Duke Capital Partners

Kurt Schmidt

Kurt Schmidt has extensive experience in all aspects of startup ventures. He is an investor, entrepreneur, and board member who works with early-stage companies, venture capital firms, and angel investment funds. Kurt is the Chairman and President of Triangle Angel Partners and a Venture Partner at 7BC Venture Capital. Kurt serves on several boards, including the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Council for Entrepreneurial Development. As a TRW Fellow, Kurt earned an M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Southern California and a B.S. in electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. At Duke University’s School of Law, he…

Dave Neal, JD

Dave is a member of the Duke Capital Partners Operating Team, serving in this role since 2018. In this role he works on sourcing, deal screening and other venture capital related work. Dave has performed Founder, CEO, CFO and General Counsel roles for companies in the Research Triangle entrepreneurial ecosystem since 1994.In 2011 Dave co-founded The Startup Factory which was the most highly-capitalized accelerator in the Southeast at that time. TSF made 35 investments from 2012-15, focusing on lean startup methodologies and mentorship. Dave has spent over twenty years as a Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship at the Kenan-Flagler…

V. Cary Ritter

Dr. Cary Ritter is a Senior Assistant Director at Duke Capital Partners. She previously completed postdoctoral research at Duke University in the chemistry department, where she focused on the design and synthesis of new biocompatible polymers for intraocular lens applications, being commercialized by a biomedical start-up. Cary completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Duke in 2022, where she invented new types of stimuli-responsive metamaterials for applications in nanotechnology and biomedical engineering. Before Duke, Cary completed coursework in chemistry at Columbia University while working in a lab that explores novel organic molecules and their self-assembly in devices for energy transport and…

Daniel Luo

Daniel is joining the Duke Capital Partners team as an Assistant Director. He previously worked with the team for three years as an Associate and then Lead Ph.D. Associate. Daniel has been a postdoc with the Duke SOM Pharmacology and Cancer Biology department since 2019. Before that, he was with a neurodegenerative therapeutics start-up for a year. Daniel earned a Ph.D. in Toxicology from Iowa State University and an undergraduate degree from Penn State.

Stéphanie Seghers

Stéphanie is a Senior Program Coordinator at Duke Capital Partners. She is responsible for managing the operations for the DCP Associate’s program and facilitating process management and portfolio development initiatives for DCP investment activities. Stéphanie is from Belgium and brings experience with start-ups and investment management, most recently as Investment Manager with PMV in Brussels. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physical Therapy from KU Leuven – Catholic University of Louvain and a master’s in General Management and Strategic Innovations in Healthcare from VLERICK Business School.

Jana Stollings

As Staff Assistant, Jana Stollings, MPH is responsible primarily for supporting the Operations Team for Duke Capital Partners (previously Duke Angel Network). She joined OTC in 2022 following experience in university and non-profit settings coordinating programs which support translation of research and innovations into practice. Jana also provides operational support for the Office for External Partnerships. Jana received a BA in Psychology from Dickinson College and an MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. Jana directly supports: Kurt Schmidt.