Biography:
Seán Sebastian is a founding partner of Black Tech Nation Ventures, a $50m seed-stage technology venture capital fund investing in Black and other diverse entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. http://BTN.vc investments include BlendEd, BrightUp and Hive Wealth.
Seán previously founded Birchmere Ventures, a $250m seed-stage venture group whose portfolio companies comprise over $18b in value and have raised over $4b in follow-on capital from co-investors including Accel Partners, Amazon, Alphabet, Andreesen Horowitz, Bain Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Columbia Capital, Comcast Ventures, Drive Capital, First Round Capital, Highland Capital Partners, General Catalyst, Insight Partners, Intel Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Maveron, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, Reach Capital, Salesforce, Sapphire Ventures, Softbank, and Volition Capital.
Notable Birchmere investments include Altru (acquired by iCIMS), CoManage (acquired by Syndesis), Cvent (IPO, acquired by Vista Equity), CyOptics (acquired by Avago), Eargo (IPO), Encentiv Energy, FreeMarkets (IPO, acquired by Ariba), Gem (acquired by BlockDaemon), Healthie, Idelic, JazzHR (acquired by Jobvite), Knova Software (IPO), LegalSifter, Mediasite (acquired by Sonic Foundry), Modsy, Neolinear (acquired by Cadence Design Systems), NoWait (acquired by Yelp!), Paper, PresenceLearning, Sleeper, SPIDR Tech (acquired by Versaterm), TenMarks (acquired by Amazon), and The Zebra.
Previously, Seán was Director of Technology Commercialization at GE Information Services (Rockville MD), and a technology consultant at American Management Systems (Arlington VA) and International Systems Services (Stamford CT). He served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force after receiving a full four-year scholarship.
Seán holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy NY) and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester MA).
Seán’s current and prior civic commitments include board roles at 3 Rivers Venture Fair, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Pittsburgh Technology Council, Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association, Tull Family Theater, and WYEP-FM.
Fun Facts:
Hometown: Gravesend, England (I’m a dual US/UK citizen). Fun fact: Gravesend is the burial site of Pocahontas, who died there of tuberculosis at age 21 (looking at you, John Smith!).
Favorite Netflix/TV Show: Best ever is probably “West Wing” – where all politicians are ethical, competent, hardworking, and striving to make the world a better place – so yeah, a wildly implausible fantasy.
Favorite Song Ever: So many … (for now) going with “Phantom Limb” by The Shins.
Favorite Down Time Activity: I try to mountain bike a couple of times a week – there are dozens of 150-year-old horse trails in gorgeous hilly woods all around Pittsburgh – I can ride every day for a month and not repeat a trail.
Why You Are Excited About Contributing To The Success of BTN.vc: While diversity wasn’t “hard wired” into the Birchmere investment model, almost without realizing it we’ve built an amazing high-performance portfolio with very significant diverse representation. As I reflect on that experience, I’ve usually gotten the most psychic reward working with diverse founders. So the opportunity to now be very intentional about building a world-class all-diverse portfolio is amazingly compelling. Being the only White male in BTN.vc is huge personal growth opportunity for me – everyday is culturally, personally, and professionally broadening.
News:
- Written By: Ervin Dyer
- 02/01/2023
Mod Squad: Meet The People Behind Pittsburgh’s Black Tech Nation Ventures
Pittsburgh Magazine
- Written By: admin
- 28/04/2023
Pittsburgh forges a new future, remaking iconic steel town into a modern innovation factory
- Written By: admin
- 28/04/2023
Personalities of Pittsburgh: Birchmere’s Sebastian on inspiration, do-overs and finding the best boss (Video)
- Written By: admin
- 28/04/2023
