# Ivan Lee

> Ivan Lee is the Founder and CEO of Datasaur, an NLP data labeling and private LLM development platform based in Silicon Valley. A Stanford-trained engineer and serial entrepreneur, Ivan previously co-founded Loki Studios (acquired by Yahoo in 2013) and worked as a product manager at both Yahoo and Apple before launching Datasaur in 2019. Under his leadership, Datasaur has raised $9.2M across multiple seed rounds backed by Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, and Greg Brockman of OpenAI, serving enterprise clients including Google, Netflix, Spotify, the FBI, and Zoom with tools that improve labeling efficiency by up to 9.6x and enable companies to build their own private AI models.

- **Role:** Founder/CEO at Datasaur
- **Organizations:** Datasaur, Loki Studios (acquired), Yahoo, Apple, Y Combinator (W20), Stanford StartX (F19), Gold House Founder Network
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. Computer Science, Stanford University, Mayfield Fellows Program (entrepreneurship), Stanford University, M.S. Computer Science (did not complete - left to found Loki Studios), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Loki Studios which was acquired by Yahoo in 2013, Built Geomon, a location-based game that predated Pokémon Go's core concept by years, reaching 1 million users, Received Yahoo Excellence Award

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Selected for Stanford Mayfield Fellows Program in entrepreneurship
- **2010-2011** — Began M.S. Computer Science at Stanford; left a few credits short to co-found Loki Studios
- **2011-2013** — Co-founded Loki Studios with Chris Meill and Brian Laub; built Geomon, a location-based creature-collecting mobile game that reached 1 million users and achieved profitability
- **2013** — Loki Studios acquired by Yahoo (May 10, 2013); Ivan joined Yahoo's mobile team
- **2013-2015** — Product Manager at Yahoo; participated in inaugural Associate PM program; rebuilt mobile search using AI; received Yahoo Excellence Award; co-awarded two patents for mobile UI innovations
- **2016-2018** — Product Manager at Apple; worked on AI Products; determined content policies for products with hundreds of millions of daily users
- **2019** — Founded Datasaur (February 2019); joined Stanford StartX F19 accelerator
- **2020** — Accepted into Y Combinator W20 batch; raised $1.1M early seed (March) and $2.8M seed led by Initialized Capital with Greg Brockman investing (September)
- **2022** — Datasaur published comprehensive NLP data labeling resources; expanded enterprise client base to include Google, Netflix, Spotify, Zoom, and the FBI
- **2023** — Launched LLM Lab product; raised $4M seed round led by Initialized Capital with participation from Gold House Ventures (August)
- **2024** — Integrated Datasaur LLM Labs with Amazon Bedrock (AWS partnership); spoke at The AI Conference in San Francisco; LinkedIn designated Ivan as Top Voice in Private AI
- **2025** — Continued expanding enterprise AI platform; hosted AI User Conference workshop on LLM Labs

## Achievements

- Co-founded Loki Studios which was acquired by Yahoo in 2013
- Built Geomon, a location-based game that predated Pokémon Go's core concept by years, reaching 1 million users
- Received Yahoo Excellence Award
- Co-awarded two patents for mobile UI innovations at Yahoo
- Accepted into Y Combinator W20
- Raised $9.2M in total funding from Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, Greg Brockman, and Gold House Ventures
- Built Datasaur to serve enterprise clients including Google, Netflix, Spotify, Zoom, and the FBI
- Datasaur's platform improves labeling project efficiency by 9.6x
- Launched LLM Lab which accounts for half of Datasaur's revenue
- Designated LinkedIn Top Voice in Private AI and Enterprise
- Featured in Gold House Founder Network as a leading Asian entrepreneur
- Amazon Bedrock integration enabling clients to cut AI project costs up to 70%

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Hosted AI User Conference workshop on leveraging Datasaur LLM Labs for marketing workflows
- **2024-10** — Launched Project Analytics upgrade with real-time labeling progress tracking and customized metrics
- **2024-07** — Announced enhanced Amazon Bedrock integration enabling AI cost reductions up to 70%
- **2024-04** — Published blog post 'Choosing the Right LLM: An Exploration into How Different Models Stack Up in Performance'
- **2024-04** — Spoke at The AI Conference 2024 in San Francisco on Mastering LLMs
- **2023-08** — Raised $4M seed round led by Initialized Capital; launched LLM Lab product

## Links

- Website: https://datasaur.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/iylee
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanfslee
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/DatasaurNLPLabeling/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ivan-lee
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-12