Who We Are
Our team and committee is below. We’re a venture fund, but there are also charities near and dear to our heart. To amplify our giving, we have an open matching program whereby if you give to the SPCA, Sierra Club, VogelAlcove.org, 6stones.org, TheLovePitRescue.org, or AnimalDefensePartnership.org, we’ll match it up to $1,000. To get the match, just email sammy@blossomstreetventures.com.
Our Team
Sammy Abdullah
Co-Founder, Chair, and Managing Partner
Sammy chairs the board of Blossom Street Ventures and manages the day to day operations. Along with Kevin, he co-founded the firm. His primary responsibilities are to source and diligence new opportunities, oversee the portfolio, and handle investor relations.
Kevin Vela
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Kevin Vela is a founding partner at Vela Wood Law. He focuses his practice in the areas of technology transactions, venture financings, M&A and corporate law. Throughout his career, he has represented both startups and investors in over $500M in venture financings.
Pepe
The boss of all bosses
The real power broker at BSV, no deal gets done without Pepe’s blessing. Any success we’ve had is 100% attributable to his invaluable contributions. Pepe is also Head of Naps and Minister of Treats at headquarters, and he’s always ahead of quota on both.
Robert Johnson
Board Member
In 1994, Robert joined software startup Sundance Digital where he became CEO and majority shareholder. The company grew to become one of the world’s largest providers of software to automate television stations and was sold in 2006. In 2008 Robert founded TeamSupport which provides enterprise-class B2B customer service software. TeamSupport was acquired in 2018.
Mark Clark
Board Member
Mark is a Senior Partner at O2Works, a premier Oracle E-Business Suite services provider, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Mark started his career with Oracle Corporation as one of their first Applications Consultants, and later founded two globally focused consulting firms concentrating on Oracle Applications. He has worked with enterprise customers across a wide variety of industries and geographies since 1990.
Davis Deadman
Board Member
Davis has been a Partner with Advantage Storage since 2012. In this role, he is responsible for sourcing and executing on new acquisitions and development activity. Davis also currently serves on the board of directors for TBK Bank as well as various investment committees for non-bank finance companies. From 2004 to 2011, he served as CEO and President of NexBank. Before NexBank, he served as a Senior Portfolio Manager, and ultimately as a partner, with Highland Capital Management L.P.
Thomas Gaunt
Board Member
Tom has been an executive in the software business for over 25 years. He has managed exponential growth at early stage companies, such as Macromedia. More recently Tom was SVP of Worldwide Sales at Rogue Wave Software, a leading provider of enterprise-class software tools and components.
Bruce MacFadyen, CFA
Board Member
Bruce is COO and Managing Director of Recurring Capital, an investment firm that specializes in debt and equity financing for Software as a Service and other recurring revenue model technology-driven companies. His background spans from executive roles with early stage technology companies (recently Armor Cloud Security and Door) to private equity (Recurring Capital and Blossom Street Ventures) to public equity (Atlas Capital and HOLT/Credit Suisse).
Stephanie Alsbrooks Hanson
Board Member
Stephanie is the CEO and co-founder of Clean Layer. Prior to Clean Layer, Stephanie was the CEO and founder of defi SOLUTIONS which served the need for origination systems to the meet the speed and flexibility needs of new and fast-growing auto lenders. She is a leader in the Auto Finance industry with 20 years experience creating risk based technology solutions for auto and emergency cash lenders.
The Numbers
25
Companies Funded
39
Total Capital
1-4
Check Size
2-4
Decision Process
