Matt Harris
Managing General Partner and Co-founder, Village Ventures

As co-founder and Managing General Partner of Village Ventures, Matt provides Borealis access to a nationwide network of early-stage venture capital funds focused on emerging technology centers. His deep understanding of financial services broadens our scope significantly. He has worked extensively with Borealis since our inception.

Harris began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company, Boston, in 1994. In 1995, he signed on as an associate with Bain Capital. At Bain Capital, Harris’ most notable transactions included the $1.1 billion purchase and subsequent sale of a credit-reporting agency, and the $90 million purchase of a medical products distributor.

Harris left Bain Capital in 1997 to become the founding managing director of The Berkshires Capital Investors, a venture capital fund chartered to invest in companies in Berkshire County. Under Harris’ leadership, BCI’s first fund of $5 million invested in 12 companies, with 7 successful exits to date. The BCI organization, now a Village Ventures affiliate, has gone on to raise an additional $60 million.

At BCI, Harris noted that a number of markets boast the attributes of Berkshire County, namely access to intellectual capital, a high quality of life, and a low cost of doing business. However, these regional niches are traditionally underserved by private equity firms. Village Ventures was created to benefit from the imbalance between supply of and demand for venture capital in these markets.

Harris graduated from Williams College in 1994, and now lives in Williamstown, MA. He is active in the business community of Williamstown and Berkshire County, and is involved in many civic organizations. He has served as Chair of Mass Competitive Council for Berkshire County, an economic development initiative sponsored by the governor of Massachusetts, and serves as a Board Member of the John Adams Innovation Institute and a member of the Renewable Energy Industry Support Advisory Board. Matt is a Trustee for the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, he is the Vice President of the Board of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and is a founding Board Member and Treasurer of Camp Starfish, a camp for troubled and disadvantaged youth outside Boston, MA. Matt also sits on the corporate boards of Skillview Technologies, Inc, Waterfront Media, Inc, FullTurn Entertainment, Inc, BlueTarp, Inc and Vico Software.