# Tony Tran

> Tony Tran is the co-founder and CEO of Lumanu, the payments and financing company building the financial infrastructure of the creator economy. A Vietnamese refugee who grew up in South Carolina, he studied computer science at MIT, advised at McKinsey, and built product at Google before starting Lumanu in 2017 after watching his mother discover YouTube creators on an iPad. Lumanu now moves money for thousands of creators and brands - from Jessica Alba and Snoop Dogg to DoorDash, Pepsi, and Sony - and made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Lumanu
- **Organizations:** Lumanu, Google, McKinsey & Company, MIT
- **From:** Vietnam
- **Nationality:** Vietnamese-American
- **Education:** Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Lumanu, raising roughly $16.85M total funding including a $12M Series A, Built creator-payments infrastructure used by celebrities including Jessica Alba, Addison Rae, and Snoop Dogg, Signed enterprise clients including DoorDash, Pepsi, Intuit, Cursor, and Sony

## Career timeline

- **1994** — Family immigrates from Vietnam to South Carolina as political refugees
- **pre-2017** — Works as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and a product manager at Google
- **2016** — Gives his mother an iPad for Mother's Day; she discovers Vietnamese-language YouTube creators, seeding the idea for Lumanu
- **2017** — Co-founds Lumanu with Paul Johnson and Nhan Nguyen
- **2021** — Raises Series A funding (latest funding round)
- **2024** — Publishes analysis of over $500 million in creator payouts processed through Lumanu
- **2025** — Lumanu reports 300% revenue growth, becomes cashflow positive, and makes the Inc. 5000 list

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Lumanu, raising roughly $16.85M total funding including a $12M Series A
- Built creator-payments infrastructure used by celebrities including Jessica Alba, Addison Rae, and Snoop Dogg
- Signed enterprise clients including DoorDash, Pepsi, Intuit, Cursor, and Sony
- Lumanu named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies list
- Processed over $500 million in creator payouts
- Drove 300% revenue growth and reached cashflow-positive operations

## Latest updates

- **2024-04** — Shared a public analysis of over $500 million in creator payouts processed by Lumanu
- **2025** — Reported 300% revenue growth, cashflow-positive operations, and an Inc. 5000 listing for Lumanu

## Links

- Website: https://lumanu.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hieumanity
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/LumanuApp
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uY947lWrwA
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2onys/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lumanuapp

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tony-tran
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-03