Matt Sodl

Founding Partner & President

As Innovation Capital's Founding Partner and President, Mr. Sodl oversees a firm that has established itself as one of the leading boutique investment banks serving the mid-market gaming, leisure, restaurant and retail industries. Mr. Sodl is one of the most tenured gaming industry bankers on Wall Street, having over 25 years of experience advising clients on debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, financial restructurings and project finance transactions. Since its inception in 2004, Mr. Sodl has led Innovation Capital's banking practice which has completed 110+ transactions aggregating over $10.7 billion for nearly every segment of the gaming/hospitality industry, including privately-held commercial casinos, Native American tribal gaming entities, gaming equipment manufacturers, sports betting and iGaming businesses and restaurant companies. Over the course of his career, Mr. Sodl has advised on transactions aggregating over $40 billion.

Prior to Innovation Capital, Mr. Sodl served as a senior banker at Merrill Lynch where he worked on a number of the casino gaming industry's largest transactions. Mr. Sodl is widely quoted in the news media including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, BusinessWeek and the Las Vegas Sun, and was named to Investor Dealers' Digest’s “40 under 40” list of leading investment bankers in 2006. In 2017, Mr. Sodl was recognized by Global Gaming Business Magazine as one of the "25 People to Watch" in the casino gaming industry. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sodl worked in the Financial Sponsor Group at Citicorp, the Investment Banking Department at Schroder Wertheim, and at the boutique investment bank Murphy Noell Capital.

Mr. Sodl earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Columbia University where he was a four-year letterman in football and was a two-time All-Ivy League selection. In 2020, Mr. Sodl was named to the All-150 Football Anniversary Team by Columbia Athletics. Mr. Sodl received a Master's Degree in Business Administration from The Anderson School at UCLA.

Mr. Sodl is active in a number of not-for-profit organizations, including serving on the Board of Columbia College Alumni Association, the Board of the Loyola Gridiron Vanguard Club, the Board of Advisors of the Battleship USS IOWA, and has served in the leadership of the El Segundo Pop Warner Football Program. Mr. Sodl is a member of the New York Athletic Club.

Mr. Sodl is married to his wife Cathy and they have three children, Katie, Kelly, and Patrick.