Rothenberg Ventures

Rothenberg Ventures, known briefly as Frontier Technology Venture Capital, was an American venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 2012 by Mike Rothenberg, who was later convicted of fraud and money laundering.

It had invested in more than 100 companies, including Bustle, Robinhood, Revel Systems, and SpaceX, and focused its investments on virtual reality and other frontier technologies. As of January 2021, the firm's status with the California Franchise Tax Board is "forfeited".

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mike Rothenberg "orchestrated a years-long, massive fraud and posed a substantial risk of loss to investors, with $18.8 million misappropriated." Mike Rothenberg resigned from the firm in October 2018 and agreed to be barred from the securities industry with a right to reapply after five years.

On December 20, 2019, Judge Jon S. Tigar for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Mike Rothenberg to pay disgorgement of $18,776,800, prejudgment interest of $3,663,323, and a civil penalty of $9,000,000.

In June 2020, Mike Rothenberg was arrested and charged with 23 federal felony charges, facing decades in prison if convicted.

Judge Tigar split the 23 charges into two trials, one for charges 1-2 and the other for charges 3-23. The jury failed to reach a verdict in the first trial. In the second trial, which ended in November 16, 2023, he was found guilty of 21 felony charges. Judge Tigar scheduled Rothenberg’s sentencing hearing for March 1, 2024.