Marc Michel

Founding Partner at runway-venture-partners

Reviewed Updated Apr 30, 2026

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Location New York, NY
Check Size Up to $1M (Runway); $500K-$1M historically at Metamorphic
Last Verified Investment MarketMuse exit (Exit) — ~2024
Social LinkedIn
Stage Focus
series-a post-seed
Sector Focus
SaaS B2B fintech adtech digital-media marketplaces vertical-saas

Background

Marc Michel is the Founding Partner of Runway Venture Partners, a New York City–based early-stage venture capital firm focused on post product-market fit SaaS and software-enabled businesses 12. He co-founded Runway in 2016 alongside Anna Garcia after departing Metamorphic Ventures, the seed-stage firm he had co-founded in 2008/2009 with David Hirsch 345. Hirsch later rebranded Metamorphic as Compound after Michel’s departure 46.

Michel has more than 20 years of private equity and venture capital experience 17. He began his career at Merrill Lynch Interfunding, the firm’s $1.3B middle-market buyout fund, where he spent roughly a decade before leaving in 1994 to found EOS Partners SBIC, a $60M venture fund 7. He was subsequently recruited to build TD Capital (USA), TD Bank’s New York–based private equity arm focused on media and communications, which he grew into a roughly $500M fund 17. In 1999, while at TD, he co-founded Precyse Solutions, a clinical health data capture and management company that today serves over 4,000 health facilities 17. He served as President of Michel Capital LLC from 2003 to 2008 before founding Metamorphic Ventures in January 2009 7.

Michel holds a B.A. from Emory University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania 87. Originally Canadian, he was raised in Cleveland, Ohio 1. He also serves as a Board Member for the Forward Party 9.

Stated Thesis

Runway publicly describes itself as investing in “post product-market fit SaaS and software-enabled businesses” with “visionary entrepreneurial leadership, clear product-market fit and strong growth rates” 210. The firm positions itself in the gap between traditional seed funds and modern Series A rounds, targeting what Garcia (Michel’s partner) calls “startups that have reached product-market fit but are not yet ready to execute the ‘new’ Series A” 5. According to public reporting, when Michel launched Runway in 2016 it was specifically designed to invest in “seed extension” rounds that bridge angel-funded companies to Series A 3.

Under his earlier Metamorphic banner, Michel articulated a different but related thesis. In a 2014 interview he described the firm’s focus as the convergence of “digital media, digital commerce, and transaction processing” 8, and in a 2015 interview he expanded: “The category we have been most interested in, and focused on, over the last few years has been marketplaces” and “Payments is at the core of everything. It’s a gigantic industry, to begin with” 7.

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on 15 verified Runway-era portfolio companies listed on the firm’s official portfolio page 10 plus 12 verified Metamorphic-era investments documented in contemporaneous press 41112. Runway has made approximately 54 total investments per Crunchbase 13, so the verified Runway sample represents roughly 28% of the portfolio.

Sector distribution (Runway era, 15 verified): Vertical SaaS dominates the Runway portfolio. By the firm’s own categorization on its portfolio page 10: SaaS-for-specific-verticals (warehouse management, environmental permitting, drone surveying for solar, utility dispatch, chemical commerce, fundraising for nonprofits) accounts for at least 8 of 15 (53%); marketplaces and e-commerce (Trendalytics, Viyet) account for 2 of 15 (13%); MarTech / content (MarketMuse, SuperPhone) accounts for 2 of 15 (13%); fintech (YayPay, Monit) accounts for 2 of 15 (13%); digital health (Noteworth) is 1 of 15 (7%). This is a sharp contrast to Metamorphic-era Michel, where adtech, digital media, and transactional commerce were the dominant categories — Indiegogo, Tap Commerce, Chango, Tapad, Sailthru, Movable Ink, Appboy/Braze, Transactis, Thrive Market 41114. The pivot from “transactional media” to “B2B vertical SaaS” appears to be the defining strategic shift between Michel’s two firms.

Stage distribution: Runway concentrates on the gap between seed and Series A. Michel and Garcia describe it as “post product-market fit” 2 and Garcia has stated they “look for a dozen or more paying clients and generally $50–100k MRR” before investing 5. Round sizes Runway participates in are typically $2–$3M with check sizes “up to $1 million” 25. At Metamorphic, Hirsch publicly described “$500,000 to $1 million for that first bite” with target ownership around 10% 15.

Co-investor patterns (Runway): Verified co-investors on Runway deals include Valor Siren Ventures (Logiwa Series A lead), Spider Capital, Launch Capital, Otimo Retail (Logiwa) 16; Burnt Island Ventures (Daupler lead), Revolution Fund, Knoll Ventures, KCRise Fund (Daupler) 17; Cultivation Capital (Ecobot lead), Cofounders Capital, Charlotte Angel Fund, SaaS Venture Capital, Shadow Ventures, Stout Street Capital (Ecobot) 18; Information Venture Partners (YayPay lead), Birchmere, QED, Fifth Third Capital, 500 Fintech Fund (YayPay) 19; Laconia Capital Group (Noteworth lead), Draper Associates, Frontier Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Wavemaker360, Springtide Capital (Noteworth) 20.

Geographic patterns: Runway’s portfolio extends well beyond NYC despite the firm’s NYC base. Daupler is in Kansas City, Ecobot in North Carolina, Logiwa was Chicago/Istanbul, Skopenow Brooklyn, MarketMuse Boston. The thesis is “B2B SaaS regardless of geography, post-PMF” rather than NYC-specific.

Founder profile patterns: Runway portfolio founders are typically domain operators serving non-glamorous B2B verticals (warehouse management, utility dispatch, solar surveying, environmental permitting, accounts receivable). This is consistent with Michel’s stated philosophy that he looks for “grit and perseverance, and hustle and cleverness” rather than pure technical brilliance 7, and his preference for “a team of people” rather than solo founders 8.

Notable patterns vs. stated thesis: Runway’s actual portfolio is more heavily weighted toward vertical SaaS in legacy industries (utilities, environmental compliance, chemicals, accounts receivable) than the firm’s “post product-market fit SaaS” framing suggests. The firm doesn’t market itself as a vertical SaaS specialist, but the portfolio reads that way.

Notable gaps: Runway has only one digital health investment (Noteworth) despite Michel’s prior healthcare IT operating experience at Precyse. The firm has made no AI/ML-native investments visible in the public portfolio (MarketMuse predates current generative AI). The most recent verified investment is the February 2023 follow-on to CauseMatch 13, suggesting deployment pace has slowed materially since 2021–2022.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Peapod pre-2009 (Michel angel/PE) Early 1
Brooks Fiber pre-2009 Early 1
Mountain Union Telecom pre-2009 Early 1
Coinstar pre-2009 Early 1
Indiegogo ~2011 (Metamorphic Fund I) Seed 411
Tap Commerce ~2012 (Metamorphic; acq. Twitter 2014, ~$100M) Seed/early 411
~unknown Chango (Metamorphic; acq. Rubicon Project, ~$122M) Seed/early
Tapad (Metamorphic; acq. Telenor 2016, ~$360M) Seed/early 411
~unknown Sailthru (Metamorphic) Seed/early
~unknown Movable Ink (Metamorphic) Seed/early
~unknown Appboy (Braze) (Metamorphic) Seed/early
~unknown Transactis (Metamorphic) Seed/early
~unknown Thrive Market (Metamorphic) Seed/early
~unknown RetailNext (Metamorphic) Seed/early
MarketMuse 2018-01 Seed 21
Skopenow 2018-10 Seed 22
Logiwa 2021-04-15 Series A ($8.5M) 16
Daupler 2021-07 Seed extension ($4M) 17
Noteworth 2020-07-15 Seed ($5M) 20
Ecobot 2022-01-11 Seed ($2.81M) 18
YayPay pre-2020 (acq. Quadient 2020-07-29, ~€17M) Series A/B 1923
Trendalytics (Runway era; acq. HatchBeauty 2021) Early 1024
Viyet (Runway era; acq. Sotheby’s 2018-02) Early 1025
MarketMuse exit 2024-10-08 (acq. Siteimprove) Exit 21
~unknown Agilis n/a (active Runway portfolio) Early
CauseMatch 2023-02-21 (latest disclosed Runway investment) Follow-on 1013
~unknown Monit n/a (active Runway portfolio) Early
~unknown Scanifly n/a (active Runway portfolio) Early
~unknown SuperPhone n/a (active Runway portfolio) Early
~unknown TagFi n/a (active Runway portfolio) Early

This table represents 15 of 15 currently disclosed Runway portfolio companies plus 12 Metamorphic-era investments and four pre-Metamorphic deals — approximately half of Runway’s claimed 54 total investments 13 and a partial sample of Metamorphic’s larger portfolio 14. Year and round size are filled in only where confirmed by primary or contemporaneous press; “active Runway portfolio” entries are confirmed on the firm’s portfolio page but lack public funding announcements specifying date and stage. Lead-partner attribution within Runway is rarely disclosed publicly, so individual deal sourcing between Michel and Garcia cannot be reliably separated.

In Their Own Words

“A great team. Not one jockey – a team of people. You’re racing in a big race. The Kentucky Derby, not Yonkers.” — Marc Michel, on what he looks for in a startup, AlleyWatch, April 2014 8

“Deliver bad news or personal concerns about issues expeditiously to your backers. We can take bad news a lot better than surprises.” — Marc Michel, on founder–investor communication, AlleyWatch, April 2014 8

“VCs are in the business of funding innovation and turning that innovation into a valuable business.” — Marc Michel, AlleyWatch, April 2014 8

“The category we have been most interested in, and focused on, over the last few years has been marketplaces.” — Marc Michel, on Metamorphic’s investment focus, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“Payments is at the core of everything. It’s a gigantic industry, to begin with.” — Marc Michel, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“First and foremost, we are looking for a special management team and entrepreneur.” — Marc Michel, on his investment criteria, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“There are intangibles, like grit and perseverance, and hustle and cleverness. It’s not enough to be smart.” — Marc Michel, on founder qualities, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“We are trying to invest in cos that can become large enterprises, which is hard to do in small markets.” — Marc Michel, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“I find myself being a psychologist, helping coach entrepreneurs through their ups and downs.” — Marc Michel, on his role with founders, VatorNews, July 2015 7

“My objective with everyone I deal with in business is to build trust.” — Marc Michel, VatorNews, July 2015 7

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Michel’s portfolio companies have generally not published first-person founder commentary specifically describing the experience of working with him as an investor. The closest available material is third-party Runway profile copy and Garcia-led founder commentary (Anna Garcia is Michel’s investing partner, not a founder), neither of which qualifies for this section under Seedlist’s sourcing rules.

Connections

  • Co-founder of Metamorphic Ventures (2008/2009) — alongside David Hirsch; Michel departed in January 2016 to start Runway Venture Partners, after which Hirsch rebranded Metamorphic as Compound 346
  • Co-founder of Runway Venture Partners (2016) — alongside Anna Garcia, who serves as the firm’s other Partner 15
  • Co-founder of Precyse Solutions (1999) — clinical health data capture company still operating; serves 4,000+ health facilities 17
  • Founder of EOS Partners SBIC (1994) — $60M venture fund where he served as Managing Partner 7
  • Built TD Capital (USA) — TD Bank’s NYC-based private equity arm focused on media and communications, grown to $500M 17
  • Board Member, Forward Party 9
  • Frequent Runway-era co-investors — Valor Siren Ventures (Logiwa), Spider Capital (Logiwa), Burnt Island Ventures (Daupler), Cultivation Capital (Ecobot), Information Venture Partners (YayPay), Laconia Capital Group (Noteworth) 1617181920
  • Education — B.A. Emory University (1983); M.B.A. Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (1987) 87

Sources

  1. Runway Venture Partners, “Our Team,” accessed April 2026. https://runwayvp.com/our-team/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Runway Venture Partners, “About,” accessed April 2026. https://runwayvp.com/↩↩↩↩

  3. Fortune, “Marc Michel Leaving Metamorphic Ventures To Launch New Firm,” May 24, 2016. https://fortune.com/2016/05/24/marc-michel-leaving-metamorphic-ventures-to-launch-new-firm/↩↩↩

  4. TechCrunch, “Metamorphic Ventures has a new $50 million fund — and a new brand,” October 5, 2016. https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/05/metamorphic-ventures-has-a-new-50-million-fund-and-a-new-brand/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. AlleyWatch, “Inside the Mind of a NYC VC: Anna Garcia of Runway Venture Partners,” September 2018. https://www.alleywatch.com/2018/09/inside-the-mind-of-a-nyc-vc-anna-garcia-of-runway-venture-partners/↩↩↩↩↩

  6. AlleyWatch, “Compound, Formerly Known as Metamorphic Ventures Announces New Fund and Rebrand,” October 2016. https://www.alleywatch.com/2016/10/compound-formerly-known-metamorphic-ventures-announces-new-fund-rebrand/↩↩

  7. VatorNews, “Meet Marc Michel, co-founder of Metamorphic Ventures,” July 11, 2015. https://vator.tv/2015-07-11-meet-marc-michel-co-founder-of-metamorphic-ventures/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  8. AlleyWatch, “A New York VC Spotlight: Marc Michel,” April 2014. https://www.alleywatch.com/2014/04/a-new-york-vc-spotlight-marc-michel/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  9. LinkedIn, “Marc Michel — Forward Party” public profile, accessed April 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelmarc/↩↩

  10. Runway Venture Partners, “Portfolio,” accessed April 2026. https://runwayvp.com/portfolio/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  11. TechCrunch, “NYC Investor Metamorphic Raises $70 Million For Super Seed Fund,” March 11, 2014. https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/11/nyc-investor-metamorphic-raises-70-million-for-super-seed-fund/↩↩↩↩↩

  12. Compound (Medium), “Compound, formerly known as Metamorphic Ventures Announces New Fund,” October 5, 2016. https://compoundvc.medium.com/compound-formerly-known-as-metamorphic-ventures-announces-new-fund-22c0bae613ce↩

  13. Crunchbase, “Runway Venture Partners — Investments, Portfolio & Company Exits,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/runway-venture-partners/recent_investments↩↩↩↩

  14. Tracxn, “Marc Michel — 2025 Portfolio & Founded Companies,” accessed April 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/marc-michel/__RCn4QHA7xocAHBGJNGhlLz9rmB7ak9VC5U0Cz9hYEWs↩↩

  15. StrictlyVC, “Metamorphic Ventures Closes on $70 Million to Back Seed Deals,” March 11, 2014. http://www.strictlyvc.com/2014/03/11/metamorphic-ventures-closes-70-million-back-post-seed-deals/↩

  16. PR Newswire, “Logiwa Announces $8.5M Series A Investment To Meet Rising Demand For Cloud DTC Fulfillment Solutions,” April 15, 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/logiwa-announces-8-5m-series-a-investment-to-meet-rising-demand-for-cloud-dtc-fulfillment-solutions-301269929.html↩↩↩

  17. FinSMEs, “Daupler Raises $4M in Funding,” July 2021. https://www.finsmes.com/2021/07/daupler-raises-4m-in-funding.html↩↩↩

  18. GlobeNewswire, “Construction Tech Company Ecobot Raises $2.8M,” January 11, 2022. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/01/11/2364932/0/en/Construction-Tech-Company-Ecobot-Raises-2-8M.html↩↩↩

  19. Quadient, “Quadient Announces Acquisition of Leading FinTech Company YayPay™, Specialized in Accounts Receivable Automation,” July 29, 2020. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/29/2069681/0/en/Quadient-Announces-Acquisition-of-Leading-FinTech-Company-YayPay-Specialized-in-Accounts-Receivable-Automation.html↩↩↩

  20. Crunchbase News, “Noteworth’s Mission To ‘Put A Doctor’s Office On Your Phone’ Aided By $5M Seed Round,” July 2020. https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/noteworths-mission-to-put-a-doctors-office-on-your-phone-aided-by-5m-seed-round/↩↩↩

  21. Crunchbase, “Seed Round - MarketMuse - 2018-01-12,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/marketmuse-seed–f1c6d05c↩↩

  22. Crunchbase, “Seed Round - Skopenow - 2018-10-31,” accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/skopenow-seed–df9b78b7↩

  23. PYMNTS, “Quadient Acquires YayPay To Boost AR Automation,” July 2020. https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2020/quadient-acquires-yaypay-boost-accounts-receivable-automation/↩

  24. PR Newswire, “HatchBeauty Brands Accelerates Trend Democratization with the acquisition of Predictive Data and Retail Analytics Platform Trendalytics,” 2021. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hatchbeauty-brands-accelerates-trend-democratization-with-the-acquisition-of-predictive-data-and-retail-analytics-platform-trendalytics-301300268.html↩

  25. AlleyWatch, “This NYC Startup Was Just Acquired by Sotheby’s,” February 2018. https://www.alleywatch.com/2018/02/viyet-acquired-sothebys/↩