Lorne Abony | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 26, 1969 |
| Education | McGill University, (BA, 1991), University of Windsor Faculty of Law (JD/LLB, 1994), Columbia Business School, (MBA) |
Lorne Abony (born August 26, 1969) is a Canadian businessman, currently the managing partner of Texas Venture Partners, a venture capital company located in Austin, Texas.
Abony was born and raised in Toronto. [1] After graduating from the University of Windsor law school in 1994, Abony practiced corporate and securities law at the Toronto firm Aird & Berlis. [2] In his role as CEO and founder of a number of successful ventures, Abony has raised over C$1.3 billion through the public and private debt and equity markets, including over $100 million for Petopia.com, [3] $190 million for FUN Technologies [4] and over $820 million for Mood Media. [5] [6]
Abony previously owned the Orange County Breakers, [7] a professional sports franchise which competes in World TeamTennis.
Abony is the former CEO of Mood Media Corporation, a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. He co-founded FUN Technologies in 2001 and in 2004 as CEO of FUN became the youngest CEO of a listed company on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). [8] [9] [10] Additionally, Abony is a tennis player and is a former member of the Competition Committee of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). [11]
In January 1998, Abony founded and served as the initial president of the online pet-supply business Paw.net in San Francisco. The company, which was eventually renamed Petopia.com, grew to 200 full-time employees within two years and raised over $114 million in financing. Petopia.com was sold to Petco in 2001. [12]
In 2002, Abony co-founded Columbia Exchange Systems Software PLC with Andrew Rivkin after the two raised C$1.8 million from initial investors. [13] Later renamed FUN Technologies, Abony became the company's CEO and the largest individual shareholder. In 2003, FUN completed an IPO on the London Stock Exchange raising over $11 million. [13] Soon after, FUN listed its shares on the TSX raising over $56 million from a group of investors including Fidelity Investments, AGF Management and the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. FUN became one of the fastest growing companies on the TSX and in three years raised over $160 million in five rounds of equity financing. FUN and its subsidiaries acquired seven businesses during Abony's tenure as CEO, including SkillJam Technologies Corporation, Don Best Sports, Fanball Interactive LLC, Octopi Inc., Teagames, WorldWinner Inc. and Fantasy Sports Inc. [14] [15]
The Meridian, Colorado-based Liberty Media acquired a majority interest in FUN Technologies stock in 2005. [16] Liberty Media purchased the rest of FUN Technologies in late 2007. [17] The company was valued at nearly C$500 million at the time of its final sale to Liberty Media. [18] [19]
Abony was the owner of the Orange County Breakers for three seasons, selling the team in February 2017. [20] The Breakers is one of eight professional tennis teams in World TeamTennis, the professional tennis league co-founded by Billie Jean King in 1974. [21]
Abony is the former CEO of Mood Media Corporation ("Mood Media"). [22] Mood Media provides in-store media to over 575,000 locations worldwide, including clients such as McDonald's, Gucci, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, Hilton Hotel and AT&T. Mood Media has offices in 48 countries employs over 2,700 employees and plays over 115 million songs and 10 million on-hold and on-premise messages daily. [23] [24] [25] In 2011 Mood Media was named Canada's fastest growing company by Profit . [26]
In January 2013, Abony was featured in the CBS series Undercover Boss .
Abony was part of the private equity syndicate that acquired Der Grüne Punkt (The Green Dot) "DSD" from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [27] in 2011. Abony sits on the board of DSD and is one of its largest shareholders. [28] DSD was founded in 1990 and was the first company to introduce a dual take-back system in Germany, in response to the Packaging Ordinance & Waste Act. The Green Dot is the license symbol of a European network of industry-funded systems for recycling the packaging materials of consumer goods. The logo is trademark protected worldwide. DSD employs 247 people in Germany, [29] and is considered the largest dual take-back systems provider in Europe. In 2009, DSD recovered approximately 2.75 million tons of sales packaging, saved 60 billion megajoules of energy and reduced CO2 emissions (and its equivalents) by 1.5 million tons. [29] According to Reuters, DSD a former non-profit organization, had 2009 sales of 684 million euros. [27]
In November 2017, Abony became the CEO and founder of Nuuvera, a Canadian company that focused on health and wellness products. In March 2018, Aphria Inc. agreed to buy Nuuvera for $826 million CAD in cash and stock. [30] Abony continued working with Aphria to help grow the medical products globally with his international connections. [31]
Since 2020, Abony has been one of the shareholders of EMMAC, a European independent medical wellness and nutrition company. Abony helped EMMAC become a global leader in life sciences as their Executive Chairman. [32] In 2021, EMMAC was valued in a cash and share deal at approximately $345 million (USD). [33]
Pluri is an Israeli based leading biotech company that transforms cells into solutions that promote wellbeing and sustainability. In 2023, Abony joined the Board of Directors of Pluri. [34]
Meatable is a Dutch biotechnology company aimed at cultured meat. In 2023, Meatable raised $35 million in its latest funding round bringing the total to $95 million. In 2024, Abony joined the Board of Directors of Meatable. [35]
Abony earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, [36] an LL.B/J.D. from the International Law Center at the University of Windsor and a B.A. from McGill University. He is a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 award [37] and an Ambassador for the Province of New Brunswick [38] and in 2006 was a recipient of the University of Windsor's Odyssey award. [39]
The University of Austin is a non-profit private liberal arts university located in Austin, Texas. Lorne and his wife, Valerie Abony became founders of UATX in 2021. In 2023, UATX received accreditation from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and plans to enroll their first undergraduate cohort in the Fall of 2024. [40]
In August 2012, Abony was selected as one of two Players Representatives to sit on the newly formed 6-member Competition Committee of the ATP. The Competition Committee is composed of distinguished members of the international tennis community including former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek. The Competition Committee was created to "explore new and creative ideas for enhancing the competition and presentation of the sport." [11]
Abony is a competitive tennis player. He was a member of the Team Canada men's tennis team [41] which competed in the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He also competes in both the ITF and USTA men's over-40 divisions in both the state and national level in both singles and doubles. Abony's doubles' partner in the men's over-40 category is Jared Palmer, [42] [43] formerly the world #1-ranked doubles player and Wimbledon and Australian Open doubles champion. As of July 3, 2012, Abony, along with tennis partner Jared Palmer, is ranked #2 in the USTA's National Men's over-40 Team Doubles rankings. [44]
In March 2014, Abony and doubles partner Robert Kendrick reached the finals of the USTA National Hardcourt Championships in the men’s over 30 category . [45]
In June 2014, Abony and doubles partner Robert Kendrick won the USTA National Indoor Championship in the men's over 35 category. [46]
The US Open Tennis Championships, commonly called the US Open, is a hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Queens, New York. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three, in chronological order, are the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. The US Open starts on the last Monday of August and continues for two weeks, with the middle weekend coinciding with the US Labor Day holiday. The tournament is one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, originally known as the U.S. National Championships, for which men's singles and men's doubles were first played in August 1881. It is the only Grand Slam that was not affected by cancellation due to World War I and World War II, nor interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. All the players participating should be at least fourteen (14) years old.
Mark Jonathan Pincus is an American Internet entrepreneur known as the founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company. Pincus also founded the startups Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and Support.com. Pincus served as the CEO of Zynga until July 2013, then again from 2015 to 2016.
Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. is an American pet retailer with corporate offices in San Diego and San Antonio. Petco sells pet food, products, and services, as well as certain types of live small animals.
Ilana Sheryl Kloss is a South African former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and administrator. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and French Open Mixed Doubles titles in 1976. She won three gold medals at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel. After her playing career, Kloss was the commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001–2021.
Ronald "Ronnie" E. Holmberg is a former American tennis player who competed during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked World No. 8 in 1959 and was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for nine years. He is currently one of the USTA's select "Master Professionals" and devotes most of his time coaching, participating and directing charity events and clinics and other tennis related projects.
Scott Lipsky is an American former professional tennis player and coach. As a player, Lipsky was primarily a doubles specialist.
FUN Technologies was an online game company based in Toronto. Founded in 2002 by Canadian businessmen Lorne Abony and Andrew Rivkin, FUN grew to become the world's largest provider of online casual games and fantasy sports, with over 35 million registered customers. FUN was publicly traded with a full listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and Toronto Stock Exchange in 2004. Abony was its chief executive officer when FUN was listed on the TSX, making him the youngest CEO of any company listed on the exchange.
Mareen "Peanut" Louie-Harper is a retired American tennis player, born in San Francisco, California to Ron and Alice Louie.
Docusign, Inc. is an American software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that provides products for organizations to manage electronic agreements with electronic signatures on different devices. As of 2024, Docusign has about 1.5 million clients in 180 countries. Signatures processed by Docusign are compliant with the US ESIGN Act and the European Union's eIDAS regulation, including EU Advanced and EU, Qualified Signatures.
Mood Media Corporation is an international in-store provider of music, digital signage, hold music, on-hold messaging, scent, integrated audio/video, and interactive mobile marketing products. It was founded in 2004, and is based in Austin, Texas. The company provides services to a variety of retailers and other business verticals such as restaurant, financial, healthcare, hospitality and QSR. Mood Media Corporation has expanded its product offerings through acquisitions of Somerset Entertainment in Canada, BIS Group in Europe, and Trusonic, AEI Music Network Inc., Muzak, DMX, Technomedia, and GoConvergence in the United States.
Andrew Rivkin is a Canadian investor and entrepreneur. Rivkin is best known as the co-founder of CryptoLogic, a pioneering online casino software company, and FUN Technologies, one of the world's largest providers of casual games and fantasy sports.
Philippe Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, also known as "PVS", is a German businessman, residing in London, United Kingdom. He is the CEO and founder of Greenback Recycling Technologies, a plastic recycling and certification company.
Julia Boserup is an American retired tennis player.
Joel Trammell is an American businessman and entrepreneur. Trammell works in CEO education and software.
Linus Gabriel Sebastian is a Canadian YouTuber best known for creating and hosting YouTube channels that cover technology. On November 24, 2008, he started publishing videos on his main channel Linus Tech Tips (LTT) which has 15.8 million subscribers and 7.94 billion views as of August 16th 2024. His channels have a combined subscriber base of over 27 million and over 10.5 billion views.
Peter Palandjian is a businessman and former professional tennis player. Palandjian became chief executive officer of Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation in 1993. The company was founded by his father, Petros, in 1959.
Christopher Eubanks is an American professional tennis player. He played college tennis for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. There, he was a two-time All-American and twice named ACC Player of the Year. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 29, achieved on 31 July 2023. In doubles, he achieved a career-high ranking of No. 142 on 12 August 2024.
Tokyo Smoke is a Canadian lifestyle brand owned by OEG Inc. that focuses on the legal recreational cannabis industry. The company was co-founded by father and son Lorne and Alan Gertner in 2015.
Aphria Inc., headquartered in Leamington, Ontario, was an international producer and distributor of medicinal and recreational cannabis. The company operated through retail and wholesale channels in Canada and internationally.
Zscaler, Inc. is an American cloud security company, with headquarters in San Jose, California. The company offers cloud-based services to protect enterprise networks and data.