ALUMNI COMMUNITY
Elena Nosova &
Andrew Ponomar
40 under 40 by the M&A Advisor, NY
Elena Nosova MBA, Class of 2014, Chairwoman, Enter Capital
Andrew Ponomar MBA, Class of 2014, CEO, Enter Capital
Completing a MBA and starting a successful business
is tough at the best of times, but doing it with your spouse
is tougher still. Here, the Hult power couple explain how
their two heads have definitely proved to be better than one.
Tell us more about Enter Capital and
the idea behind the firm.
Enter Capital is a buyout and M&A advisory
firm focused on the technology and media
industries. We deploy over USD $3 billion
from multi-strategy private equity funds
across the U.S. and advise companies on
cross-border M&A transactions.
Enter Capital was born out of Hult’s 2014
entrepreneurship class as a technology
platform for private equity funds. Despite
securing some early funding from
an accelerator program, we realized that
we could bring more to the table as
investment professionals rather than
operating in a purely software
company capacity.
You’ve been involved in various roles as
tech entrepreneurs and investment experts
during your careers. Tell us about your
experiences pre-Hult and what you hope
to take on next.
Prior to Hult, Andrew was Head of an
Investment Analysis Department at
a USD $1 billion private equity fund. He
has also been an investment banker and
a consultant at KPMG. Elena was formerly
an IR professional at a Global Fortune
50 company, and an EY and PwC consultant.
Our accumulated experiences have allowed
us to see the finance and investment
industries from different angles, which has
definitely helped us to be more creative at
Enter Capital.
We are big believers in AI—without
leveraging these sort of technologies we
would join the ranks of dozens of other
private equity advisory firms currently on
the market. Employing AI allowed us to
break into the club of a few innovative
companies who are automating
industry processes.
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How does it feel to be recognized as
a 40 under 40 Dealmaker and 40 under 40
IR Professional by the M&A Advisor?
It feels good to be on the same list as
the SVP of PIMCO with assets under
management over USD $1 trillion, SVP of
Wedbush, Partner at EY, and many other
acclaimed professionals in the U.S.
It has certainly opened up tremendous
business networking and partnership
opportunities to us.
Your firm has developed software known
as IVY to help manage deal flows. How do
you intend to deploy more AI in the
investment process?
We believe that AI can do some routine
tasks better than humans. For example, the
technology mimics all the processes that
we follow when we evaluate a potential
acquisition target. In the U.S. alone, there are
over half a million companies that might be
a fit for potential acquisitions. To analyze
such a huge number of companies would
take an analyst more than 42 years. With IVY
we can do it in a few weeks. It is like having a
real investment associate who has graduated
from an Ivy League school, but who works
much faster and without breaks.