Ryan Gembala is an experienced pre-seed and seed stage technology investor who has worked in various capacities at top firms like Facebook and Azure Capital. Before co-founding Pathbreaker Ventures, Ryan led deals on the corporate development team at Facebook, where he identified and executed acquisitions aimed at advancing the company's mission. Ryan's focus was on emerging areas of technology, including AI/ML, deep learning, computer vision, virtual reality, applied hardware, and infrastructure technologies across security, video, messaging, and product design.

Prior to Facebook, Ryan worked in both investing and operating roles at Azure Capital, where he gained extensive experience in series A and B investments. Ryan has also served as VP of Business Development & Partnerships at Telly, a video discovery and content network, and at Convercent, the SaaS leader in employee governance, risk, and compliance. Additionally, Ryan is the co-founder and former executive director of H.E.R.O. for Children, a non-profit organization focused on quality of life care for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Ryan's educational background includes an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business as well as a BBA with honors from the University of Georgia. He is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian and is passionate about exploring new topics, countries, and foods.