The UrbanGeekz 50 List 2025
December 17, 2025
UrbanGeekz 50 2025: Community Builders and Ecosystem Warriors
December 17, 2025
Mercedes Bent: Venture Partner, Lightspeed
Mercedes Bent is a powerhouse in venture capital, shaped by a career that blends finance, operating, and founder experience. Raised around investors, she began her professional journey in finance roles at the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs before moving into the startup world. She went on to manage two consumer companies, including helping scale one from $2 million to $100 million in revenue in just four years, and later founded two startups of her own—experience that deeply informs how she partners with founders today.
In 2019, Bent joined Lightspeed, where she has led multiple investments across the LATAM region. She focuses on early-stage consumer fintech, particularly companies creating functional, accessible pathways to wealth creation. Her career spans nearly every core startup function, including operations, product management, customer service, talent and recruiting, design, sales, marketing, strategy, and general management.
Those who have worked with Bent consistently point to her ability to challenge founders rigorously while still being firmly in their corner when it matters most. She brings both conviction and empathy to the investor–founder relationship.
Bent holds an MBA and a master’s degree in education from Stanford University, as well as an AB in Behavioral Economics from Harvard University. Outside of work, she enjoys staying active through rock climbing, hiking, skiing, and off-roading in her Jeep. She also stays close to tech culture—reading science fiction, playing Catan, and dealing cards with impressive speed.
Charles Hudson: Managing Partner, Precursor Ventures
Charles Hudson is the founder and managing partner of Precursor Ventures, an early-stage firm known for backing founders at the very start of their entrepreneurial journeys. Precursor specializes in writing first institutional checks, often investing in people before products are fully formed. Under Hudson’s leadership, the firm has raised four funds and now manages more than $250 million, while supporting over 1,000 founders across 450+ companies.
Hudson’s portfolio includes teams behind Bobbie Baby, Carrot, Juniper Square, Modern Health, Pair Eyewear, Rad AI, and The Athletic, which was acquired by The New York Times for $525 million in 2022. His approach emphasizes conviction in founders and long-term partnership over trend-chasing.
Before launching Precursor, Hudson was a partner at Uncork Capital, where he focused on mobile infrastructure, applications, and marketplaces, while helping portfolio companies navigate business development and growth. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Bionic Panda Games, an Android-focused gaming startup based in San Francisco.
Beyond investing, Hudson sits on Screendoor’s investment committee, serves on the Path Ahead Ventures Advisory Board, helps organize the Equity Summit, and mentors emerging fund managers. A two-time Stanford graduate, he holds an MBA from Stanford GSB and a BA in economics and Spanish. He also teaches Stanford’s “Entrepreneurship from Diverse Perspectives” course and serves on the advisory board of the San Francisco Opera Association.
Jewel Burks Solomon: Managing Partner, Collab Capital
Jewel Burks Solomon is a longtime advocate for expanding representation and ownership in the tech industry, with a career that spans successful entrepreneurship and venture investing. She first made her mark as the co-founder of Partpic, a computer-vision startup that simplified the search and purchase of maintenance and repair parts—solving a common, costly problem for consumers and businesses alike. Partpic raised more than $2 million in seed funding and integrated its technology into the digital platforms of major retailers.
In late 2016, Solomon negotiated Partpic’s acquisition by Amazon and joined the company to lead the integration of its technology into the Amazon app. The product launched in 2018 as PartFinder, reaching more than 150 million users.
Following her exit, Solomon co-founded Collab Capital, where she now serves as Managing Partner. The firm invests in the building blocks of Black prosperity, and its first fund closed at $51 million. To date, Collab Capital has backed 36 Black-led companies nationwide, with Solomon currently raising Fund II to continue that momentum.
A Nashville native and Howard University graduate, Solomon serves on several national boards and is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is also a regular voice in tech and culture, appearing on NPR’s Marketplace Tech and SIRIUSXM’s Karen Hunter Show.
Kanyi Maqubela: Managing Partner, Kindred Ventures
Kanyi Maqubela is the managing partner of Kindred Ventures, where he backs founders taking bold early risks to advance society through transformative technology. His investment focus spans frontier tech, digital health, e-commerce, fintech, and supply chain innovation. At Kindred, he has served as a lead investor in companies including Adyton, Basis Theory, Faircraft, Cloudtrucks, Corgi, and Tala, while also playing early roles in investments such as Outschool, Impossible Foods, Upstart, Reddit, Mural, HelloSign, and Earnest.
Maqubela’s path to venture capital is rooted in deep operator experience. He co-founded Heartbeat Health, now the largest virtual heart-health platform in the United States, and previously spent several years at Collaborative Fund. Earlier in his career, he helped scale One Block Off the Grid, which was acquired by NRG for $120 million, and was an early employee at Doostang, later acquired by Universum Global.
Born in Soweto during apartheid-era South Africa, Maqubela came to the United States as a refugee and grew up in New England. He later attended Phillips Academy and studied philosophy at Stanford University, completing graduate coursework across computer science, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. Teaching has remained a constant thread throughout his career, from instructing elementary and middle school students to serving as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Monique Woodard
Monique Woodard is a seasoned venture capitalist and former operator working at the intersection of technology and emerging consumer demographics. In 2021, she founded Cake Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage firm investing in companies shaped by demographic change. Cake Ventures has backed early companies including Guaranteed, Pamper, Bright, and Rares.
Before launching Cake, Woodard was active as both an angel investor and venture investor across the U.S. and African startup ecosystems. As a Venture Partner at 500 Global, she invested in early-stage companies such as Silvernest and Blavity, led deal flow in sub-Saharan Africa, and organized the “Geeks on a Plane” tour spotlighting the continent’s most vibrant startup hubs. She later served as a Venture Scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners and advised foundations and SoftBank’s Emerge program, which supports underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Earlier in her career, Woodard spent more than 15 years in tech as an entrepreneur and product-focused operator. She also co-founded Black Founders, a national community that has helped founders move from idea to execution through hackathons, workshops, and conferences across Silicon Valley, New York City, Atlanta, Austin, and HBCU campuses.
Kobie Fuller
Kobie Fuller is a General Partner at Upfront Ventures, where he brings a blend of investing, operating, and founder experience to early-stage technology companies. He joined Upfront in 2016 after investing at Accel Partners and serving as Chief Marketing Officer at REVOLVE. He has also founded OpenView Venture Partners and invested with Insight Venture Partners, Oculus, and ExactTarget.
A Harvard University graduate, Fuller competed in track and field and still holds the school’s indoor 400-meter record. After earning his BA in economics, he held roles across private equity and digital marketing before joining Accel as an early-stage investor. He later relocated to Los Angeles to join Upfront, where he focuses on enterprise SaaS and emerging technologies, including VR and AR.
In 2019, Fuller co-founded Valence, a network connecting companies with Black talent in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. He serves as co-founder and chairman while remaining active at Upfront Ventures and holding board roles across multiple technology companies.
Dan Kihanya
Dan Kihanya is the Director of Path Ahead Ventures at REI, where he leads efforts to support startups owned and led by Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Asian American, and other underrepresented founders in the outdoor industry. Through Path Ahead, he works at the intersection of capital, mentorship, and ecosystem access—helping early-stage companies navigate growth while advancing equity in an industry historically lacking representation.
In addition to his investment work, Kihanya is the founder and host of Founders Unfound, a podcast that profiles tech founders from underrepresented backgrounds. Originally focused on founders of African descent, the platform has since expanded its lens to include Latinx founders, using storytelling to surface overlooked talent and entrepreneurial journeys.
Kihanya’s professional background spans entrepreneurship, venture, and community building. He previously served as the founding Managing Director of Impact Hub Bellevue, a coworking and incubation space supporting startups and social entrepreneurs in the Seattle area. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Cellfire—a pioneer in mobile and digital coupons acquired by Catalina Marketing in 2014—and at LSC, a services company focused on customer rewards programs. He is also a venture partner at Stockton Ventures, investing in early-stage, high-growth opportunities across interactive media and biosciences.
He holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where he was both a Kauffman and Consortium Fellow, and a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University. Kihanya regularly advises startups through programs including Techstars, WeWork Labs, and Berkeley Launch, specializing in early-stage strategy, fundraising, product-market fit, and customer growth.
Erin Harkless Moore
Erin Harkless Moore is the Senior Director of Investments at Pivotal Ventures, the investment and incubation firm created by Melinda French Gates to accelerate social progress in the United States. In this role, she leads fund and direct investment decisions, overseeing a portfolio designed to drive breakthrough innovation and long-term impact for individuals and communities across the country.
With nearly two decades of investment experience, Harkless Moore brings deep expertise across private markets and early-stage venture capital. Prior to joining Pivotal Ventures, she served as Managing Director at Cambridge Associates, where she specialized in sourcing, evaluating, and conducting diligence on investment managers across asset classes. Her work focused heavily on identifying emerging managers and aligning capital with both performance and values—experience that continues to shape her approach today.
She began her career grounded in rigorous financial analysis and earned a finance degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a John B. Ervin Scholar. Beyond her professional responsibilities, Harkless Moore is actively engaged in governance and philanthropy. She currently serves on the Board and Investment Committee for Builders Initiative and is an at-large member of Washington University’s Alumni Board of Governors.
A native Texan, Harkless Moore resides on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children. Outside of work, she enjoys travel, exploring new restaurants, spending time with friends and family, reading, and writing fiction. Across her career, she has remained committed to aligning capital with purpose—ensuring investment decisions translate into measurable, real-world progress.
Main Image: Jewel Bucks Solomon: Managing Partner, Collab Capital
