VanEck Ventures

The Team Inside the Newsroom

WL

Wyatt Lonergan

Managing Partner

Previously at Goldman Sachs and a16z crypto, Wyatt led investments across digital assets and fintech infrastructure. He focuses on stablecoin networks, on-chain capital markets, and the founders rebuilding financial plumbing from the ground up.

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JL

Juan Lopez

Managing Partner

Juan spent a decade in institutional trading and structured products before moving into venture. He underwrites conviction-driven bets in crypto infrastructure, AI-native fintech, and cross-border settlement protocols at the earliest stages.

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SC

Sarah Chen

Partner

Sarah joined from Bridgewater Associates where she built quantitative models for macro-driven allocation. At VanEck Ventures she leads deal sourcing across decentralized finance and real-world asset tokenization verticals.

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MR

Marcus Rivera

Vice President

A former product lead at Stripe and Plaid, Marcus brings deep operational expertise in payments infrastructure. He partners closely with portfolio companies on go-to-market strategy, product-market fit, and enterprise distribution.

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EV

Elena Vogt

Vice President

Elena was previously at Paradigm and before that a derivatives trader at Citadel. She covers DeFi protocols, on-chain risk infrastructure, and the emerging category of AI-powered compliance and surveillance tooling.

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DP

David Park

Principal

David led crypto research at Messari before joining the firm. He brings a thesis-driven approach to early-stage investing with a focus on zero-knowledge infrastructure, cross-chain interoperability, and privacy-preserving computation.

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AO

Amara Osei

Associate

Amara comes from the investment banking division at J.P. Morgan where she covered fintech and digital assets M&A. She supports the team on diligence, financial modeling, and portfolio company operations across all active investments.

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TK

Thomas Keller

Associate

Thomas previously built developer tools at Coinbase and contributed to open-source DeFi protocols. He evaluates technical architecture and engineering talent across the portfolio, specializing in smart contract security and protocol design.

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PS

Priya Sharma

Analyst

Priya joined from Stanford where she studied computer science and economics. She leads the firm's market mapping efforts across stablecoin infrastructure, embedded finance, and tokenized credit markets in emerging economies.

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