Moritz Baier-Lentz

Last updated
Moritz Baier-Lentz
Moritz baier-lentz omr podcast.png
Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2023
Born
Moritz Baier

(1986-01-20) January 20, 1986 (age 38)
Hanover, Germany
NationalityGerman-American
Education Stanford University (M.B.A, M.A.)
Employer(s) Lightspeed Venture Partners, World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, IBM
Board member ofInworld AI
The Believer Company
Gardens Interactive
Methodical Games
Lightforge Games
TRIPP
SpouseAlissa Baier-Lentz
Website gaming.lsvp.com

Moritz Baier-Lentz is a German-American venture capitalist. He is a partner and the head of gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners, [1] leading the firm's investments in game studios, platforms, and technologies. [2] Previously, Baier-Lentz was a vice president in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs, where he founded and led the firm's global gaming practice. [3] A former #1 ranked competitive player of Diablo II, [4] he has invested over $100 million [5] into entrepreneurs who have been leading the creation of video games like Fortnite, [6] Call of Duty, [7] League of Legends, [8] [9] Halo, Destiny, Overwatch, Valorant, [10] Apex Legends, Sky, [11] StarCraft II, and Warcraft III. [12]

Contents

Awards and professional memberships

In 2016 and 2017, Baier-Lentz was regarded by Forbes (United States) and Capital (Germany) as one of the most influential finance professionals in their 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 lists, respectively. [13] [14] [15] In 2017, he joined the German-American Atlantik-Brücke [16] and in 2023, he was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum [17] and invited to participate as a delegate in the 54th Annual Meeting in Davos. [18] Baier-Lentz holds an MBA and M.A. from Stanford University, and graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar. [19]

Early life and education

Baier-Lentz grew up as a first-generation high school graduate in rural Germany [20] and spent his teenage years playing Blizzard Entertainment’s multiplayer action role-playing game Diablo II, culminating in a global #1 ranking among 13 million active players in 2003. [21] He used a combination of proceeds from virtual goods sales [20] [22] and German national academic merit scholarships from Studienstiftung and DAAD to help finance his undergraduate and graduate studies. [23]

Career

Investment banking

After starting his career as a data scientist at IBM, [1] Baier-Lentz joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, and founded and led the firm's global gaming practice. [24] During his tenure as vice president, he advised gaming and technology corporations on over $300 billion in transaction volume across mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, venture capital, and other strategic transactions, including Dell's $67 billion acquisition of EMC and IBM’s $34 billion purchase of Red Hat. [12]

Venture capital

Baier-Lentz went on to become a partner and management team member at BITKRAFT Ventures, [25] where he invested during the firm's time as the most active gaming venture capital firm and lead investor in 2020, 2021, and 2022 [12] before joining Lightspeed in 2023.

Speaking engagements

Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2024 at the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Moritz baier-lentz world economic forum davos.jpg
Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2024 at the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Baier-Lentz has been featured as a speaker at the World Economic Forum, [26] Goldman Sachs, [27] Stanford University, [28] Harvard University, [29] Massachusetts Institute of Technology, [30] Axios, [31] South by Southwest, [32] Slush, [33] and the Game Developers Conference. [34]

Personal life

Baier-Lentz is an Ironman and ultramarathon runner, including the 251-kilometer long, self-sufficient Marathon des Sables [35] and the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons on 7 continents within 7 days). [36] [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Draper Fisher Jurvetson</span> American venture capital firm

Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growth continues to be managed by co-founder John Fisher and co-founders Mark Bailey, Randy Glein, and Barry Schuler.

Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.

Highland Capital Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Highland has raised over $4 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 280 companies, with 47 IPOs and 134 acquisitions.

Lightspeed Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm focusing on early-stage investments in the enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. Lightspeed has ten offices globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institutional Venture Partners</span> American investment firm

Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a US-based venture capital investment firm focusing on later-stage companies and growth equity investments. IVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1980.

FirstMark is a venture capital firm based in New York City. FirstMark invests in early-stage technology companies, frequently as the first institutional investor and leading the rounds it participates in. Notable investments include Airbnb, Pinterest, Shopify, DraftKings, Stubhub, Upwork, and Ro.

Uncork Capital is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeff Clavier. Considered one of the most active established seed funds in Silicon Valley, it has invested in companies such as Postmates, Eventbrite, Fitbit, and SendGrid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter L. Corsell</span> American technology entrepreneur and investor

Peter L. Corsell is an American technology entrepreneur, leader, and investor. A repeat entrepreneur in the sustainable energy industry, Corsell founded GridPoint in 2003, and Twenty First Century Utilities in 2015.

Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company. The company began as the first Bitcoin blockchain explorer in 2011 and later created a cryptocurrency wallet that accounted for 28% of bitcoin transactions between 2012 and 2020. It also operates a cryptocurrency exchange and provides institutional markets lending business and data, charts, and analytics.

Circle began as a peer-to-peer payments technology company that now manages stablecoin USDC, a cryptocurrency the value of which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. It was founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in October 2013. Circle is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. USDC, the second largest stablecoin worldwide, is designed to hold at or near a stable price of $1. The majority of its stablecoin collateral is held in short-term U.S. government securities.

OpenWeb is a social engagement platform that builds online communities around digital content. OpenWeb works with publishers to bring conversations back from social networks to publisher sites.

Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Austin, and London. The firm is considered one of the world's premier venture capital firms.

Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management (GSPFM) is a former division of Goldman Sachs responsible for wealth management of high-net-worth individuals. It has 74 offices in the United States and manages $25 billion in assets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadre (company)</span> New York-based technology company

Cadre is a New York–based financial technology company that provides individuals and institutions direct access to institutional-quality real estate investment properties, including commercial properties. The business and financial press describe it as a platform that "makes the real estate market more like the stock market" by allowing investors to select the individual transactions in which they participate, while investing a smaller amount than would be required to fully fund a transaction. For example, 12 institutional investors participated in a $60 million office building purchase. The firm was named to Forbes' "FinTech50" for 7 years in a row starting in 2016. In 2019, Cadre was the cover story of the Forbes "FinTech 50" issue. In 2018, a partnership with Goldman Sachs was announced through which Goldman Sachs' private wealth clients committed at least $250 million (USD) real estate investments through Cadre. In 2020, Cadre announced its "Direct Access" fund intended to include smaller investors with a $400 million target raise. The company also offers a managed portfolio service and a real estate secondary market, as well as a cash holdings account called "Cadre Cash". The company has announced plans to address racial injustice in the United States by investing at least 10% of its Direct Access fund investments with minority-owned operators and increasing its cash held in black-owned banks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fifth Wall (firm)</span>

Fifth Wall is a venture capital firm founded in 2016 by Brendan F. Wallace and Brad Greiwe. It manages the largest fund specialized in real estate technology The firm's name refers to a fifth wall of technology it provides in addition to the four physical walls of a building. It is part of an emerging category of "PropTech" investors. Major financial backers include large real estate industry companies that agree to be matched with the products and services of the firm's portfolio of start-up companies. The firm has separate funds for investments in emerging retail brands and climate technology to help real-estate companies reduce carbon emissions from their buildings.

Sixth Street is a global investment firm with over $70 billion in assets under management. The firm operates nine investment platforms across its growth investing, adjacencies, direct lending, fundamental public strategies, infrastructure, special situations, agriculture and par liquid credit businesses. Sixth Street invests in the equity and debt of public and private companies, acquires real estate, finances infrastructure projects, and provides start-up capital to new businesses. Sixth Street has been noted in the financial media for the unusual structure of its largest fund, which is open-ended and able to hold longer-term investments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Ehrsam</span> Coinbase co-founder and cryptocurrency entrepreneur

Frederick "Fred" Ernest Ehrsam III is an American business executive and investor who is the co-founder and former managing partner of cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm. He is also the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Garry Cooper Jr. is an American entrepreneur, scientist, and business leader. He currently serves as the CEO of Rheaply, an enterprise asset management company for the circular economy, which he co-founded in 2015. He is also a founding member of LongJump, a venture capital firm dedicated to funding underrepresented founders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Liew</span> Consumer venture capitalist investor

Jeremy Liew is a venture capitalist, best known for making the initial seed investment in Snapchat.

General Catalyst is a U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firm that makes early stage and growth investments. The firm has invested in global companies, including Airbnb, Kayak, Datalogix, Datto, Livongo, Gusto, Buildkite, Warby Parker, Oscar, Deliveroo, Lemonade, Stripe, and Snap.

References

  1. 1 2 Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  2. ↑ Gardner, Matt. "Lightspeed Taps Gamer-Turned-VC To Lead Firm's Debut Gaming Arm". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  3. ↑ Flynn, Kerry (2023-01-18). "Lightspeed hires Baier-Lentz as head of gaming". Axios. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  4. ↑ Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  5. ↑ Gardner, Matt. "Gardens Raises $31 Million, Gets Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft Exec Backing". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  6. ↑ Gardner, Matt. "Lightforge Games Raises $15 Million For New RPG From Big-Name Investors". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  7. ↑ "Methodical Games raises $15M to create multiplayer action-adventure game". VentureBeat. 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  8. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (2023-03-07). "Believer, a new approach to gaming, raises $55M from Lightspeed, a16z and more". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  9. ↑ "Ex-Riot employees raise $55M for new studio The Believer Company". VentureBeat. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  10. ↑ "Riot veterans raise $37.5 million for Theorycraft Games startup". VentureBeat. 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  11. ↑ "Gardens raises $31.3M for fantasy action role-playing game". VentureBeat. 2021-07-11. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  12. 1 2 3 "Lightspeed picks up Moritz Baier-Lentz to lead game investments". VentureBeat. 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  13. ↑ "30 Under 30 2016: Finance". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  14. ↑ "Forbes Profile: Moritz Baier-Lentz". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  15. ↑ "Das sind die Nachwuchs-Talente der Finanzbranche". capital.de (in German). 20 February 2018. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  16. ↑ "Atlantik-Brücke Jahresbericht 2017/18" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  17. ↑ "New Class". The Forum of Young Global Leaders. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  18. ↑ "World Economic Forum Annual Meeting". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  19. ↑ "Past Award & Certificate Recipients". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  20. 1 2 "Lightspeed's new head of gaming wants to rethink investments in the vertical | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  21. ↑ Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  22. ↑ "What play-to-earn games mean for the economy - and metaverse". World Economic Forum. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  23. ↑ "Einer, der auszog". asv.faz.net. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  24. ↑ Morrell, Alex. "RISING STARS: Meet 16 investment bankers age 35 and under doing huge deals". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  25. ↑ Shieber, Jonathan (2020-02-21). "Gaming-focused investment firm Bitkraft closes in on at least $140 million for its second fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  26. ↑ "Moritz Baier-Lentz - Agenda Contributor". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  27. ↑ "Goldman Sachs | Podcast: 'Exchanges at Goldman Sachs' - Episode 92: eSports: The New Global Pastime". Goldman Sachs. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  28. ↑ "FAME Conference 2022: The Metaverse | FAME Conference 2022". fameconference.sites.stanford.edu. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  29. ↑ "Side Program – 2019 German American Conference at Harvard" . Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  30. ↑ "Guests - MIT Gaming Industry Club | MIT Sloan School of Management". sloangroups.mit.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  31. ↑ "Media dealmakers chat AI as a business accelerator | Axios". axios.com. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  32. ↑ "Reality Check: Are VR and AR Ready for Prime Time?". SXSW 2023 Schedule. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  33. ↑ "Slush Nov 30 - Dec 1, Helsinki: Moritz Baier-Lentz, Partner & Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners". Slush 2023 Speakers. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  34. ↑ "GDC 2023 SESSION VIEWER".
  35. ↑ Longman, Jeré (2019-04-25). "An Amputee's Toughest Challenge Yet: Her 140-Mile Run in the Desert". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  36. ↑ "World Marathon Challenge 2023 Competitors & Results". World Marathon Challenge. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  37. ↑ "Screentime: The Venture Investor Who Runs Through Antarctica in Silence". The Information. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.