Merged into NUBURU, ticker now BURU
TWND

Completed

NUBURU

BURU
First $9.80
Merger $4.39
55%
Merger +6mo $0.41
96%
Merger +1yr $0.14
99%
Recent $0.17
98%

Tailwind Acquisition Corp.

Underwriter: Jefferies
Raised
$300M
CIK
1814215
SPAC Ticker
TWND.U
Merger
NUBURU
Merged Ticker
BURU
Focus
Consumer, Media, Marketing, Technology
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Philip Krim, our Chairman, has served as Casper Sleep Inc.’s (NYSE:CSPR) Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its board of directors since October 2013. Since founding the Company in 2013, Mr. Krim has led Casper (NYSE:CSPR) through tremendous growth, growing revenue from $15 million in 2014 to over $440 million in 2019 (approximately 100% CAGR), and successfully took the company public in February 2020. Mr. Krim brought an innovative data-driven approach to marketing at Casper which enabled exponential growth and a competitive advantage. He is responsible for leading Casper’s expansion into adjacent sleep related product areas and increasing the retail store footprint to over 50+ stores across the US. Prior to that, Mr. Krim was the Chief Executive Officer of Vocalize Mobile, a mobile search advertising platform for small businesses, from January 2010 until July 2013, and the Chief Executive Officer of The Merrick Group from January 2003 until December 2009. Since 2016, Mr. Krim has also served on the Emerging Leadership Council of the 92nd Street Y. He also serves as a director of the Travis Manion Foundation, and he is on the Leadership Council of the Robin Hood Foundation. He received a B.B.A. in Marketing from Red McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

We believe Mr. Krim’s operational and executive experience make him well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Chris Hollod, our Chief Executive Officer and a director on our board of directors , is the Founder and Managing Partner of Hollod Holdings, a private venture capital and advisory firm based in Los Angeles that invests in innovative consumer brands at the convergence of culture and wellness. Over the course of his career, Mr. Hollod has completed more than 150 deals across five different investment entities, including investments in Airbnb, Uber, Spotify, Houzz, Duolingo, Airtable, Warby Parker, Oscar, Flexport, Sweetgreen, Memphis Meats and Thrive Market. From 2010 to 2018, Mr. Hollod was the Managing Partner of A-Grade Investments alongside Ashton Kutcher, Ron Burkle and Guy Oseary. Mr. Hollod was also the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Inevitable Ventures with Ron Burkle and D.A. Wallach from 2015 to 2018. From 2009 to 2017, Mr. Hollod was the Venture Partner at Ron Burkle’s private investment firm, The Yucaipa Companies, where he oversaw Mr. Burkle’s venture capital investments. Prior to joining The Yucaipa Companies, Mr. Hollod spent four years as an investment banker at Wachovia Securities, where he executed a variety of debt and equity transactions. Mr. Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Economics, Finance and Philosophy.

We believe Mr. Hollod’s operational and executive experience make him well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Matt Eby, our Chief Financial Officer and a director on our board of directors, has served as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Tengram Capital Partners, a consumer private equity firm formed to invest in the consumer and retail sectors, since 2010. At Tengram Capital Partners, Mr. Eby is responsible for originating, underwriting and monitoring of investments and co-manages the daily activities of the firm. Mr. Eby currently serves as the Chairman of the board of directors of El Cap Holdings and Lime Crime, and as a director of Algenist, Centric Brands, Revive, and Cos Bar. In the past he has served as Chairman of Tengram former portfolio companies NEST Fragrances and DevaCurl. Prior to founding Tengram, Mr. Eby was the Chief Investment Officer of JAWS Estates Capital, the private investment office of Barry Sternlicht and the Sternlicht family, where he was responsible for investment and asset allocation decisions and recommendations across a broad spectrum of asset classes and investment strategies. While at JAWS Estates Capital, Mr. Eby led numerous transactions including investments in Palantir Technologies, Field & Stream, Ellen Tracy, Joe’s Jeans, Caribbean Joe, and Carlos Falchi. In 2009, in his capacity as Chief Investment Officer of Jaws Estates Capital and on behalf of Starwood Capital Group, he led the initial public offering of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), a mortgage REIT focused on commercial real estate properties. Prior to JAWS, he was an Associate at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Eby received a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Alan Sheriff serves on our board of directors. Mr. Sheriff co-founded Solebury Capital in 2005 and served as its Co-Chief Executive Officer from 2005 to 2020. Mr. Sheriff has also served as Vice Chairman of Corporate and Institutional Banking, PNC Financial Services Group since 2020. Under his guidance and leadership, Solebury Capital has become a premier independent equity capital advisory firm, known for bringing deep product expertise, market knowledge and unbiased advice to its clients. At Solebury Capital, Mr. Sheriff has personally worked on hundreds of IPOs, follow-ons, block trades and provided general capital markets counsel to financial sponsors such as Bain Capital, Ares Management, Apollo, American Securities, TH Lee, Freeman Spogli, TSG Consumer and many others. Mr. Sheriff has also worked directly with companies such as Nielson, Dunkin Brands, Canada Goose, BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products), Aramark, Black Knight Financial, Patheon, Planet Fitness and Casper Sleep. Prior to founding Solebury Capital, Mr. Sheriff held several senior-level positions at Credit Suisse First Boston, including serving as Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets for the Americas from 1999 to 2005. Mr. Sheriff also chaired Credit Suisse’s Equity Valuation Committee from 1999 to 2005 and sat on the firm’s Investment Banking Committee from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Sheriff began his career at Salomon Brothers where he worked from 1983-1992. Mr. Sheriff graduated from the University of Rochester in 1981 with a B.A. in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He also received an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations since 1999, the NationSwell Council since 2016 and the Travis Manion Foundation since 2018. Mr. Sheriff also sits on the board of PsychHub since 2019.

We believe Mr. Sheriff’s extensive investment experience make him well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Wisdom Lu has agreed to serve on our board of directors. She is a Founding Partner of Stibel & Co. and Bryant Stibel, specializing in growth equity investments across technology, media, data, sports and wellness. From 2012 to 2015, Ms. Lu was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., which was merged into Dun & Bradstreet in 2015. At Dun & Bradstreet, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Dun & Bradstreet Emerging Businesses from 2015 to 2017. From 2008 to 2012, Ms. Lu served as the Chief Financial Officer at Liberman Broadcasting and oversaw Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, as well as Legal and Investor Relations. From 1996 to 2008, Ms. Lu served as Chief Investment Officer and Treasurer at Health Net, Inc. where she oversaw a $3B investment portfolio. Before Health Net, Inc., Ms. Lu served as Treasury Officer, Fixed Income Sales & Trading with National Westminster Bank. Ms. Lu graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in Engineering and a minor in Economics. She also received an MBA from New York University. Ms. Lu is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds a Professional Engineering license in the state of New York.

We believe Ms. Lu’s operational and executive experience make her well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.

Neha Parikh has agreed to serve on our board of directors. Since April 2019, she also serves on the board of directors of Carvana (NYSE: CVNA), a leading e-commerce platform changing the way people buy cars. Most recently, Ms. Parikh was the President of Hotwire, an innovator in discount travel and part of Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE), from August 2017 to November 2019. As the President of Hotwire, Ms. Parikh led a successful turnaround by revamping the business model, negotiating innovative supply partnerships and rebuilding the team and culture. From August 2017 to November 2019, she was a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Expedia Group, where she was their youngest and first female President. Prior to Hotwire, Ms. Parikh spent nine years at Hotels.com, also part of Expedia Group, starting in Product development in April 2008 and moving through progressively senior roles until her last role as the Senior Vice President of Global Brands and Retail from June 2015 to August 2017. In this role, Ms. Parikh had ownership of the global P&L for Hotels.com and directly led marketing, financial planning and operations, merchandising, business development, partner marketing and growth strategy. Before joining Expedia Group in 2008, she worked as a strategy consultant with The Cambridge Group from and held roles with Siemens Healthcare and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ms. Parikh graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business degree and received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

We believe Ms. Parikh’s operational and executive experience make her well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.