The VU Team

 

 

 

• 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 (Corporate 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

• 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, 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

• 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

LinkedIn

• VU Cohort 7 Alum
• Previously at ZX Ventures (CVC arm of AB InBev)
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering From Purdue University

LinkedIn

• 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)

• Mentor at German Accelerator
• Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels
• Merk, Ass. Director of Strategic Planning
• Sanofi, Ass. Director Global Market Research & Analytics

LinkedIn

• 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

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