Michael DeVille

Founder & CEO dCapital

Last Reviewed: September 18, 2026

Executive Summary

Michael DeVille is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of dCapital, a Stamford, Connecticut investment firm focused on the Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability marketplace — the consumer sector covering natural foods, sustainable products, and consumer health. What distinguishes his approach is that he does not invest and then supervise. He takes operating roles inside the businesses he backs, serving as Chief Operating Officer, interim executive, or director at portfolio and partner companies including TCHO Ventures, Lifefactory, Cheribundi, Nib Mor, and GoodBelly. The pattern reflects a career that began well outside finance, as a Peace Corps forestry extensionist in The Gambia and later in humanitarian programme work and cocoa supply chain management for Mars.

Career Highlights

• Founded dCapital, an investment firm focused on the LOHAS sector, with portfolio companies including Lifefactory and TCHO.
• Served as COO or board member across portfolio and partner companies including TCHO Ventures, Cheribundi, Nib Mor Dark Chocolate, GoodBelly, and Lifefactory.
• Founded and led DeVenture Health Partners, a business process outsourcing company, from 2004 to 2009.
• Managed cocoa sustainability and procurement for Mars.
• Held international business development roles at Land O’Lakes, the American Red Cross, and the IFRC.
• Served as a Forestry Extensionist with the US Peace Corps in The Gambia, West Africa.

Professional Journey

DeVille’s career began in development work rather than business. He served as a Forestry Extensionist with the United States Peace Corps in The Gambia, West Africa, then moved into international programme and business development roles with the American Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and subsequently at Land O’Lakes as Deputy Director of international business development.

That path led to Mars, where he managed cocoa sustainability and procurement. Cocoa is among the most scrutinized agricultural supply chains in the world, characterized by smallholder farming, opaque intermediation, and persistent labour and deforestation problems, and it is where a large confectionery company’s sustainability commitments either become real or remain rhetorical. Working at that junction gave DeVille an unusually concrete understanding of what sustainability claims require operationally — a perspective that distinguishes him from investors who approach the sector as a consumer marketing trend.

In 2004 he founded DeVenture Health Partners, a business process outsourcing company, and led it as Chief Executive Officer until 2009. He then founded dCapital to invest in the LOHAS marketplace.

The firm’s model is operational rather than financial. Small consumer health and food brands rarely fail for lack of a good product; they fail on execution — supply chain, manufacturing scale-up, distribution, and margin discipline — and these are exactly the areas where a founder with a strong product instinct is often weakest. DeVille’s response has been to supply that capability himself, taking the Chief Operating Officer role at TCHO Ventures, the craft chocolate maker, and at Cheribundi and Nib Mor Dark Chocolate, stepping in as interim COO at GoodBelly, the probiotic beverage brand under NextFoods, working in strategy and corporate development for Cropster, and serving on the boards of TCHO Ventures and Lifefactory. The cocoa expertise recurs visibly across that list, with two chocolate businesses among his operating engagements.

Education

No specific degree or university could be confirmed for DeVille from publicly available sources.