KYTO Focus

Post-seed early stage companies with strict criteria and after solid validation by KYTO’s board of advisors.
Active role as a fee recipient advisor and mentor in each of the portfolio companies as well as KYTO holding a board or board-observer seat.
Activity is equally distributed between technology and life science and the geographical interest is expected to be over 50% in the US, with the balance split between Canada and Israel.
Investments are either in the form of secured convertible debt paying interest and offering a discount upon conversion to preferred shares, or directly into preferred shares.
KYTO expects that each portfolio company has a “liquidity event” within 3-4 years of receiving a KYTO investment.
KYTO does not lead financing transactions, but follows highly-vetted groups of sophisticated and accredited early-stage investors such as angel groups.

Dr. Paul Russo

Chairman & CEO

Dr. Russo is the Founder & Chairman of GEO Semiconductor (www.geosemi.com) since 2014, after having served as Chairman & CEO from its founding in 2008. Dr. Russo also serves as a Director of Achelios Therapeutics (www.achelios.com), Beam Semiconductor (www.beamshaping.io), InBay Technologies (www.inbaytech.com) and several other technology and life science start-ups (Dynamount, Illuminati, Exodos and others). Dr. Russo is heavily involved with the Band of Angels and other similar organizations which review over 1,000 start-ups' business plans per year. He is also a Board Advisor to BWG, LLC. Dr. Russo has served as an outside director of ATI Technologies from 2001 through its acquisition by AMD in 2006.

Prior to founding GEO Semiconductor, Dr. Russo founded Silicon Optix in 2000, a privately held fabless semiconductor company, serving as its Chairman & CEO through 2008. Prior to Silicon Optix, Dr. Russo was the founder, Chairman and CEO of Genesis Microchip (acquired by ST Micro in 2007) following its very successful NASDAQ IPO in 1998.

Prior to founding Genesis, he was General Manager of General Electric Microelectronics Center, Senior Manager of General Electric Industrial Electronics Group and Head, Microsystems Research at RCA's David Sarnoff Research Center. While at RCA, Dr. Russo worked on the world first CMOS microprocessor and pioneered the first use of microprocessors in global communications, programmable video games, TV manufacturing automation and automotive engine control.

Dr. Russo received his B.Eng. from McGill University (Canada) and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in EECS from UC Berkeley. He holds eight U.S. patents, is a fellow of IEEE and has received numerous RCA and industry awards, including the IEEE Centennial Medal and the 2006 Tech Pioneer Award from the World Economic Forum.

Georges Benarroch

Reporting Chairman

Mr. Benarroch is a private investment banker and has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kyto BioPharma Inc. since 2001. For the last 30 years, in select international capital markets, he has successfully invested in, financed and sponsored a wide range of companies, a number of which he served as Director, through his firms. Mr. Benarroch was also the Founder and Chairman for 10 years of multi-billion dollar asset management companies such as InterUnion Financial Corp. Georges Benarroch is currently the Founder & CEO of Comindus Finance Corp. (U.S.A.) and Comindus Finance Inc. (Canada)

Mr Benarroch graduated from Faculté de Droit de Toulouse (France), received a B.Sc. from the University of Montreal (Canada), an M.Sc. from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales (France) and an M.Sc. from Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Development Economique, Faculte de Droit de Nice (France) and Doctorat de Droit International (3e Cycle) Paris (France).

Since 1988, Georges Benarroch has been an early investor in most of Dr. Russo’s ventures, in particular, Genesis Microchip (where he served as a director for a few years), Silicon Optix and GEO Semiconductor.

Simon Westbrook

CFO

Effective March 15, 2018, Simon Westbrook was appointed the Company's Chief Financial Officer. In 2009, Mr. Westbrook founded Aargo Inc, a company specializing in financial consulting services to corporations in various tech-related industries. Prior to Aargo, Inc., Mr. Westbrook was CFO of Amber Networks, Inc., and the Chief Financial Officer of Sage, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAGI), a Silicon Valley company specializing in flat panel displays. Before joining Sage, Mr. Westbrook held a number of senior financial positions at Creative Technology (NASDAQ: CREAF), a leading PC multimedia company, and Atari Corp (AMEX: ATC), the video game and home computer company both in the USA and overseas. At various times, he has held positions as an advisory board member of the Silicon Valley Financial Executives Institute, and various technology start-up companies where he has assisted in strategic planning, fund raising and team development. Simon is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Masters in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University.

APPLY FOR FUNDING

Please ensure your company meets ALL three (3) initial requirements before proceeding. Apply ONLY when your company does meet these criteria. Otherwise, the application will be rejected.

We have a lead investor

Yes

In Process

Note! We require applicants to already have a lead investor. Please apply at a later time once you have met all the initial requirements, or your application will be rejected.

We have a Term Sheet

Yes

In Process

Note! We require applicants to already have a Term Sheet. Please apply at a later time once you have met all the initial requirements, or your application will be rejected.

Due diligence on the round has been completed

Yes

In Process

Note! We require due diligence by a third-party to have already been completed on the round. Please apply at a later time once you have met all the initial requirements, or your application will be rejected.