# Jeremy Liew

> Jeremy Liew is a legendary consumer venture capitalist and Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, best known as the first institutional investor in Snapchat — turning an $8.1M bet into nearly $2 billion at the 2017 IPO. Born in Singapore and raised in Perth, Australia, Liew competed at the International Math Olympiad alongside future Fields Medalist Terence Tao before pivoting to business. After stints at McKinsey, IAC, and AOL, he joined Lightspeed in 2006 as its first consumer specialist, backing Affirm, Bonobos, GIPHY, and Epic Games along the way. A 9-time Forbes Midas List honoree, he stepped back from new investments in 2021 — just before turning 50 — to preserve the family time COVID had unexpectedly given him.

- **Role:** Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
- **Organizations:** Lightspeed Venture Partners, Presidio Knolls School (Co-Chair, Board of Trustees), San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (Board Member), Terner Labs at UC Berkeley (Board Member)
- **From:** Singapore
- **Nationality:** Australian-American
- **Education:** BA/BSc in Linguistics and Pure Mathematics, Australian National University, MBA, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** First institutional investor in Snapchat ($485K initial check in 2012; ~$2B returned at 2017 IPO), Forbes Midas List honoree 9 times - named #1 Consumer Internet Investor, Named to inaugural Gold House A100 list of 100 most influential Asian Americans (2018)

## Career timeline

- **1988** — Represented Australia at the International Mathematical Olympiad alongside future Fields Medalist Terence Tao
- **1994-1996** — Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company (Sydney and Johannesburg)
- **1996-1998** — Sales Manager and Strategic Planning Manager at CitySearch (Los Angeles)
- **1998-2000** — MBA at Stanford University Graduate School of Business
- **2000-2003** — VP of Strategic Planning at USA Networks / IAC; helped integrate Ticketmaster, Expedia, and Hotels.com
- **2003-2006** — SVP Corporate Development and Chief of Staff to CEO at AOL/Netscape
- **2006** — Joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as the firm's first consumer specialist partner
- **2007-2008** — Early investments in Playdom (acquired by Disney), Flixster (acquired by Warner Brothers), Kongregate
- **2012** — First institutional investor in Snapchat - wired $485,000 after finding founder Evan Spiegel via a WhoIs lookup
- **2012-2016** — Backed Affirm, Bonobos, GIPHY, The Honest Company, HQ Trivia, Epic Games, Blockchain.com, Rothy's
- **2017** — Snap IPO - Lightspeed's $8.1M investment returned nearly $2 billion
- **2018** — Named to inaugural Gold House A100 list of most influential Asian Americans
- **2021** — Announced step-back from leading new investments at Lightspeed, just before turning 50
- **2021** — Affirm IPO - another major portfolio exit
- **2021-present** — Venture Partner at Lightspeed; board roles, philanthropy, housing advocacy

## Achievements

- First institutional investor in Snapchat ($485K initial check in 2012; ~$2B returned at 2017 IPO)
- Forbes Midas List honoree 9 times - named #1 Consumer Internet Investor
- Named to inaugural Gold House A100 list of 100 most influential Asian Americans (2018)
- Built Lightspeed Venture Partners' consumer practice from scratch as its first consumer-specialist partner
- Co-first institutional investor in Affirm alongside Max Levchin
- First institutional investor in Bonobos (later acquired by Walmart)
- Early investor in GIPHY (acquired by Facebook/Meta), Epic Games, Blockchain.com
- Competed at the 1988 International Mathematical Olympiad representing Australia

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Most recent reported investment: Unusual Circumstances (Social/Platform Software)
- **2025-06** — Sharing commentary on AI trends on LinkedIn and Twitter, writing about 2026 as the year machines move 'from words to worlds'
- **2024** — Maintains board seats at multiple Lightspeed portfolio companies as Venture Partner
- **2023** — Continues board role at Presidio Knolls School (Mandarin-immersion PreK-8, San Francisco) as Co-Chair

## Links

- Website: https://jeremy.liew.vc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyliew
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jeremysliew
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremysliew

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jeremy-liew
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-04