Mike Marquez

Mike Marquez is a Founding Partner of Morado Ventures, a tech-forward seed fund he co-founded (alongside partner Ash Patel) that focuses on early-stage investments in "hard core" technology companies. Morado is passionate about helping early-stage, data-fueled companies solve big problems in industries ripe for disruption, and the team leverages decades of combined operating and investing experience. Alongside Morado, Mike also co-founded CODE Advisors, a San Francisco–based technology-focused investment bank, and serves as a Co-Managing Partner at E12 Ventures.

Before founding his own firms, Mike built a career in corporate development and M&A at major internet companies. He served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at CBS Interactive, where he was responsible for all business and corporate development globally, overseeing investments and acquisitions. Prior to CBS Interactive, he was a senior executive on the corporate development team at Yahoo!, where he worked closely with senior leadership on numerous acquisitions and strategic initiatives — including the launch of Yahoo!'s first in-house incubator, Brickhouse.

Earlier in his career, Mike worked in technology investment banking at Robertson Stephens and Merrill Lynch, and began his professional life as a software programmer at Accenture. This mix of engineering, banking, and corporate-development roles informs his hands-on, team-building approach to backing technical founders.

Mike earned a B.S. in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis, and an M.B.A. from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Invests at the pre-seed and seed stage (occasionally Series A), typically writing checks of roughly $100K–$2M, with a common check size near $400K.
• Backs "passionate entrepreneurs with unique expertise who are tackling complex technological problems using both software and hardware solutions."
• Targets "early-stage data-fueled companies with the potential to solve significant challenges in industries ripe for disruption."
• Core sectors: AI/ML, data infrastructure, enterprise/B2B SaaS, industrial IoT, robotics & autonomy, computer vision, and health tech.
• Values founders with deep technical expertise and strong teams — Mike's own background in corporate development and M&A means he brings business development, partnership, and exit-path experience alongside capital.
• Primarily focused on San Francisco Bay Area companies but invests across the U.S.