Meet Our Team
Kris Bortnovsky (Bort)
VENTURE FOUNDING PARTNER
Kris Bortnovsky is an investment industry leader and Sakal Ventures’ founding partner with 20+ years of capital markets experience. He’s highly regarded for his investment selection resulting in profitable IPO exits for the firm. Under his leadership, Sakal Ventures achieved 40M AUM in under three years, and his extensive network with global hedge funds, broker-dealers, and venture capital funds make him a trusted leader in the investment community.
AJAY ARORA
VENTURE PARTNER-ADVISOR
Ajay Arora serves as Sakal Ventures head of research. Ajay’s primary focus is to develop, research, and direct the execution of investment strategies.
Prior to Sakal Ventures, Ajay was a Technology Advisor to Sakal Capital Management.
Before Sakal Capital Management, Ajay founded Silver Motion and eRSVP, and was a strategic advisor to a diverse stack of technology, fin-tech, marketing, e-commerce, and gaming companies.
Ajay has been a private investor for over twenty years. He has identified and consulted investors in many strong growth companies in their early stages such as: MongoDB, Sea Limited, Twillio, Tesla, and Lemonade.
Ajay earned a Bachelor of Science from NYU Stern School of Business in Information Systems & Accounting.
GEORG EBNER
GENERALIST ANALYST
Equity Analyst at KAI Capital Management, long/short hedge fund.
Equity Analyst at InvestIndustrial, leading European Private Equity firm.
Internship at Credit Suisse HOLT, specialized equity research team.
Master of Finance graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bachelors in Business Administration from Northeastern.
University & University of the Sacred Heart.
TAYLOR BARLING
MANAGING PARTNER
Taylor Barling is a Managing Partner at Sakal Ventures. He assists in managing client development, operations, secondary transactions, and the firm’s investment process.
Prior to Sakal Ventures, Taylor was an Associate at Sakal Capital Management. Taylor executed trades in conjunction with the firm’s portfolio manager and research team. Additionally, he managed the firm’s relationship with multiple prime brokers.
Before joining Sakal Capital Management, Taylor Barling was a stockbroker at Light Capital Group, managing portfolios for individuals.
