# Kanyi Maqubela

> Kanyi Maqubela is a South African-born venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and thinker who grew up as a refugee in the United States - from homeless shelter in New York City to Phillips Academy and Stanford - and built a career as Managing Partner of Kindred Ventures, a $156M+ AUM seed-stage firm he co-founded with Steve Jang in San Francisco. With a portfolio market cap exceeding $200B (including early bets on Uber, Coinbase, Reddit, and Upstart), Kanyi also co-founded Heartbeat Health, the largest virtual heart health platform in the US. He bridges philosophy, social impact, and frontier technology with a writer's eye and a founder's instinct.

- **Role:** Managing Partner at Kindred Ventures
- **Organizations:** Kindred Ventures, Heartbeat Health, UCSF Foundation Investment Company, Collaborative Fund (former), Screendoor Partners, NYU Tisch School of the Arts (former)
- **From:** Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
- **Nationality:** South African-American
- **Education:** Secondary School, Phillips Academy (Andover), Undergraduate, Philosophy (also studied CS, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics); 2x graduate program drop-out, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Managing Partner of Kindred Ventures with $156M+ AUM and $200B+ aggregate portfolio market cap, Co-founded Heartbeat Health - largest virtual heart health platform in the US ($53.4M raised, 20,000+ patients), Named to San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40 (2025), selected from 300+ nominees

## Career timeline

- **1986** — Family immigrated to the United States from South Africa as refugees; lived in the Latham Hotel homeless shelter in New York City
- **2008** — Staffed Barack Obama's presidential campaign - 'the most meaningful and difficult work I've ever done'
- **2009-2010** — Early employee at Doostang (online career community, later acquired by Universum Global)
- **2010-2012** — Growth lead at One Block Off the Grid (solar sales startup, acquired by NRG Energy for ~$120M)
- **2011-2014** — Partner at Collaborative Fund (early-stage impact VC); backed Tala, Walker & Co., Buffer, Camino Financial
- **2014** — Co-founded Kindred Ventures with Steve Jang
- **2017-2018** — Co-founded Heartbeat Health with Jeffrey Wessler and team
- **2019** — Raised Kindred Fund I - $56M
- **2021** — Raised Kindred Fund II - $100M; regular CNBC Squawk Box appearances
- **2023** — Raised Kindred Fund III
- **2024** — Heartbeat Health raises $24M Series C led by Cressey & Company
- **2025** — Named to San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40; moderated AI healthcare panel at TechCrunch Disrupt
- **2026** — Raised Kindred Fund IV; wrote 'Bubbles and Balloons' essay on post-meme investing era

## Achievements

- Managing Partner of Kindred Ventures with $156M+ AUM and $200B+ aggregate portfolio market cap
- Co-founded Heartbeat Health - largest virtual heart health platform in the US ($53.4M raised, 20,000+ patients)
- Named to San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40 (2025), selected from 300+ nominees
- Early backer of Uber, Coinbase, Reddit, Upstart, Impossible Foods, Tala, Outschool
- Raised Kindred Ventures' first $100M fund (Fund II) in 2021
- Board member, UCSF Foundation Investment Company (health system endowment)
- Multiple CNBC Squawk Box appearances as a leading VC voice (2021, 2022, 2025)
- Adjunct Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- Co-instructed Stanford's 'Design Your Life' course

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Published 'Bubbles and Balloons' essay arguing 2021-22 was a balloon deflation, not a bubble pop - capital rotated to AI
- **2026-02** — Raised Kindred Ventures Fund IV
- **2025-12** — Appeared on CNBC Squawk Box: '2026 will be a very important year for venture capital'
- **2025-10** — Moderated AI in healthcare session at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
- **2025-04** — Named to San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40 list
- **2025-04** — Moderated Startup Grind 2025 panel on AI in healthcare with Color Health CEO Othman Laraki
- **2025-04** — Kindred Ventures backed Particle (Software Dev Applications)
- **2025-03** — Published 'On Higher Powers' essay examining AI alignment through religious and philosophical lens
- **2024-11** — Kindred Ventures backed Inversion Space (on-demand space delivery)
- **2024-06** — Heartbeat Health raised $24M Series C led by Cressey & Company

## Links

- Website: http://kanyi.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kanyi/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/km

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kanyi-maqubela
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-29