# Dave Thornton

> Dave Thornton is the co-founder, CEO, and chief investment officer of Vested, a Miami-based fintech that funds startup employees to exercise their stock options before the 90-day post-departure window erases them. A serial entrepreneur who studied computer science, economics, and law, Thornton built Vested around a simple, painful truth he saw firsthand: roughly half of all employee stock options go abandoned, leaving an estimated $600 billion of value unclaimed. His pitch is to turn venture capital into something closer to an index fund - broad, diversified exposure to hundreds of startups - while giving everyday employees the cash and the clarity to actually keep the equity they earned.

- **Role:** Co-Founder, CEO & Chief Investment Officer at Vested
- **Organizations:** Vested, PatientFinder, Definitive Healthcare, Carevoyance, Citi Alternative Investments (Napier Park), Microsoft
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Applied Science, Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Bachelor of Science in Economics (Decision Processes concentration), The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Juris Doctor, Georgetown University Law Center
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Vested as CEO and Chief Investment Officer, designing and managing the firm's investment funds, Founded and exited PatientFinder, acquired by Definitive Healthcare in 2017, Built a real-time illiquid asset pricing model reported to be algo-trading roughly $300M at a major bank

## Career timeline

- **~2007** — Worked on a trading desk at a hedge fund within Citi Alternative Investments (later Napier Park), building real-time pricing systems
- **—** — Program Manager at Microsoft
- **—** — Founder of Skill in Games
- **—** — Chief Analytics Officer at Carevoyance
- **2017** — PatientFinder, which he founded and led as CEO, was acquired by Definitive Healthcare
- **2017-2019** — Senior Vice President, Innovation at Definitive Healthcare following the acquisition
- **~2020** — Co-founded Vested to fund startup employees' stock option exercises
- **2021** — Vested raised seed funding ($1.72M latest round noted)
- **2025** — Vested raised an additional round (~$3M), bringing reported total funding to roughly $4.2M-$4.77M

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Vested as CEO and Chief Investment Officer, designing and managing the firm's investment funds
- Founded and exited PatientFinder, acquired by Definitive Healthcare in 2017
- Built a real-time illiquid asset pricing model reported to be algo-trading roughly $300M at a major bank
- Designed Vested's prepaid-forward-contract structure that funds option exercises without triggering company ROFR or 409A revaluation complications
- Raised roughly $4.2M-$4.77M for Vested from investors including Underscore VC and Boston Seed Capital

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Vested reported raising an additional funding round (~$3M), expanding its option-exercise funding and venture secondaries platform

## Links

- Website: https://vested.co
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davejthornton

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dave-thornton
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24