Marc Weiser
Founder & Managing Director, RPM Ventures at rpm-ventures
Reviewed Updated Jul 24, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Marc Weiser is Founder and Managing Director of RPM Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan 12. He founded the firm in 2000 (originally under the name Waypoint Ventures, rebranded to RPM Ventures in 2006) and has led it as Managing Director since inception 34. RPM invests primarily in B2B and B2B2C enterprise solutions and marketplaces, with historical concentration in automotive IT and mobility and more recent expansion into fintech, insurance, and aerospace 13.
Before RPM, Weiser was an internet and software entrepreneur. He co-founded QuantumShift in 1997, a web-based B2B telecommunications services company where he led technology development and served as a Director from 1997 to 2002 1. Earlier, he was an early employee at MessageMedia (acquired by DoubleClick), where he worked on early e-commerce methods and helped lead the company’s IPO 1.
Weiser holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business 1. He has sat on more than 20 boards of directors over the past two decades and is a member of NASA’s National Advisory Council Science Committee, in addition to serving on the board of the James Beard Foundation 1.
Stated Thesis
(Self-reported. See Inferred Thesis for actual investment behavior analysis.)
Weiser has publicly described RPM’s focus as “investing in early stage, technology-enabled B2B and B2B2C Enterprise Solutions & Marketplaces” 5. He emphasizes a thesis-driven approach refined over multiple funds and prior operating experience 3.
On mobility, his stated framing centers on the human side of transportation:
“Mobility without keeping people in mind is just clever engineering, putting people back at the centre is what will allow mobility to change the course of humanity as much as the internet has.” 5
On autonomy, he separates it from the broader mobility opportunity, viewing it as an enabling technology rather than a prerequisite 5.
RPM’s superscout.co listing summarizes the firm as focused on pre-seed, seed, seed-plus, and Series A stages across fintech, healthcare, consumer services, financial services, insurance, real estate, aerospace, and B2B enterprise solutions and online marketplaces (with automotive IT and mobility as a stated specialty) 3.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size caveat: This analysis is based on the RPM Ventures firm-level portfolio (RPM reports 59 total investments as of December 2024, or 118 by Tracxn’s count) 36. Marc Weiser is Managing Director and led specific deals (including Giftly, Luvocracy, SoFi, Wide Open Spaces per public reporting), but individual attribution of every RPM deal to Weiser vs. Managing Directors Adam Boyden or Tony Grover is not fully verifiable from public sources 73. The portfolio table below lists RPM investments Weiser is publicly associated with or that occurred during his tenure as Managing Director.
Patterns visible in the RPM/Weiser portfolio:
- Stage: Predominantly seed and Series A at entry, with follow-on capital deployed in later rounds. The exception is Firefly Aerospace, where RPM led a $175M Series D as a new lead investor in 2024 — a break from the firm’s typical entry stage 89.
- Sector concentration: Fintech (SoFi, DailyPay, Findigs, Coterie, Hippo), automotive/mobility (Xtime, Automatic, Carlypso, OpenLane, Mojo Motors), enterprise SaaS/marketplaces (BountyJobs, Deliv), and increasingly aerospace (Firefly Aerospace, Hubble Network) 38910.
- Geographic reach: Despite being anchored in Ann Arbor, RPM’s portfolio is national. Notable investments include San Francisco-based SoFi and Seattle-based Hubble Network 710.
- Exit track record: Weiser and RPM claim 2 unicorns, 4 IPOs, and 23 acquisitions from the portfolio; verified notable exits include SoFi (IPO), Hippo (SPAC), Firefly Aerospace (listed on NASDAQ September 2025 at ~$6.32B market cap), Figure (listed on NASDAQ September 2025 at ~$4.34B market cap), OpenLane, and Xtime 36.
Portfolio
Rounds with independently verified dates (Weiser-associated or led by RPM during his tenure):
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SoFi | 2011 | Seed / Series A (early investor) | 711 |
| DailyPay | 2020 | Growth-stage participant; RPM unicorn portco | 113 |
| Firefly Aerospace | 2024 | Series D ($175M, RPM led) | 89 |
| Players Health | 2024 | Follow-on round | 11 |
| Hubble Network | 2025 | Series B ($70M, RPM participated; Swagar Capital led) | 10 |
| Figure | 2025 | Prior-stage portfolio; IPO September 2025 | 11 |
Additional RPM Ventures portfolio companies Weiser is publicly associated with (specific investment years not disclosed on primary sources; listed by exit status):
- Exited: Xtime (acquired), BountyJobs (Weiser board member), Automatic (Weiser board member), Carlypso, Mojo Motors (Weiser board member), Giftly (Weiser-led), Luvocracy (Weiser-led), OpenLane (acquired; co-founded by RPM Managing Director Adam Boyden), Hippo (SPAC) 3711.
- Active: Coterie, Findigs, Family First, Mobi, Overalls 11.
Portfolio is representative, not exhaustive. RPM reports ~59 total investments (December 2024 disclosure) and ~118 per Tracxn; this section captures the publicly documented subset. Individual entry years are not disclosed for many RPM active investments on the firm’s own portfolio page 11.
In Their Own Words
On evaluating founders, from a Wharton FinTech Podcast interview:
“We look for entrepreneurs that can run up the beach at the machine gun nest while simultaneously biting the heads off of chickens.” 12
On startup dynamics:
“Most startups that win are the ones that generally fall over in the right direction and then pick themselves back up and then fall over again in the right direction again. The ones that do this process faster are the ones that win.” 12
On RPM’s focus, from a PTOLEMUS Consulting Group interview (October 2019):
“RPM focuses on investing in early stage, technology-enabled B2B and B2B2C Enterprise Solutions & Marketplaces.” 5
On where innovation happens:
“Innovation can truly come from anywhere and have investments in companies in places like Austin & Portland.” 5
On mobility:
“Mobility without keeping people in mind is just clever engineering, putting people back at the centre is what will allow mobility to change the course of humanity as much as the internet has.” 5
On autonomy vs. mobility:
“You must separate autonomy from mobility, as autonomy is an enabling technology for mobility, but not required to make mobility work.” 5
On leading Firefly Aerospace’s Series D:
“Few companies can say they’ve defined a new category in their industry – Firefly is one of those.” 9
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Weiser’s board portfolio and 25-year tenure at RPM suggest longstanding operating relationships with portfolio founders, but no public statements from Firefly, SoFi, Hubble, or other RPM founders about the working relationship with Weiser could be verified from primary sources during this research.
Sources
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Marc Weiser — Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Michigan, accessed July 2026. https://zli.umich.edu/people/marc-weiser/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Marc Weiser — LinkedIn profile, accessed July 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mweiser/↩
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“RPM Ventures: The Early Stage Founder’s Guide” — Superscout, accessed July 2026. https://superscout.co/investor/rpm-ventures↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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RPM Ventures firm overview — Dealroom, accessed July 2026. https://app.dealroom.co/companies/rpm_ventures↩
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“Interview with a mobility investor: Marc Weiser, RPM Ventures” — PTOLEMUS Consulting Group, October 30, 2019. https://www.ptolemus.com/insight/interview-with-mobility-investor-marc-weiser-rpm-ventures/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“RPM Ventures — 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends” — Tracxn, accessed July 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/rpmventures/__hdLoX-heF4hFfWJFu8YYOYsYsuacXvqfGsi9sR2ovdw↩↩
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Marc Weiser — Signal by NFX investor profile, accessed July 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/marc-weiser↩↩↩↩
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“RPM Ventures Leads Firefly Aerospace’s Oversubscribed $175 Million Series D” — Cooley, November 12, 2024. https://www.cooley.com/news/coverage/2024/2024-11-12-rpm-ventures-leads-firefly-aerospaces-oversubscribed-175-million-series-d↩↩↩
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“Firefly Aerospace Closes Oversubscribed $175 Million Series D Capital Raise with New Lead Investor” — Firefly Aerospace press release, November 12, 2024. https://fireflyspace.com/news/firefly-aerospace-closes-oversubscribed-175-million-series-d-capital-raise-with-new-lead-investor/↩↩↩↩
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“Hubble Network raises $70 million to accelerate 60-satellite Bluetooth constellation” — SpaceNews, September 17, 2025. https://spacenews.com/hubble-network-raises-70-million-to-accelerate-60-satellite-bluetooth-constellation/↩↩↩
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RPM Ventures portfolio page, accessed July 2026. https://www.rpmvc.com/portfolio↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Tackling Big Hairy Problems with Marc Weiser, Founder & Managing Director of RPM Ventures” — Wharton FinTech / Miguel Armaza, Medium, accessed July 2026. https://medium.com/wharton-fintech/tackling-big-hairy-problems-with-marc-weiser-founder-managing-director-of-rpm-ventures-a5a992099d1d↩↩