Before joining MassMutual’s corporate venturing unit, MassMutual Ventures, Mark Goodman had a long history in venture capital.
A graduate of Emory, Northwestern and Boston College, Goodman first got a taste for corporate finance in the early 1990s with First Chicago. He then became a co-founder of Brookline Venture Partners, where he contributed to seven successful exits over the five years he spent at the firm. He then set up Terawatt Ventures, where he remained until 2014 when he joined Mass Mutual Ventures.
Goodman joined just as the corporate venturing unit was launching its latest $100m fund, and focuses on fintech, cyber security, and data analytic startups. One of his more recent deals was the $12m series D funding into web intelligence startup Recorded Future.
Goodman said: “I think fintech has been an overlooked sector over the past decade or so but I don’t think it is underinvested now. If you look at deals such as Wealthfront, Betterment and Learnvest, the Finovate conference and incubator down in New York, and corporate venturers such as Box and American Express and some of the banks, there is really a lot of activity now.
“I think it is the right time. There is a lot of activity, a lot of innovation and a lot of entrepreneurs coming into the space, so it is a very good time to be looking at companies in fintech.”
Outside the venture world, Goodman is a man of faith and family. He was appointed to the US Holocaust Memorial Council by US president Barack Obama in 2010 and also serves on the board of trustees of Temple Israel in Boston.