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Ernestine Fu | |
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 Fu in 2024 | |
| Born | April 30, 1992 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Stanford University (BS, MS, MBA, PhD) |
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Ernestine Fu (born April 30, 1992) [1] is an American venture capitalist, investor, and author.
Fu was born in Los Angeles, California, [2] to Chinese parents who immigrated to the United States during the 1980s. She was raised in North Ridge, California, and attended North Hollywood High School, where she was a member of a gifted students program. [1]
Fu graduated with her B.S., M.S., M.B.A., and Ph.D. from Stanford University. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] He dissertation was titled "Human Operator-Autonomous Vehicle Interactions with System Bias and Transitions of Control".
Fu is an investment partner at Brave Capital. [8] Inspired by her colleagues' government and national security backgrounds, particularly their work at the NSA and In-Q-Tel, she started her career at Alsop Louie Partners while still as an undergraduate at Stanford University and has since been a venture partner at the firm. She closed her first deal in her first two months at the firm, and was recognized for bringing a fresh face to venture capital as a young Asian-American woman. [1] [9] [10] [11]
She is frequently cited on the topic of autonomous vehicles. She has made investments in early-stage technology companies like Zoox (now a subsidiary of Amazon) and nuTonomy (now part of the Motional autonomous driving joint venture between Aptiv and Hyundai Motor Group). [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] She completed her doctoral thesis on autonomous vehicles at Stanford University's Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Lab, and her research has received awards at academic conferences such as the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. [18] She has been a director at Hyundai Motor Group. [19]
Fu has been an advisor to DBS Bank. She helped launch the bank's venture debt program for financing startups and was the face of DBS BusinessClass, a program to foster entrepreneurship in Asia. [20] [21] [22]
Fu has taught courses on the effects and applications of emerging technology as an adjunct professor and is co-director of the Frontier Technology Lab. [23]
Forbes named her to its inaugural 30 Under 30 list; Vanity Fair named her to its Next Establishment list; and Business Insider named her to its Silicon Valley 100 list. [24] [25] [26] Prior to including her on its 30 Under 30 list, Forbes featured her on the cover of its print magazine in the United States. [27] She received the Kauffman Fellowship for venture capitalists and Eisenhower Fellowship for mid-career professionals. [28] [29]
Vinod Khosla is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures. Khosla made his wealth from early venture capital investments in areas such as networking, software, and alternative energy technologies. He is considered one of the most successful and influential venture capitalists.
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Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/AI, and security. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion. Index Venture partners appear frequently on Forbes’ Midas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.
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Theresia Gouw is an entrepreneur and venture capital investor in the technology sector. She worked at Bain & Company, Release Software and Accel Partners before co-founding Aspect Ventures, a female-led venture capital firm, in 2014. Gouw was named one of the 40 most influential minds in tech by Time Magazine. and has been recognized seven times on the Forbes Midas List as one of the "world's smartest tech investors". According to Forbes, Gouw is the richest female venture capitalist, with a net worth of approximately $500 million, primarily due to her involvement with Accel (company)'s early investment in Facebook.
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Jennifer Fonstad is an American venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She is the managing partner and a co-founder of the Owl Capital Group, a venture firm based in Silicon Valley. Fonstad was Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) for 17 years. She is also co-founder of angel investing network Broadway Angels. Fonstad has been recognized as a top 100 tech investor on Forbes’ Midas List twice and was named 2016 Venture Capitalist of the Year by Deloitte. She is also a Founding Member of All Raise.
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