Ryan Merket

Overview

Ryan Merket is an angel investor and tech executive based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder and sole general partner of Comal Ventures, focusing on early-stage investments in sectors such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity, deep tech, e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, space, cloud infrastructure, climate tech, and clean tech. His investment range spans from $25,000 to $100,000, primarily targeting pre-seed and seed stages in the United States. In addition to his investment activities, Merket serves as a Venture Partner at Base Ventures and works with high-potential startups at Microsoft, identifying and empowering top AI companies. His previous roles include early product and platform positions at Facebook, Reddit, and AWS. As a serial entrepreneur, he has achieved two startup exits, notably founding Appbistro, which was acquired by InMobi in 2012. Merket's current focus centers on early-stage venture capital, founder mentorship, and sharing his personal journey from high school dropout to Silicon Valley leadership. He has mentored and invested in multiple startups that have been acquired or raised funding, such as Teachable, Apostrophe, and Yumi. He also co-founded and led product at Jude AI, a platform that helps realtors close more leads and deals with the power of large language models. He bootstrapped it to $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue in three months before joining Microsoft for Startups.

Investment Focus

• Early-stage startups
• Innovative technologies
• Strong founding teams

Portfolio Companies