Richard Yen
Consumer tech investor
San Francisco, California
Invests in
Skills
Lists including Richard
Investments
Work Experience
2018
Founder and Managing Partner
2018
Growth/pre-IPO investment firm focusing on profitable consumer tech companies across Internet, media, sports, consumer, and gaming. Investing in B2C companies that have established product/market fit and are scaling to the next level. Portfolio companies include NerdWallet (IPO, Nasdaq:NRDS), Second Spectrum (acquired by NYSE:GENI), Bombas, and Yami. More info at http://www.medicicap.com.
2008 - 2018
Managing Director
2010 - 2018
Led consumer tech investment practice at Saban Capital Group, an institutional family office for billionaire Haim Saban. Sourced, diligenced, and closed growth, pre-IPO, and PE investments in North America as a lead and follow-on investor. Investments include ironSource (NYSE:IS), Vessel (acquired by Verizon), Bustle, and PlayBuzz. Opened and headed up the firm's San Francisco office. Oversaw all Internet investment initiatives across the firm. Identified private Internet companies for Saban's $250M Special Purpose Acquisition Company (Nasdaq:SCACU) with an emphasis on e-commerce, ad-tech, games, consumer hardware, and education. Advised the firm's PE portfolio companies including Univision and Saban Brands on M&A and digital strategy. Led LP investments in seed and early-stage VC funds.
Director
2008 - 2010
Member of two-person early-stage VC team focused on Series A investments in the consumer Internet space. Served on Board of Directors of portfolio companies including Next New Networks (online video MCN, acquired by Google/YouTube) and SkuLoop (social commerce software, acquired by Revionics). Represented the firm in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
2004 - 2008
Principal / Kauffman Fellow
2004 - 2008
Established and led Internet and digital media investing practice focused on early-stage VC investments. Served as Board Observer for Kiptronic (mobile video advertising, acquired by Limelight), Akimbo (Internet video-on-demand), Astoria Software (SaaS content management, acquired by TransPerfect), and Teja (multi-core software platform, acquired by ARC International). Executed four new investments and 12 follow-on investments as sole non-partner deal professional. Member of Kauffman Fellows Program (2004-2006).
2003 - 2004
Associate
2003 - 2004
Performed due diligence on early-stage startups at VC firm with $650MM+ under management. Focused primarily on wireless, enterprise software, and semiconductor companies. Sourced Series A investment in Gluecode, open source software company acquired by IBM in 2005.
1999 - 2001
Product Manager / Director of Technology
1999 - 2001
Led product marketing and sales efforts for multiple product lines as company's fourth employee. Co-headed software development team, oversaw software system architecture, and designed user experience.
1999 - 1999
Vice-President, Intelligent Technologies Group
1999 - 1999
Defined product offerings for Merrill's first online brokerage, ML Direct, following business unit acquisition of D. E. Shaw Financial Technologies.
1995 - 1998
Director of Engineering
1995 - 1998
Developed pioneering web brokerage product as fourth engineer in D. E. Shaw's Internet incubator. Performed technical sales and integration as lead liaison to Fortune 100 business partners.