Ben Trumbull

Ben Trumbull is a Midwest-based venture investor, board member, and former operator who co-founded Tamarind Hill (the Tamarind Hill Fund) with Mark Shary in 2017. The firm — named for a fruit tree that thrives in harsh environments — was launched to provide "Entrepreneurial Stage Capital" to B2B SaaS companies, and has since sharpened its focus specifically on digital and B2B healthcare innovation. A Form D filed with the SEC in May 2017 showed a first close of nearly $7 million, and the fund has since operated with roughly $12.5M in capital, investing across multiple funds (Fund I and Fund II).

Before founding Tamarind Hill, Trumbull built his career in Midwest venture capital. He spent time with Plymouth Venture Partners in Ann Arbor and served in an entrepreneur-in-residence/fund-manager role with the Rocket Venture Fund in Toledo — a seed-stage fund targeting B2B software — where he acted as CFO and board member for several portfolio companies. That operator-and-financier background underpins Tamarind Hill's "operator-first" positioning, in which partners with prior exits provide hands-on guidance to founders.

Trumbull holds a BA in Economics from Denison University (1999–2003) and an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. He is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has served on the boards of Tamarind Hill portfolio companies including TrackAbout (through its 2019 exit), 86 Repairs, and Handle (as an observer).

• Invests in B2B software serving the "Business of Healthcare" and Supply Chain/Logistics — his stated focus is "software companies which serve the 'Business of Healthcare' and/or Supply Chain/Logistics."
• Focus areas span healthcare IT and healthcare business services, supply chain and logistics, IoT/enterprise software, insurance, and marketplaces.
• Explicitly avoids consumer-facing companies and healthcare that requires FDA approval or is a clinical/medical device.
• Targets early-stage companies showing early product-market fit; leads seed rounds and reserves capital for follow-on rounds. Personal/fund check range ~$200K–$1.5M (sweet spot ~$500K); the firm leads seed rounds of ~$2–7M.
• Values founders who can "deeply understand, build for, and sell to" core healthcare stakeholders — health systems, payors, and healthcare leaders — leveraging the firm's advisory network (OhioHealth, McKinsey, Cardinal Health, St. Jude, and others).
• Partnership philosophy: "We say what we mean, mean what we say, and always follow through."