30 AND UNDER: Rising stars in Los Angeles tech who find hot startup deals and manage millions of dollars
Chang Xu sits on the board of Nexkey, writes frequent posts on topics like China and manufacturing, and is a regular panel speaker in LA.
Title: Principal at Upfront Ventures
Age: 29
Companies they've worked with: Imbellus, inVia Robotics, MakeSpace, The Mighty, and Nexkey.
Chang Xu is passionate about the education-tech sector. Prior to joining Upfront, she was a cofounder of a Beijing-based startup developing a personalized learning app for kids.
Her ed-tech connections led to Upfront's investment in Strive Talent, a hiring platform that makes applying for sales jobs easier. Kerry Bennett, head of marketing at Upfront, called it "one of our most exciting new investments with a positive global mission."
"Chang's expertise and deep relationships in this area were invaluable to sourcing this deal," Bennet said, adding: "She's super smart and ambitious. We'll all be working for Chang someday."
Teddy Citrin sourced one of the buzziest deals of the year with Bird.
Title: Venture investor at Greycroft Partners
Age: 28
Companies they've worked with: Bird, Candid, Fig, Hollar, Hubble, and Peanut
When Bird launched the first electric scooters in its hometown of Santa Monica last fall, Teddy Citrin saw how quickly riders became obsessed. He looked up the company on LinkedIn, but there were no employees listed. With a little digging, he figured out that the first person to follow Bird on Instagram was also its CEO: Travis VanderZanden.
Citrin introduced VanderZanden to a friend who became Bird's senior director of engineering. In exchange, he landed his firm a coveted pitch meeting with Bird.
In June, Greycroft participated in the company's $300 million Series C funding round.
Prior to joining Greycroft, Citrin was a product manager at eBay, where he led product strategy and day-to-day operations for the eBay homepage across all devices.
Maaria Bajwa grew up in Silicon Valley, but went south to jumpstart a career in venture capital at Ashton Kutcher's investment firm.
Title: Associate at Sound Ventures
Age: 28
Companies they've worked with: B8ta, Carrot, Crowd Cow, and Lus Brands
At Sound Ventures, the venture capital firm founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary, Maaria Bajwa helps portfolio companies realize their value by analyzing complex challenges, identifying market opportunities, and overseeing operational rollouts.
"What is special about Maaria is that she has an innate curiosity and drive that can't be taught," said Effie Epstein, managing partner of Sound Ventures. "She is constantly striving to learn more, do more, and deliver an outsized impact to Sound Ventures and our portfolio companies."
Before breaking into venture capital, Bajwa attended University of California, Los Angeles, and worked some brief stints in the entertainment industry.
Talia Rosenthal heads up an incubator inside venture firm Science that partners with entrepreneurs to build a portfolio of blockchain- and crypto-related businesses that are positioned for long-term success.
Title: Asset manager at Science
Age: 29
Companies they've worked with: 8base, ICO Watchdog, PlayVS, Spl.yt, SpringRole, and Unlocked
Talia Rosenthal moved from Singapore, where she worked at a startup incubator, to Los Angeles to join investors Peter Pham and Mike Jones in building an untraditional venture firm. Science is a part-VC firm, part-incubator, where Rosenthal works with entrepreneurs on their strategies for business development, finance, and marketing.
"I try to support our founders in any way that they need — serving as a key operator, as well as a confidant and friend," Rosenthal told Business Insider. "Building a business is challenging, and I want to ensure that our companies have ongoing access to resources and tools to build thriving ventures."
Jones, who is CEO of Science, said Rosenthal was "critical to the process" of launching the firm's new incubator and fund focused on blockchain- and crypto-related startups. In a security token offering last year, Science Blockchain raised about $12 million.
Arteen Arabshahi has a secret sauce: access to one of the largest and most meaningful networks of entrepreneurs in Los Angeles.
Title: Principal at Fika Ventures
Age: 27
Companies they've worked with: Atticus, Bowery, Fairclaims, Papaya, OpenPath, and PathSpot
Arabshahi spent four years at Karlin Ventures before leaving to become a founding member of Fika Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund that invests in founders solving systemic problems through the use of data, artificial intelligence, and automation.
Prior to becoming an investor, Arabshahi launched BuiltInLa.com, an online community whose mission is to connect, educate, and promote entrepreneurs and innovators in LA.
"Arteen has developed an incredibly robust network of genuine relationships for someone of his age and is thoughtful in how and when to utilize it, both for sourcing and supporting our portfolio," said Eva Ho, a cofounder and general partner at Fika.
Kiyan Yazdi helped launch a startup that pulled $18 million in revenue in the first 18 months — before starting a career in venture capital.
Title: Venture associate at Mucker Capital
Age: 28
Companies they've worked with: EnrollHero, InvolveSoft, MindMate, Ordermark, and Reel
Before joining Mucker Capital, Kiyan Yazdi was a member of the founding team at The Beard Club, a men's grooming kit subscription service, where he helped grow the company to over 70,000 members and $18 million in revenue in the first 18 months.
These days, Yazdi, a University of Southern California grad, spends most of his time meeting founders and sourcing new investment deals for Mucker, a seed-stage venture firm that puts money into companies powering a software-enabled world.
William Hsu, a managing partner at Mucker, describes Yazdi as self-motivated and diligent, citing a seed-stage deal that Yazdi sourced within weeks of joining Mucker.
Shiza Shahid, who previously founded a nonprofit alongside Malala Yousafzai, is supporting startups focused on positive social impact.
Title: General partner at Now Ventures and cofounder of the Malala Fund
Age: ~29
You hear it all the time in tech. Startups are "making the world a better place."
For activist Shiza Shahid, it's not only true — it's a criteria for startups seeking money from her young venture firm. She founded Now Ventures in 2016 to support early-stage startups that "deliver positive social benefits alongside competitive financial returns."
Shahid grew up in Pakistan and left her job as an analyst at McKinsey & Company when she heard that the Taliban tried to assassinate her dear friend, Malala Yousafzai. The two women went on to build the Malala Fund, a nonprofit that helps women around the world get access to education. Shahid stepped down as CEO to pursue venture full-time.
Now Ventures has decided not to publish its investments online, but a general manager at Angelist confirmed to Business Insider that it's actively investing in tech companies.
Will Coffield has evaluated thousands of companies and focuses on investments at the intersection of hardware and software.
Title: Cofounder and partner at Riot Ventures
Age: 29
Companies they've worked with: Arrivo and Rugged Robotics
Will Coffield leads the west coast office for Riot Ventures, an early-stage venture firm that puts money into companies that leverage hardware as a core component of their software solution. He's especially excited about the talent he's finding in Los Angeles.
"The Bay Area is an incredible place where we spend a lot of time as investors, but more and more companies are being built in places that have not been historically thought of as tech hubs and we think that LA will be one of the prime beneficiaries of that dispersion," Coffield told Business Insider.
Prior to joining Riot, Coffield was a principal with Boston-based Saturn Partners, where he led early-stage investments in enterprise and financial technology companies.
Leah Volger spent four years at Google advising C-suite execs on how to grow revenue and customers before becoming a venture capitalist.
Title: Vice president of Bonfire Ventures
Age: 30
Companies they've worked with: Boulevard, ThinkIQ, and Tray
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Leah Volger spent four years at Google in Boston and the Bay Area, working in sales and product marketing. During her time at Google, she led the Google Fiber brand and product marketing efforts in several launch markets.
Volger, a Harvard Business School grad, took the experience of building a trusted brand at Google and applied her learnings toward the launch of Bonfire Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focused on enterprise companies based in Southern California.
"Not only does she find some of the best deals, but she's super helpful in the startup community and generous with her time," said Ross Ingram, a cofounder of Los Angeles-based startup Maslo, who's worked with Volger. "She's a rockstar."
Sophia Khan is finding investment opportunities in the aerospace sector after working with the British government to combat terrorism in Iraq.
Title: Venture investor at Greycroft Partners
Age: 27
Companies they've worked with: Anine Bing, FairClaims, Happiest Baby, HopSkipDrive, Pyka, Sanctuary, and Seed
Prior to joining Greycroft, Sophia Khan worked in counterterrorism at Interpol and with the British government in the UK and Iraq. Her duties included advising military and police forces and providing defense and infrastructure intelligence for global agencies.
"When I came back after working overseas, it was literally going from the frontlines outside of Mosul to what I thought was a buttoned-up desk job in venture capital," Khan, a native of Los Angeles, told Business Insider. I couldn't have been more wrong."
At Greycroft, Khan splits her time between meeting entrepreneurs and offering support to the firm's portfolio companies. Over the past year, she's been working alongside managing partner Dana Settle to map out opportunities in space, drones, and AR/VR.
Suzy Ryoo manages a portfolio of nearly 100 startups across two firms.
Title: Vice president of technology and innovation at Atom Factory and partner at Cross Culture Ventures
Age: 30
Companies they've worked with: Catalyte, Girlboss, PlayVS, Seed, Wonderschool, and Yumi
In 2015, Suzy Ryoo was coming up on five years working at a media agency when Troy Carter, a talent manager who launched Lady Gaga's career, hired her away to spot investment opportunities for his company Atom Factory. She oversees the portfolio and provides ongoing support to the founders of Warby Parker, WeTransfer, and Enplug.
That same year, Carter and his business partner Marlon Nichols cofounded a boutique early-stage venture fund called Cross Culture Ventures. Again, they invited Ryoo to run the show. Cross Culture has backed founders across 30 investments in consumer tech.
"Suzy has become a rainmaker for the fund," Carter told Business Insider. "She has an encyclopedic knowledge for startups and helps our portfolio companies even when they don't know they need it."
Amanda Groves has the most "LA" gig in venture capital.
Title: Vice president and partner at Plus Capital
Age: 26
Companies they've worked with: Beekeepers Naturals, Beyond Meat, Casper, Dirty Lemon, Seed, Stem, and Sweetgreen
After spending nearly three years as an analyst at JP Morgan, Amanda Groves left to join Plus Capital, a venture firm that connects Hollywood influencers, celebrities, and pro athletes with investment opportunities at early- and mid-stage tech companies.
On a typical day, Groves, a San Francisco Bay Area native, meets with celebrities to understand their passions and interests so the firm can match them with the right entrepreneurs and companies. She also does diligence on those investment deals.
"Saying Amanda is a rockstar doesn't do her justice," said Plus founder Adam Lilling. "She is leading most of our consumer investments at Plus, is loved by both our celebrities and our portfolio CEOs, and is the greatest single hire I've had in my 25 years in startup and venture."
Abha Nath used her knack for identifying new investment opportunities to help the Walt Disney Company make bank through its accelerator.
Title: Analyst at Wonder Ventures
Age: 22
Companies they've worked with: Arcadia Power, Clutter, Dray Alliance, WeRecover, Stasis Labs, and TruStory
Abha Nath started her career at the Disney Accelerator, where she helped source new investment opportunities for the Walt Disney Company's core business. She joined the team as the Disney Accelerator was starting to scale up operations and invest in later-stage companies, including Epic Games, Kahoot!, Brit+Co, and Hoodline.
In 2018, Nath, a University of Southern California grad, began her next adventure at Wonder Ventures, a pre-seed venture firm that invests in entrepreneurs building technology companies in order to address the world's toughest challenges.
"Abha is a force to be reckoned within the LA tech scene. She brings a unique perspective to her work with Wonder Ventures' portfolio companies and aims to improve the broader LA community through all her efforts," said Dustin Rosen, managing partner of Wonder.
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