Mark Kraynak

United States

Bio

Professional summary

Mark Kraynak is a Founding Partner at Acrew Capital. His official profile describes him as a technology executive, company builder, and former poet/engineer. Before Acrew, he joined Aspect Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence and became a full-time investor in 2017. Earlier, he spent nearly 13 years at Imperva in marketing, product, corporate development, and strategy roles. Acrew lists early-stage investments including Aembit, At-Bay, Casa, Moderne, Nextdata, Nokod Security, Protect AI, Radiant Security, and Silverfort, and later-stage investments including Aqua Security, Cato Networks, Exabeam, and Vanta.

Investment focus

Stage, sector, and overall fit

Stage

Early-stage investmentsLater-stage investments

Sector

CybersecurityEnterprise infrastructureAI securityTechnology company building

Thesis

Security and cybersecurityEarly-stage security companiesLater-stage security companiesEnterprise technology

Notable companies

Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed

AembitAt-BayCasaModerneNextdataNokod SecurityProtect AIRadiant SecuritySilverfortAqua SecurityCato NetworksExabeamVantaImpervaIndegyKloudlessTruSTAR

How to approach

Framing and angles for outreach

Pitch framing

Lead with the security buyer pain, technical differentiation, and how the company can become a durable enterprise security platform.

Partneralization hooks

1Emphasize go-to-market lessons and category positioning if pitching an enterprise security company.
2Tie AI security or identity/security infrastructure to his listed investments where relevant.

Recent signals

What the partner has said or done recently

Official Acrew profile lists both early-stage and later-stage investments, heavily weighted toward cybersecurity and security infrastructure.

Background

Career, education, and skills

Career history

Acrew CapitalFounding Partner2019 - Present
ImpervaChief Product OfficerPrior

Education

Duke UniversityDegree

Skills

Venture CapitalCybersecurityProduct Management

Other partners at Acrew Capital

9 more profiles

View firm →

Aliisa Rosenthal

General Partner

Acrew Capital

General Partner at Acrew Capital focused on AI-native companies and platforms reshaping enterprise software.

AI-native companiesEnterprise software platforms

Andrew McKinzie

Investor

Acrew Capital

Acrew investor focused on early/growth fintech and vertical applied AI.

Early stageFintechGrowth stageSaaSVertical applied AI

Asad Khaliq

Founding Partner

Acrew Capital

Founding Partner at Acrew Capital focused on data silos, applied machine learning, security, and privacy.

Applied MLData defragmentationSecurity & Privacy

Kendra Ragatz

Partner

Acrew Capital

Kendra Ragatz is a Partner at Acrew Capital, where she leads LP and investor relations and works with the firm's healthcare investing team. She previously served as GP and COO at Aspect Ventures and has a long background in growth and late-stage investing.