Moshe Koyfman is an American businessperson and investor.

Biography

Koyfman is a native of New Jersey. He attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He holds a B.S. in economics with a concentration in finance and a B.A. in English.

Career

After graduating from college, Koyfman joined

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...

as an investment banker, where he worked on

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

and raising financing for media, technology and entertainment companies. He next joined IAC, an internet holding company as vice president of mergers and acquisitions and vice president of programming, helping to launch a new business unit focused on digital media. He led the IAC acquisition of Connected Ventures, the parent of

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

CollegeHumor Dropout, incorporated as CH Media and formerly known as CollegeHumor, is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles that produces content for release on its streaming service Dropout (streaming platform), Dropout as well as YouTube. Dropou ...

and BustedTees. He eventually served as the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

of Connected Ventures.

Venture investing

He was hired by

Spark Capital Spark Capital Partners, LLC is a multi-stage venture capital firm based in the U.S. with operations in San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Spark is a generalist VC firm with a portfolio that spans verticals such as consumer internet, enterpris ...

, a Boston

venture capital fund Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

in the summer of 2008. His work was focused on expanding into the New York media and entertainment sectors. Among the first investments led by Koyfman at Spark were stakes in online marketplaces Skillshare and

WorkMarket WorkMarket is a New York City-based company that provides an online software platform, platform and marketplace for businesses to manage contingent workers and IT talent. The company was founded in May 2010 by Jeffrey Leventhal. In January 2018, W ...

. Later investments include eyeglass retailer

Warby Parker Warby Parker Inc. is an American eyewear brand and retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Founded in 2010, it was initially an online-only retailer. It now receives (about two-thirds) of its r ...

, fraud prevention software company Sift Science, financial service provider

Plaid (company) Plaid Inc. is an American financial services company based in San Francisco, California. The company builds a data transfer network that powers fintech and digital finance products. Plaid's product, a technology platform, enables applications to ...

, Kitchensurfing, Aviary, DIY, FundersClub, Consumer United, gdgt, and Svpply. Koyfman's exits for Spark include

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

buying Svvply,

AOL AOL (formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City, and a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. The service traces its history to an online ...

buying gdgt, and

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American software, computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to ...

buying Aviary. He became a member of the Board of directors for Skillshare,

, Aviary, Plaid, DIY and Consumers United. Koyfman was promoted in 2012 to General Partner, one of six at Spark, at the age of 35. In 2012, Koyfman was named one of New York's top 100 angel investors by

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

. He left Spark in 2016 and founded MOKO BRANDS, an investment company focused on consumer brands. In 2019, he launched Shine Capital, a new venture-capital firm, with business partner Josh Mohrer. An SEC filing on 11 November 2020 listed Shine Capital as having a gross asset value of $59,615,000.

Personal

Koyfman is married to Hillary Rosenman Koyfman, a designer.

Philanthropic activities

He has been on the board of directors of

ArtWorks A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literatur ...

, a non-profit that offers

art therapy Art therapy is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art ...

to hospitalized children. He also served as a member of the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

Future Leadership Council,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

Collections Council, and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

Tech Advisory Group. In 2013, Koyfman became an early backer and member of the board of directors of

Sefaria Sefaria is an online open source, free content, digital library of Jewish texts. It was founded in 2011 by former Google project manager Brett Lockspeiser and journalist-author Joshua Foer. Promoted as a "living library of Jewish texts", Sefaria ...

, a non-profit online open source free content library of Hebrew and English Jewish texts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koyfman, Mo American venture capitalists Angel investors Living people Businesspeople from New Jersey University of Pennsylvania alumni Year of birth missing (living people)