David Drake

David Drake is an early-stage equity expert and the founder and chairman of LDJ Capital, a New York City-based family office, and The Soho Loft Media Group – The Voice of Capital Formation – a global financial media company with three divisions: Victoria Global Corporate Communications, Times Impact Publications, and The Soho Loft Conferences with 200+ annual global summits and talks on finance and investments.

Mr. Drake has been involved in technology, media and telecom (TMT) and impact investments for more than 20 years. He is an advocate of innovative investing in early-stage equity, capital formation policies and developments globally, and the US JOBS Act which he lobbied for both in Congress and the EU Commission. Because of his leading work in this space, he was a US Commerce Department delegate to the EU Commission in Brussels and Rome in July 2012 and was invited in May 2013 to the White House Champions of Change ceremony in Washington, D.C.

His investment, The Soho Loft Group, produces and sponsors 200+ global conferences annually and his articles are syndicated into 100+ publications. One such event was April 2013 for the institutional media leader Thomson Reuters, with speakers from Nasdaq, NYSE, KKR and Carlyle Group. He advances financial innovation through his work as an international speaker and writer for major publications like WSJ, Forbes and Thomson Reuters. He is the co-author of the books Planet Entrepreneur, Crowdfunding and Other Animals, Investors of Italy and is the author of the upcoming books Crowd Fund Economics, and The SPPICE of Crowdfunding.

Previously, Mr. Drake has acted as general partners in fund-of-funds, realty funds, venture capital funds, seed-funds and hedge funds. Mr. Drake’s holdings have media partnership with the European Business Angel Network and Angel Capital Association of North America. He sits on 4 angel networks and has co-founded two angel networks.

His focus today is to take on board advisory positions at companies, angel networks and venture funds, and to guide them on topics such as international regulations, corporate strategy and fund structures, with emphasis on the growing trend of online investment automation for retail and angel investors.

Privately, Mr. Drake has hosted the Harvard Business Club of NY at his home, produced Carnegie Hall concerts and raised funds for the charities Trail Blazers and Best Buddies Carnegie Hall for many years. Today he is a board director of the UBS Charity of the Year, London-based ARCHIVE Global, and is co-chair of the Tree Kangaroo Foundation in New York.

Born in Sweden and fluent in six languages, Mr. Drake has an MBA in Finance and an MA in International Law and Economics from George Washington University, where he was awarded the Wallenberg Scholarship for academic merit.