Co-Founder & General Partner
- Ranked Top 100 Powerlist VC
- ~15+ years of VC/PE Investing, 150+ Portfolio Companies
- Select Prior Portfolio Companies: Beyond Meat (IPO'd, $14B), Sensity (Acquired by Verizon, $300M+), ShopKick (Acquired by SK Telecom, $200M), Made In Space (Acquired by AE Industrial Partners), FabFitFun ($1B+), Spyce (Acquired by sweetgreen), Bear Flags Robotics (Acquired by John Deere, $250M)
- Former Managing Director of Investments at Cleveland Avenue (VC/PE Fund co-founded by Former CEO & President of McDonalds), focusing on food and beverage brands, food related technologies, and new restaurant concepts
- Founder, Head, & Former Managing Director of Simon Venture Group (investment arm of Simon Property Group, S&P 100, largest retail real estate company in the world), grew to top 5 corporate VC focused on commerce alongside Google Ventures, Intel Capital, and Comcast Ventures
- Adjunct Professor at New York University teaching Venture Capital Intensive
- Creator of Multiple Top Ranked Entrepreneur Resources: #1 Startup Investor Pitch Deck Template (viewed & downloaded 500,000+ times, used by leading business schools and accelerators)
- Co-Founder of the #1 Startup Board Game: The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
Andrew Zalasin
General Partner
- 25+ years of venture capital and private equity investment and operational experience with entrepreneurial growth companies
- Early investor in Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Venmo, Wisdom Tree, MakerBot, Magnolia Cupcakes, Concur, Massive
- Former General Partner for 17 years at RRE Ventures, a leading technology venture capital firm with $1.5B across seven funds
- Involved in nearly 200 investments and has served on more than 30 boards in the US, Europe and Asia, and has been instrumental in generating industry-leading returns and providing experience and resources to help companies build teams, attack new market opportunities, identify and secure strategic initiatives / partnerships and achieve profitable growth in all phases of development
James Zhang
Partner
- Partner at GRC Fund, a $300M+ technology fund, focused on Energy & Resource Efficiency and Health & Wellness in the US & China
- Adjunct Professor of Venture Capital & Entrepreneurship at HKUST (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology) Business School
- Co-Founder & General Partner at Formation 8, a Silicon Valley based venture capital fund with over $1B+ under management and early backer of unicorns like Oculus VR, Palantir, Wish.com, and Oscar. Other notable team members of the fund included Joe Lonsdale (Co-Founder of Palantir Technologies) and Gideon Yu (CFO of Facebook and YouTube, Partner at Sequoia and Khosla Ventures)
- Venture Partner at SoftBank China Venture Capital
- Entrepreneur in Residence & Venture Partner at Khosla Ventures, where he took Khosla's portfolio company LanzaTech to China by brokering deals between LanzaTech and Chinese steel-makers
- As a biotechnologist, Dr. Zhang was a co-founder of BioConsortia and founding member of Mendel Biotechnology. He led Mendel Biotechnology’s business development and its agricultural collaboration with Monsanto and biofuel collaboration with BP.
- Dr. Zhang has a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California Davis and completed his post-doctoral and business training at Stanford University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, respectively
David Lee
Partner
- Manages VU’s Hong Kong office, focuses on deal sourcing within Asia and investor relations
- Strong network of family offices and institutional investors
- 7+ years living and working in Asia
- Senior Director of Corporate Ventures and Strategy at Axcelis, Inc., a semiconductor company
- Director of International Business Development at Blackboard, Inc., one of the world’s largest education technology companies
- Manager of Corporate Strategy and M&A at MAXIMUS, Inc., a consulting and operations firm
- University of Southern California, MPP (International Policy and Economic Development)
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, BA
Aakash Jain
Associate Partner
- VU Cohort 2 Alum
- Venture Fellow, Jump Capital
- Co-Founder, Booth Bay Area Angel Network (Booth BAAN)
- Technology Investment Banking (Growth Equity), Financial Technology Partners
- Fixed Income Quant Trading, Morgan Stanley
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA
- Cornell University, MEng (Computer Science)
- Jacobs University, BA (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
Arpan Ajmera
Principal
- VU Cohort 7 Alum
- Previously at ZX Ventures (CVC arm of Ab InBev)
- B.S. in Mechanical Engineering From Purdue University
Jisun Min
Principal - Asia-Pacific
- INSEAD - Adjunct Professor, teaching Entrepreneurship
- One Tree Hill Ventures - Founder & CEO, collaborative partnership with Korean retail and FMCG companies
- Citi - Vice President, Global Markets - Sales Trading
- Barclays Investment Bank - Emerging Markets
- MBA - INSEAD
Spencer Tiesse
Principal - Asia-Pacific
- 6+ years of operating experience in high growth, early-stage start-ups
- Passionate about start-ups, finance, and emerging technologies
- Semi-literate coder, reformed crypto miner, and kombucha brewmaster
Venkat Bussa
LPAC Lead / Investment Committee Member
- 20 Years Experience, Engineering, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship
- Worked at Cisco, Lead Technical Marketing and Engineering functions for $1B High-End Routing and Optical Product Lines
- Market Expertise: Telecommunication, Cloud, Networking, Agriculture, Education, Commercial & Newspaper Print & Packaging Industries
- BSc. from College of Engineering Osmanabad, Harvard University - Alternative Investments, Stanford GSB - Mergers & Acquisitions, Berkeley Haas - Venture Capital Executive Program
Jagruti (Jags) Bhikha
Venture Partner
- Super Angel Investor, 40+ portfolio companies
- Senior Innovation Consultant, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)
- Founding Partner, Wingpact
- Tech Mentor, Singularity University
- Global Account Manager, Cisco
- MS, Project Management, George Washington University
- NYU - Polytechnic School of Engineering & Computer Science
Nick Koh
Venture Partner, Asia
- Experienced investor: Asia & Australia with 20 years equities funds management experience - managing institutional mandates
- Budding philanthropist. Director and Underwriter of Empower, a global NGO, helping at-risk youth in Emerging Markets
- Angel & VC investor - looking for exceptional entrepreneurs, great businesses with a strong sustainable moat, and terrific returns
TJ Yen
Venture Partner, Asia
- More than 15 years of experience in corporate development, sales, and marketing in asset management and professional services firms
- Angel investor in seed-stage companies in health and wellness, education, enterprise, and consumer industries
- Family man wanting to build a better world through investment
Johan Richards
Venture Partner, Africa
Manages VU Africa - Synergos Venture Partners, a fund focused on investing across the african continent
- Passionate about the entrepreneurial and economic development of Africa
- Serial entrepreneur and Angel Investor in many entrepreneurial startups
- Former Strategic Management Consultant focusing on entrepreneurial development
- MBA form Wits Graduate School of Business (WBS) in South Africa
- Served as Chairman of the WBS Alumni Association and member of the WBS Advisory Board
- Certified Leadership Coach, Mentor, Mediator and part time lecturer at leading South African Business school
- Consultant on the Stanford University’s Seed Transformation Program for entrepreneurs in developing economies
- Angel investor & involved with the startup of Africa’s biggest Snow Ski & Adventure Mountain Resort in Lesotho (www.afriski.net)
Jenna Fernandes
Operating Partner & Head of Human Resources - Global
- Venture Backed Serial Entrepreneur
- Co-Founder & CEO of The Next Big Thing: The Game of Entrepreneurship, backed by over 25+ of the top accelerators and VC investors
- Ranked Top 10 Female Tech CEO by Women 2.0
- Former CEO of Largest Student Run Business in The Country (Tufts Student Resources)
Hannah Wang
Head of Human Resources - Asia
- Consultant, ICF (NASDAQ:ICFI) is a global consulting and technology services provider
- Pricing Analyst, Wiley Rein LL
- George Mason University, Masters of Science
- University of Illinois, Bachelors in Science & Finance
Jaymie Lo, Administrative Assistant
Consumer Team - U.S. & Europe
Consumer Team - Asia
Enterprise Team - U.S. & Europe
FinTech & PropTech - U.S. & Europe
Fintech Team - Asia
Healthcare Team - U.S. & Europe
Crypto & Web3 - U.S. & Europe
