Michael Puscar

Biography

Michael is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist who built his career in assisting early-stage companies to develop innovative products and bring them quickly to market. A product of the 1990’s technology startup boom, Michael has been bootstrapping and investing in young businesses for more than 20 years. About Michael Early Years In 1996, Puscar joined Josh Kopelman and Marvin Weinberg at Infonautics Corporation, where he obtained two patents for pioneering research in semantic web technology and the delivery of real-time data feeds. Puscar left Infonautics at the end of 2000 to continue his research work with semantic web technology, joining Intellisophic in 2001 and later Really Strategies in 2005. At Really Strategies, Michael was the original architect of the RSuite CMS, the first native XML content management repository. Yuxi Pacific In 2007, Puscar was instrumental in the launch Yuxi Pacific, a professional services firm based in Philadelphia and focused on the creation of innovative software products for the pharmaceutical and publishing industries. Within several years, Yuxi Pacific emerged as a leader in Big Data technology with the company expanding operations beyond the United States to Shanghai, China in June 2010 and Medellin, Colombia in June 2011. Many of the products developed by Yuxi Pacific were focused upon the use of clinical trial metadata. These innovative software products helped sponsor companies to properly evaluate the costs of running clinical trials and properly evaluate the efficiency and management costs of international sites. During his time at Yuxi Pacific, Puscar managed investments in several successful startups including LiftDNA, which was acquired 15 months after initial investment by OpenX. On June 19 2013, Yuxi Pacific was acquired by Blue Loop Capital and Puscar resigned his post with the company. Current Projects Puscar is the fund manager of GITP Venture’s Emerging Market High Tech Fund, an early-stage Latin American investment fund that invests in dynamic, scalable companies with an international focus. He also serves as an advisor to several technology startups, and is the chairman of a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education through the donation of hardware and software to schools throughout the world. At present, Puscar lives in Medellín, Colombia, where he is active in promoting the region as a favorable destination for investment. Puscar is a frequent speaker at international conferences on topics ranging from emerging technology to macroeconomics. Prior speaking venues have including O’Reilly Tools of Change, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Founder Institute, the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LAVCA) and MarkLogic World. He has been interviewed by prestigious news organizations worldwide including the Financial Times, CBS Marketwatch, TeleMedellin, Colmundo Radio and more. Though residing in Colombia, Puscar holds Italian citizenship and is fluent in five languages.

Research Interest

Business and Management