Katya Kohen

Managing Director at K Group

Speaker

Katya Kohen is a Managing Director at Stifel Venture Banking, investor, and ecosystem builder operating at the intersection of capital, platforms, and innovation. With over 20 years of experience across Wall Street, venture capital, and global startup ecosystems, she focuses on architecting founder-first capital strategies that enable founders and funders to build, scale, and compound long-term wealth.

At Stifel, she leads strategy, platform, and ecosystem development for the Venture & Fund Banking group, working across the firm’s commercial bank, wealth management, and investment bank to deliver integrated capital solutions — spanning banking, strategic credit, and full-stack support — aligned with how innovation actually happens.

Her work centers on building high-performance, founder-aligned ecosystems that bridge operators, capital, and opportunity.

Katya has raised and managed four funds, invested in 200+ startups and 56 direct private deals, and advised on 50+ M&A and pre-IPO transactions. At Techstars, she supported 4,400+ companies and mentored 450+ founders globally.

She brings a combination of operational depth and capital markets expertise, with a focus on liquidity strategy, wealth design, and translating early-stage signals into institutional frameworks. She is the author of “Own Your American Dream: Life and Trust”, a framework for building and scaling wealth from income to ownership and generational capital.

Her investment focus includes fintech, health & wellness, and sustainable innovation, with a broader mission of expanding access to capital. She is a strong advocate for first-generation entrepreneurs and legacy builders.

Prior to Stifel and Techstars, she co-founded Starta Ventures and launched multiple ventures supporting founders globally. Since 2013, her collective investments and exits exceed $500M.

Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur.