Chris Protasewich has established a robust and repeatable track record of building category-defining businesses and supporting the exceptional entrepreneurs behind those companies. He excels at providing strategic support and guidance to founders and top-decile returns to investors.As a Principal at Highland Capital Partners, a $4.0 billion venture capital firm, Chris played a pivotal role in sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support for high-growth consumer and technology companies. Notably, he backed Michael Wystrach at Freshly in the Series A round in 2015, later joining the company as Chief of Staff and managing an IPO-preparation and M&A process which led to the $1.5B acquisition by Nestlé. At Highland, Chris was also instrumental in the Series A investment in Xometry, which later went public in a multi-billion dollar IPO. Before his tenure at Highland, Chris was an investor at North Bridge Growth Equity (now Guidepost), where he sourced a highly successful $42M growth equity investment in Seniorlink, a tech-enabled senior care management company later acquired by THL Partners.While pursuing his MBA at Wharton, Chris co-founded Lynx Fitness Club, a 21k SF luxury fitness and golf club, currently ranked as the #1 fitness club in Boston. Following Freshly’s acquisition, in 2021, Chris reunited with Michael Wystrach and his sister Audrey Wystrach to build Petfolk, a leading de novo veterinary business. Over the first three year of operations, Chris oversaw most business functions, including Finance, Strategy, HR, Operations, Legal, and Real Estate. Under his leadership, Petfolk grew to a $200M valuation in less than four years.Outside of his day-to-day roles, Chris has been an active investor and advisor to early-stage consumer companies via numerous SPVs and angel investments.He holds an MBA from The Wharton School, specializing in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing, and a BS in Finance from Boston College, where he was a member of the National Champion Varsity Sailing Team.