Samantha Santaniello

"The MMV team is entrepreneurial, curious, eager to learn, incredibly intelligent, supportive and humble. They’re also all people I’d want to hang out with after work, which, for me, is equally as important."

Which investment categories excite you most and why?

Real estate and proptech. It’s a huge industry with notoriously low spend on tech. The entire value chain is ripe for disruption. On the construction, maintenance, and manufacturing side, the workforce is aging but also may depart the sector with years of institutional knowledge. The rental market is fragmented and offline. If low interest rates hold, homeowners can refinance but don’t because of the lack of financial education. Everyone wants their dream home, most need help with design and remodeling. Millennials and other younger generations are shocked when they realize how many service providers they need to use for a simple remodel. Lastly, there are major information gaps across the industry, and homeowners/homebuyers don’t know who to listen to or trust.

Why did you join the MMV team?

I walked away from my interview with the MMV team saying “wow – I really want to work there.” Our conversation ran the gamut from the future of venture investing and insurtech to dogs, music and quarantine hobbies. The team is entrepreneurial, curious, eager to learn, incredibly intelligent, supportive and humble. They’re also all people I’d want to hang out with after work which, for me, is equally as important.

What inspires you about venture capital?

It’s a number of things but, for the most part, it is being able to work with founders who are passionate about their work. Oftentimes, these people have experienced a problem firsthand and they’re consumed with solving it - they refuse to quit! That sort of energy makes doing my job even more exciting. I hope that in each company we invest in, I can do at least one thing that creates substantial value whether it’s a key customer or partner introduction or just an idea around strategy.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, where can we find you and what are you up to?

You can catch me in Shenandoah National Park hiking with my pup, Cinnamon. We’ll hit the trails, go kayaking, and explore the vineyards and breweries. Or I'm at home smoking meat and making sourdough bread.

As Head of Platform, Samantha is focused on institutionalizing the effort to leverage MMV’s network on behalf of our portfolio companies, connecting them to potential partners and customers. Before MassMutual Ventures, Samantha led growth and product at macro-eyes, a Gates Foundation-backed startup commercializing patient outcome models to improve hospital utilization. Prior to macro-eyes, Samantha started her career at Point72 where she built the compliance oversight platform for their fundamental research arm and then moved into building innovative investment products utilizing alternative data. Samantha is passionate about impact oriented initiatives, experiencing new cultures, her peloton treadmill, NY pizza and is a sommelier-in-training (aka she loves wine). She grew up in Long Island, New York, and received her BA at Wesleyan University.