# Mike Hurst

> Mike Hurst is a Santa Monica fintech founder, investor and operator who co-founded Turbine Finance after confronting the cash-flow problem created by long venture-fund holding periods. He previously built entertainment-payments company Exactuals at Stanford Graduate School of Business and led it through a 2018 acquisition by City National Bank. At Turbine, he is applying data-driven underwriting to loans backed by private-fund positions, giving general partners and limited partners an alternative to selling at a discount.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Turbine Finance
- **Organizations:** Turbine Finance, Exactuals, TTV Capital, Fin Capital, StartX, City National Bank, Oracle
- **Education:** MS in Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Business degree, Santa Clara University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Exactuals and built it into a software provider for entertainment royalty and residual payments., Led Exactuals through its 2018 acquisition by City National Bank., Co-founded Turbine Finance and secured $21.75 million in equity funding plus a warehouse facility of up to $100 million from Silicon Valley Bank by its 2025 public launch.

## Career timeline

- **2011** — Co-founded Exactuals while at Stanford Graduate School of Business to modernize entertainment-industry payments.
- **2017** — Exactuals raised a $10 million financing round involving City National Bank and TTV Capital.
- **2018** — Led Exactuals through its acquisition by City National Bank and remained CEO.
- **2022** — Moved into the chairman role at Exactuals; the same year's market reset helped expose the private-fund liquidity problem that led to Turbine.
- **2023** — Closed Turbine Finance's seed round and began building the lending platform with Peter Andes, Rob Freelen and Kaare Wagner.
- **2025** — Brought Turbine out of stealth with $21.75 million in equity funding and a warehouse facility of up to $100 million from Silicon Valley Bank.
- **2026** — Announced NAV lending for venture funds and spoke on fintech investing at FinovateSpring.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Exactuals and built it into a software provider for entertainment royalty and residual payments.
- Led Exactuals through its 2018 acquisition by City National Bank.
- Co-founded Turbine Finance and secured $21.75 million in equity funding plus a warehouse facility of up to $100 million from Silicon Valley Bank by its 2025 public launch.
- Helped expand Turbine from LP-position lending into GP liquidity and NAV lending products.
- Served as a venture partner and startup mentor, including work connected with TTV Capital, Fin Capital and StartX.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Announced Turbine's NAV lending product for venture funds, designed to finance follow-on investments after a fund is fully called.
- **2026-05** — Joined the Investor All-Stars panel at FinovateSpring in San Diego to discuss fintech funding, valuations and platform development.
- **2026-03** — Presented Turbine's 'Liquidity on Demand' thesis at the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica.
- **2026-02** — Said Turbine had underwritten about 60 funds, with more than 160 firms in its pipeline representing over $500 billion in assets under management.
- **2025-04** — Brought Turbine Finance out of stealth with $21.75 million in equity funding and a Silicon Valley Bank warehouse facility of up to $100 million.

## Links

- Website: https://www.turbine.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhurst

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/mike-hurst
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-25