounderType":null,"oneClickPitchEnabled":false,"relatedFirms":[{"id":9250,"name":"Field & Fork Accelerator","slug":"field-and-fork-accelerator","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://fieldandfork.ufl.edu/","stageFocus":["Pre-Seed"],"sectorTags":["Marketplace","Food / AgTech"],"hqGeo":"Chicago, IL"},{"id":4581,"name":"Monumental Ventures","slug":"monumental-ventures","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://www.monumentalventures.nl/","stageFocus":["Seed"],"sectorTags":["Other","Marketplace"],"hqGeo":null},{"id":13859,"name":"HealthTech Integrations Fund","slug":"healthtech-integrations-fund","logoUrl":null,"website":null,"stageFocus":["Series A"],"sectorTags":["Healthcare","Marketplace","SaaS"],"hqGeo":"San Francisco, CA"},{"id":9089,"name":"Society Builders Capital","slug":"society-builders-capital","logoUrl":null,"website":"https://www.builderscapital.com/","stageFocus":["Pre-Seed","Seed"],"sectorTags":["Other","Marketplace"],"hqGeo":"Mumbai, India"},{"id":12057,"name":"MarketCreators Fund","slug":"marketcreators-fund","logoUrl":null,"website":null,"stageFocus":["Seed"],"sectorTags":["Marketplace","Other"],"hqGeo":"Chicago, IL"},{"id":4783,"name":"Foundation Equity","slug":"foundation-equity","logoUrl":null,"website":"http://www.equityfoundation.org/","stageFocus":["Seed"],"sectorTags":["Fintech","Marketplace"],"hqGeo":"Nashville, TN"}],"featuredIn":[{"slug":"pre-seed","displayName":"Pre-Seed Investors","pageType":"stage"},{"slug":"seed","displayName":"Seed Investors","pageType":"stage"},{"slug":"marketplace","displayName":"Marketplace Investors","pageType":"industry"}],"fundraisingResources":[{"slug":"what-vcs-actually-look-for-pitch-deck","title":"What VCs Actually Look for in a Pitch Deck"},{"slug":"find-right-pre-seed-investors-b2b-saas","title":"How to Find the Right Pre-Seed Investors for Your B2B SaaS Startup"},{"slug":"Finding-Investors-For-Startup-In-2026","title":"How to Find Investors for Your Startup in 2026 (Without Cold-Searching Databases)"}],"overviewNarrative":null,"portfolioNarrative":null,"seoTitle":null,"seoDescription":null,"lastVerifiedAt":"2026-05-27T00:48:48.875Z"}