Derek Norton

Derek is the founder and General Partner of Watertower Ventures, a seed stage venture capital fund investing in visionary founders transforming mission critical industries that are being reimagined by AI enabled software technologies. Areas of expertise include Capital Markets infrastructure, the Evolution of Media and Proprietary IP, Embedded AI for the enterprise and Commerce Enablement.

Previous to Watertower Ventures, Derek founded Watertower Advisors, an industry-leading boutique investment bank advising some of the most innovative technology companies. In his role there, Derek advised over 250 companies, including Widevine, ExtendMedia, Envivio, Riot Games, and Machinima, where he created a differentiated approach to capital formation, fundraising, and M&A. Prior to Watertower Advisors, Derek founded and built three successful technology companies, including Entertainment Media Ventures, Digital Boardwalk and Jeffries Technologies named to Ink Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies.

Derek holds a BA from the University of Southern California. He is a frequent speaker and panelist on the subject of venture capital investing specifically in the areas of transformative technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of commerce, and the evolution of media. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the USC Iovine Young Academy and is a board member of Turnaround Arts, the nonprofit founded by Frank Gehry, empowering educators to use the arts as a tool to fuel growth and development in elementary and middle schools. Derek and his wife support numerous charities focused on improving the lives and education of under-privileged youths, is a former member of the board of directors of The Fulfillment Fund and previously served as Vice President of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporaries.