LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Applied Real Intelligence, a venture debt investment firm that provides innovative financing solutions to successful venture capital-backed companies, announced the additions of Troy Zander, Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, and Digvijay “Sunny” Singh, President of Tech Coast Angels, to A.R.I.’s industry-leading Advisory Board.
“Troy and Sunny are experts in the venture capital ecosystem, with deep experience nationally and in Southern California. They significantly bolster A.R.I.’s already strong presence in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego, given their extensive networks of successful founders, startups, corporates, venture capitalists, and venture lenders,” said Zack Ellison, A.R.I.’s Founder and Managing General Partner.
“They have successfully evaluated thousands of venture deals at all stages, ranging from small angel-stage equity rounds to very large late-stage venture debt financings, and everything in-between. Their knowledge and connectivity will be instrumental in sourcing transaction opportunities and facilitating A.R.I.’s mission to democratize access to capital for women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups,” continued Mr. Ellison.
Troy Zander is the partner-in-charge of the San Diego office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, an AmLaw 100 law firm with nearly 700 lawyers in 20 offices across the United States. Troy is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and is on the firm’s Management Committee. He focuses his practice on the representation of lenders and companies in documenting technology, life sciences, and middle market financing transactions, including venture debt financings, bridge loans, and traditional commercial leveraged debt financings.
Troy has represented agents, lenders, participants, and companies in credit facilities aggregating in excess of $75 billion. He has also represented companies, secured and unsecured creditors, committees, trustees, and asset purchasers in bankruptcy and out-of-court proceedings and continues to represent lenders in forbearances, loan restructurings, amendments, modifications, and asset acquisitions and dispositions. He has restructured debt in excess of $2.5 billion in federal, state, and out-of-court proceedings. Troy is also an author and speaker on the subjects of secured transactions and lending against intellectual property assets.
Troy is a member of the California Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. He has served on the Board of Directors for multiple organizations, including Feeding America San Diego (2014-2017; Chair: 2010-2014), The New Children’s Museum (2012-2013), and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (2011-2013). Troy was pro bono General Counsel to Feeding America, from 2006 through 2017. He earned his JD from the University of San Diego School of Law and his BA from the University of California San Diego.
“I am honored to join the talented and distinguished Advisory Board of Applied Real Intelligence, and to be a part of the growth and development of A.R.I.’s inaugural Venture Debt Opportunities Fund.
“The venture debt market continues to grow substantially in size and importance as more founders seek minimally dilutive debt capital to fuel growth. I have been a venture debt attorney for more than 25 years and worked on thousands of transactions and I’m currently more excited about the prospects of venture debt as an asset class than at any time in my career.
“A.R.I. is well positioned to help founders and compete for the most sought-after deals given their deep experience in creative debt structuring, strong industry relationships, and ability to execute quickly. I look forward to lending my expertise to facilitate the team’s success,” said Mr. Zander.
Dr. Digvijay “Sunny” Singh has a broad technology, investing, and business operations background. He started his career with deep engineering projects at Lockheed Martin where he worked on F-16 fighter jets. He earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science at UCLA, where he became part of the founding team of an artificial intelligence-based medical device startup which received institutional venture funding and went on to be commercialized with full FDA approval. Sunny subsequently launched his own IT and cybersecurity business which exited in 2020.
Sunny began Angel investing in early-stage startups in 2015 and was invited to join Tech Coast Angels (TCA) in Los Angeles in 2017. He climbed the ranks at TCA over the years and is currently the youngest President in TCA history. Sunny was also the founding and managing member for the first TCA Los Angeles investment fund in 2019. Sunny has reviewed over 2,000 venture capital deals, has a personal investment portfolio of a few dozen startups, and continues to be a very active investor in Southern California.
“Venture capital has experienced an unprecedented amount of capital raised and deployed over the last several years. Venture debt is very profitable but remains an underserved and inefficient segment of the venture ecosystem, with funding concentrated in entrepreneurs from only a few narrow segments of society.
A.R.I.’s mission to invest capital in underserved people, industry sectors, and regions in an equitable and inclusive manner is exactly what venture needs right now. There is a massive amount of untapped high-quality investment opportunities being overlooked by other investment firms and A.R.I. will help to fill this gap in the market,” said Mr. Singh.
About Applied Real Intelligence
A.R.I. is a Los Angeles-based venture debt investment manager focused on providing financing solutions to innovative, high-growth, VC-backed companies in recession-resistant sectors and underserved regions in North America. A.R.I. has dual missions of: (1) democratizing access to capital for all founders; (2) providing A.R.I.’s investors with access to “innovation” as an asset class, superior risk-adjusted returns, security of capital, and strong portfolio diversification benefits. To learn more, please visit www.arivc.com.
