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Why platforms and community will be key to early VR
Talks about AR, Augmented Reality and Content
KZ
Kevin Zhang
Partner at Upfront Ventures
Los Angeles, California
Overview
Kevin Zhang is a Partner at Upfront Ventures in Los Angeles, California, with a focus on startup development and venture capital. With a background in private equity and corporate development, he has led investments in various sectors including Games, AgTech, and Entertainment & Sports, showcasing expertise in market research and business strategy.
Highlights of Kevin's career include his role as Partner at Upfront Ventures, where he has overseen investments in a diverse range of companies and sectors, and his expertise in due diligence and market entry strategies, contributing to successful startup development and growth.
Work Experience
General Partner
2016 - Current
Upfront Ventures is proud to be an early investor in and long-term partner to passionate founders solving big problems. Founded in 1996 in Los Angeles with investing professionals based in LA and San Francisco, Upfront has backed standout teams across technology sectors with dedicated team members focused in healthcare, fintech, aerospace and defense, dev tools and infra, consumerization of enterprise software, gaming and AI. We lead pre-Seed and Seed rounds with our Seed Funds and jump into B and C rounds with our Early Growth Funds. I focus on healthcare, gaming, dev tools and infra, if you're building in these verticals, would love to connect.
Principal
2015 - 2016
Senior Associate
2014 - 2015
Associate
2012 - 2014
Upfront Ventures is the venture capital firm focusing on early-stage technology companies.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2025
Seed Lead, Board Member
2024
Daytona is the enterprise-grade GitHub Codespaces alternative for managing self-hosted, secure and standardized development environments.
Raised $7,000,000.00 from Upfront Ventures and 500 Emerging Europe.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2024
Seed Lead, Board Member
2021
Certify is an API-driven platform automating all stages of provider network management: licensing, enrollment, credentialing, monitoring.
Raised $19,050,000.00 from Upfront Ventures, Max Ventures, General Catalyst and Arkitekt Ventures.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2021
Omni Creator Products empower every player to become a creator.
Raised $20,550,000.00 from Andreessen Horowitz.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2020
Pragma is a backend game engine that enables multiplayer and social games.
Raised $38,200,000.00 from Kevin Lin, Greylock, Overwolf, Advancit Capital, Ted Gill, Daher Capital, Insight Partners and Upfront Ventures.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2020
Switch Therapeutics is a biotech company that develops RNAi therapies.
Raised $52,000,000.00 from Bold Capital Partners, Upfront Ventures, Insight Partners, Dolby Family Ventures, Eli Lilly & Company Foundation, Ono Venture Investment, Digitalis Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, UCB Ventures and PhiFund Ventures.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2019
Rula is a leading company in the behavioral healthcare space, with a mission to make mental healthcare work for everyone.
Raised $110,850,000.00 from Hedosophia.
Seed Lead, Board Member
2019
Stray Bombay is a studio made up of Industry veterans and making cooperative games.
Raised $7,000,000.00 from Acequia Capital (AceCap).
Education
AB
2005 - 2009