Yan Shi Zhang (Chinese: Zhang Yanshi on August 28, 1969-) was born in Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore, a Chinese venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Yan Shi Zhang is the founder and CEO of Polaris Venture Fund. Yan Shi Zhang is famous for his long-term venture capital and angel investment. He is engaged in: IT core technology, financial technology, medical care, AR/VR, robotics, drones, space technology blockchain, and other cutting-edge technologies that have great value to society. Currently mainly active in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency. He is also a well-known philanthropist. There are substantial charitable giving in Singapore and the US.
In 2018, he was invited to join Skuchain and served as the chairman of the board.
Life:
In 1990, he entered the Department of Finance of the National University of Singapore to study for a master’s degree in financial mechanics.
He received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1998.
From 2002 to 2004, as the principal of 500 Startups Greater China, Yan Shi Zhang became one of the Silicon Valley venture capitalists who took the lead in leading international venture capital funds to open representative offices in mainland China and conduct local investment business.
He has successively led and invested in successful companies listed in the United States, such as Baidu, Kongkong, and Focus Media.
2006: Invested in Aerohive Networks (NYSE: HIBE), an advanced enterprise wireless networking technology provider, exited after seed and Series A funding rounds, and was successful.
In 2007, Yan shi Zhang left his position at 500 Startups and set up his first investment partnership with his friends: Polaris Venture Fund, which invested US$10 million.
In 2013, the market capitalization of Polaris Venture Fund reached $48 million.
2013: Yan Shi Zhang led Polaris Venture Fund to participate in start-ups mainly seed and A rounds with successful exits and high growth: Chime Bank (Invested in 2013, and $14.5B valuation in 2020) Woomoo (acquired by Priceline) Orbeus (acquired by Amazon) Ozlo (acquired by Facebook) and was listed as the first to lead VCs on TechCrunch’s 2013 list.
In September 2017, Yan Shi Zhang, Sequoia Capital and IDG Capital completed a $50 million Series A financing for Bitmain, a semiconductor design company headquartered in Beijing, China. A company that primarily designs and manufactures custom chips for Bitcoin mining machines. At this time, the market value of Polaris Venture Fund has reached $500M
Yan Shi Zhang joined Skuchain in 2018 and served as the chairman of the board of directors. Skuchain is a cooperation that mainly uses blockchain technology to strengthen the supply chain of enterprises, and has created a venture fund to invest in artificial intelligence, biomedical and other high-tech, aerospace financial services. He has successively led investment cases such as HCW Bio (Nasdaq: HCWB), Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeons (BHPS), etc.
In 2006, Forbes magazine named the global authoritative venture capitalist annual award “Forbes Midas List” career achievements:
Introduced to China, the list was first published, and Yan Shi Zhang was named one of the honorary winners of the “Chinese Venture Capitalist Golden Hand Award”.
Won the 2017 Global Best Cross-border Venture Capital Chinese of China Investment Group.
The Best Venture Capital Figure of China Venture 2016-2017.