Michael Gruber

Michael Gruber has extensive experience with early stage investments particularly in the information technology, financial services, energy, and agriculture sectors. Mr. Gruber is a Partner of Independence Equity, an early stage venture capital fund focused on investments focused on improving resource utilization, with key areas of interest including: water; waste; alternative energy; energy efficiency, material science, and agriculture. Mr. Gruber has founded and run several private investment organizations of high net worth investors and family offices focused on growth stage investments, including Cornerstone Angels and its affiliate Cornerstone Opportunity Partners, LLC.

Mr. Gruber is also a Partner and Co-Founder of G4 Capital LLC and VentureLab, where he works with emerging growth companies in interim executive capacities on go-to-market and financial strategies. Mr. Gruber is also a Director of Private Placements at RainMaker Securities, LLC, a FINRA/SIPC registered broker dealer, and is active in emerging company capital raises, M&A engagements as well as late stage venture secondaries. Mr. Gruber’s prior industry experience includes key operational roles in high growth corporations (Koei Corporation, Intuit, InsWeb, Silicon Investor), two of which went public and one of which was acquired by a strategic investor.

Mr. Gruber has become active in the cannabis business recently as both an advisor, and investor, which includes interests across the value chain, from cultivation, to extraction, to digital content, to banking/payment systems. Mr. Gruber currently serves on several boards of emerging growth companies. Mr. Gruber received a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Mr. Gruber is also a frequent speaker and panelist relating to entrepreneurship and venture capital.