Boris Wertz is one of the top tech angel investors in North-America and the CEO and founder of w media ventures. His portfolio encompasses over 25 early-stage consumer internet and mobile companies, including Chloe & Isabel, Edmodo, Flurry, GoInstant, Indochino, Suite101, Sparkbuy (acquired by Google), Summify, Tynt, Wattpad and Yapta. Boris is a venture partner of Munich-based Acton Capital Partners, a consumer Internet fund that is focused on later stage companies with an established track record of revenues and profitability. He is also one of the founders of GrowLab, a Vancouver-based start-up accelerator.
Before founding w media ventures, Boris was the Chief Operating Officer of AbeBooks.com, the world’s largest marketplace for new, used and rare and out-of print books which got sold to Amazon in 2008. Boris joined the company in 2002 after JustBooks, the German company he co-founded in 1999, was acquired by AbeBooks. At AbeBooks, Boris was primarily responsible for marketing, business development, product, customer service and international operations and lead a team of about 60 people.
He successfully finished his PhD as well as his graduate studies at the Graduate School of Management (WHU), Koblenz, majoring in Business Economics / Business Management. In 2005, Boris was named the Pacific Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner and in 2011 a Top 40 under 40 nominee by Business in Vancouver.