Chris Fountas
Christopher Fountas has spent much of his career founding, building and funding early/growth stage companies, many in the sectors of clean technology, advanced materials, agriculture and communications.
Mr. Fountas is a cofounder of Arsenal, one of the oldest venture/growth investment firms in Florida. During his tenure at Arsenal, Mr. Fountas also co-founded the establishment of several strategic and mainline investment vehicles:
– Florida Opportunity Fund: Mr. Fountas and Jennifer Dunham spearheaded the establishment of the Florida Opportunity Fund (“FOF”), a $130M Florida focused fund with strategic investment partners that include the State of Florida, the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Treasury. The FOF is one of the most successful state sponsored venture capital programs in the US.
– Arsenal II and Arsenal III: Mr. Fountas co-founded two private growth stage funds focused on investment in the sectors of Advanced Materials, Healthcare IT, Enterprise Software and Logistics.
– DoD Venture Capital Initiative: Mr. Fountas and Jason Rottenberg worked with the DoD to establish OnPoint Technologies, a strategic investment vehicle focusing on the transitioning commercial technologies in mobile power and energy into the DoD, including, energy storage, generation, transfer, software, hardware and other related energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency and other clean technologies.
Prior to Arsenal, Mr. Fountas was with MILCOM Technologies, where he helped create and build companies that commercialized technology from Tier 1 Defense Contractors and US National Labs. At MILCOM, Mr. Fountas helped establish and serve on the executive teams of several companies with valuations of over $1B in the communication, advanced material, chip processing and enterprise software sectors. Mr. Fountas also assisted in the sale or IPO of many of these companies.
Prior to MILCOM, Mr. Fountas was a Partner with Baker & Hostetler, where he managed an international corporate securities and M&A practice, and counseled US and foreign public and private companies focusing on the energy, automotive, advanced material, hospitality, agricultural and clean technology sectors.
Mr. Fountas also co-founded, Alpine Fresh, one of the leading producers, sales and distributors of high-margin fresh produce in the US, developing and implementing multiple state of the agricultural technologies, including genetic development, production management, sustainability, food safety, quality enhancement, tracking and traceability, and other agricultural technologies.
