Adrian Fortino is an experienced founder, operator, engineer and investor in the industrial technology sector. He is a Managing Director at Mercury and leads the Intelligent Manufacturing practice at Mercury Fund. Mercury Fund is an early-stage venture capital firm. With over $270 million under management, Mercury focuses on entrepreneurs and technology innovation originating in the U.S. Midcontinent. The Mercury investment themes target SaaS, Cloud, and Data Science/AI platforms that make the industrial ecosystems of Middle America more competitive and efficient.
Adrian sits on the Board of Directors of Sight Machine, Ambyint and Pactsafe. He also has Board Observer seats on Benson Hill Biosystems, LISNR and Apartment Butler. Adrian’s previous investments at Mercury have included Deepfield (acq. by Nokia) and Meshify (acq. by HSB Group).
Prior to joining Mercury, Fortino was the Managing Director of Detroit Innovate, a seed-stage investment fund targeting seed investments in enabling technologies in healthcare, transportation and industrial applications. During this time, Fortino was also the Managing Director of the First Step Fund, a micro-investment, industry agnostic fund focused on seed-stage companies in Southeast Michigan.
He was the Managing Director of the Detroit Innovate and the First Step Funds. Fortino also co-founded three software companies: Sidecar (acq. by GM), ShepherdIS, and FlockTAG. Prior to his entrepreneurial experience, Fortino was the Manager of Powertrain Development Group at Ricardo, a global engineering consultancy focusing on the automotive, cleantech, military and industrial sectors.
Outside of Mercury, Fortino serves on the boards of the Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization Transportation Program, First Capital Fund and Michigan Venture Capital Association. He also teaches venture capital classes at the University of Michigan College of Engineering and leads the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan-sponsored Catapult, which connects entrepreneurs in Southeast Michigan with emerging and innovative non-profits in the region. Fortino was awarded the Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40” in 2015.
Adrian holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA with High Distinction from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan