- Early-stage investor firm Rally Ventures announced it named Justin Kaufenberg as a partner at the firm
Early-stage investor firm Rally Ventures announced it named Justin Kaufenberg as a partner at the firm. Kaufenberg is bringing deep expertise in SaaS, payments, and network effect businesses. And he will work closely with the firm’s leaders to continue driving growth for Rally Ventures’ portfolio.
Kaufenberg previously served as the co-founder and CEO of SportsEngine, a Rally Ventures portfolio company. While CEO of SportsEngine, Kaufenberg was responsible for setting the overall direction and product strategy for the company.
And under his leadership, SportsEngine defined the SRM (Sport Relationship Management) category and grew to provide its CRM and payments platform to more than 36,000 paying customers, over 35 million monthly unique platform users, and created nearly 500 new tech jobs in Minnesota. Comcast/NBCUniversal acquired SportsEngine in 2016.
Rally Ventures was founded by Jeff Hinck and Charles Beeler in 2012.
“We are proud and honored to have Justin join us at Rally,” said Hinck. “Adding Justin to our team is a testament to how deeply we respect the entrepreneurs we work with. He’s proven himself to be an innovative leader and an unparalleled community builder.”
Rally Ventures had led SportsEngine’s series A and B funding rounds. And the firm co-founder and general partner Jeff Hinck served as a board member from 2011 through the exit in 2016. The Rally Ventures team worked with Kaufenberg for nearly 10 years.
“Jeff and Charles, along with their venture partners, are some of the finest early-stage enterprise investors in the country, and the Rally Tech Partner program is second-to-none,” added Kaufenberg. “I’ve witnessed first-hand their incredible commitment to the entrepreneur in good times and bad. When you find a firm of their caliber and spirit, you can’t help but want to join the team.”
Under the role of partner, Kaufenberg will source and execute new investments, serve on portfolio company boards and assist existing portfolio companies with key go-to-market and operational decisions. Currently, Kaufenberg serves on the boards of Rally Ventures portfolio companies Total Expert and Anyroad.
Rally Ventures is currently investing from its latest fund called Rally Ventures III (2018 vintage) — which closed above its fundraising target. Since being founded, Rally Ventures invested 43 companies and has had 12 successful exits.
“Justin brings tremendous strategic, technological and operational expertise that complements our mission of being an extremely active value-added investor and will support the continued growth in Rally’s portfolio,” commented Beeler.
