Grant Van Cleve
General Partner
Head of Ecosystem & Scouting
Grant leads the search for world-class talent, identifying the next generation of fellows and building the strategic networks that fuel our pipeline.
Grant is a global entrepreneur, angel investor, business accelerator, and public speaker. He is regularly listed among the 50 most influential people in Orange County, CA, USA. Grant is involved in 130 start-ups, serving as a board member or advisor in 20 of those. He is an active leader in TCA Venture Group (Tech Coast Angels) – America’s most active angel investing group. He was President of their Orange County chapter and then Chairman of the whole network. He is an Expert-in-Residence at University of California - Irvine, co-founder of CVC Studio & Fund, Egnatia Ventures, Hangar 75 Ventures, CFO of TimeMint a leader in Industrial AI, and is a member of Keiretsu Forum SouthEast Europe, Entrelliance, and Faith Driven Investors.
Within his startup portfolio, Grant is currently putting special focus on Jetbuilt, RiskHawk, GREX, TimeMint, Tecnal, Digital School, Alphatechs, MovoCash, EchoTrade, LeaseLock, Funraise, Ligna Energy, StyleRiser, Holberton SEE, and MENASEE Ventures.
Alongside private equity, Grant develops real estate in California and in Southeastern Europe, and infrastructure development in the Balkans. He also does impact investing via roles in EdTech, FinTech, and CleanTech globally, as well as technology training in the Balkans and Middle East/North Africa. A big fan of giving back, Grant pours time into catalyzing entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. He was elected President of the American Chamber of Commerce in 2023. He can also be found in leadership roles in his church and in local politics. Along the way he added an MA in Intercultural Studies at Fuller.
Grant is a sought-after global speaker on geopolitics, innovation, and human flourishing. Including their impact regional economic development, human migration and the future of work.
Grant was raised in California but left to study at Penn/Wharton and then to live 19 years in Europe – most of that in Albania. Non-profit consulting got him there, real estate development transitioned him into the marketplace, and now he has returned for a set of technology and innovation ventures for the region. First among those is licenses for the Holberton School, and the Digital School – which bring these global edtech leader’s innovative training software training methods to the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean.
Grant returned with his wife and 3 kids to Orange County, CA, USA in 2010, but spends more than half of the year in Europe and the MENA region.