Turner Novak

Turner Novak, Founder of Banana Capital

Turner Novak is the founder of Banana Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He launched Banana Capital in January 2021 with $9.99 million in commitments, including several institutional investors.13

Prior to founding Banana Capital, Turner held the following roles:

• General Partner at Gelt Venture Capital (2019 - Present), where he ran all venture capital investing and invested their second fund14
• Investor at Afore Capital (July 2019 - September 2019), where he invested in pre-seed companies14
• Founder of TDN Capital, LLC (July 2017 - August 2019), a real estate investment firm5
• Investment Analyst at Van Andel Institute (November 2015 - July 2019), where he helped manage a $1.6 billion endowment portfolio5

Turner has an unconventional path into venture capital. He graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2014 with a degree in Accounting and Finance, and has passed Level 2 of the CFA exam.1 He previously worked in credit, private equity, and corporate finance roles before transitioning into venture investing.15

At Banana Capital, Turner invests in pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds, with a focus on consumer-facing startups. He is known for his active presence on Twitter, where he has over 170,000 followers and uses memes to build his brand and engage with the startup community.36

Some of Turner's notable investments at Banana Capital include Artie, BinStar, Chainguard, Browse AI, Packsmith, Mindset Health, Amo, and Teleport.24