I help founders build companies that will have a positive, planet-level impact. Investor, advisor, and/or director in 47 early stage companies (pre-seed to Series A). Themes in advanced materials, industrial biotech, sensors/semiconductors, enterprise AI, digital health.Co-founded:* Impact Biosystems (2019)- novel muscle fitness sensing devices (Series Seed, firesold)* Elemental Machines (2014) - hardware and software for lab operations and analytics (Series B, in operation)* Misfit (2011) - fashion-centric wearables and smart home devices (Series C, acquired by Fossil for $260m; served as President and CTO for Fossil Group)* AgaMatrix (2001) - blood glucose monitors and digital health for diabetes (Series C, acquired by i-SENS)* FireSpout (1998) - ML / NLP for autosummarization (Series B, acquired by Ask Jeeves)Select boards:AmalgamRX - enterprise digital medicine AI (Director, 2021 - present)Cyabra - misinformation cybersecurity AI (Director, 2021 - present)Matrix - thermoelectric-powered security (Director, 2017 - present)Neteera - private, contact-free patient monitoring (Director, 2017 - present)Netspark - inappropriate content cybersecurity AI (Director, 2023 - present)Perfect Day - industrial biotech for animal-free dairy (Chairman, 2016 - 2019)VI - enterprise health AI (Director, 2017 - present)Raised $257m in 22 rounds (Seed to Series C) for companies I’ve founded; helped portfolio companies raise a lot more. Before startups, I worked at Microsoft Research in NLP under Kai-Fu Lee, worked on a PhD in linguistics at MIT under Noam Chomsky and Ken Hale, and studied math at UIUC. Outside of work, when I’m not playing with my two kids, I’m mostly trying to learn new math / science / languages, playing games, or just wondering about things I don't understand. I love listening to cool dreams about the future so if you have one, I'd love to hear it! Please excuse my slowness to respond in advance.
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Chief BuilderLiminalSalem, Nh, Us -
FounderAlabaster Jan 2016 - PresentSalem, New Hampshire, UsInvesting in founders of startups that have the potential for positive, planet-level impact. Mostly seed to series A. Themes in materials science, industrial biotech, sensors / semiconductors, enterprise AI, digital health. -
Director (Founder)Elemental Machines Oct 2014 - Sep 2023Cambridge, Ma, UsSupported CEO on a variety of strategic, commercial, and operational matters. Company invents and sells lab operations monitoring and analytics tools and services. Supported CEO in raising $60m (Seed, Series Seed, A, B). -
Chief Executive OfficerArevo Jan 2020 - Feb 2023Milpitas, California, UsLead efforts to industrialize and bring to market a suite of inventions in materials science, design software, and robotics to automate the production of continuous carbon fiber composite structures. Raised $70m (B Bridge, B1, B2, C, crowd). -
Director (Founder)Impact Biosystems Sep 2019 - Oct 2022Boston, Ma, UsSupported CEO on a variety of strategic, commercial, and operational matters. Company invented and sold products with a novel muscle fitness sensing technology; raised $6.5m (Seed, Series Seed). -
President And Cto, Connected DevicesFossil Group, Inc. Dec 2015 - Feb 2018Richardson, Texas, UsLead product development for connected hardware and software for 14 of Fossil Group's owned and licensed brands. Developed new business for connected devices. Scouted emerging technology. Grew Asia-based engineering, design, and marketing teams. Supported growth of wearables revenue to over $300m annually. -
Ceo, Chairman (Founder)Misfit Wearables Oct 2011 - Dec 2015Lead brand / product design (wearables and smart home), marketing, sales; oversaw technical development. Recruited leadership and key team members. Raised $65m (Seed, A, B, C, other). Acquired by Fossil Group in 2015 for $260m. -
Ceo, Chairman (Founder)Agamatrix Sep 2001 - Jun 2011Salem, Nh, UsChairman (2005 - 2011): Secured long-term deals and partnerships with Sanofi and Apple, raised $25m (Series C). Designed and implemented digital health strategy; drove product, including the award-winning iBGStar, the world's first iPhone-connected hardware med device.CEO (2001 - 2005): Recruited core teams, drove product strategy/design, helped establish key supplier partnerships, got customers for first $20M+ revenue, raised $22m (Seed, A, B). -
Cto (Founder)Firespout Nov 1999 - Jul 2001Lead R&D of natural language processing and machine learning technology for autosummarization and unstructured text search applications. Recruited key technical staff. Raised $8m in venture capital in two rounds. Acquired by AskJeeves (now Ask.com) in 2001.
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ResearcherMicrosoft Jan 1999 - Oct 1999Redmond, Washington, UsDid research in Chinese natural language processing and statistical language modeling for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, and parsing applications.
Sonny Vu Education Details
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Massachusetts Institute Of TechnologyLinguistics -
Beijing Normal UniversityMandarin
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Budapest University Of Technology And EconomicsHungarian
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University Of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignLinguistics (Ba)
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The Hebrew University Of JerusalemHebrew
Frequently Asked Questions about Sonny Vu
What company does Sonny Vu work for?
Sonny Vu works for Liminal
What is Sonny Vu's role at the current company?
Sonny Vu's current role is Chief Builder.
What schools did Sonny Vu attend?
Sonny Vu attended Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Beijing Normal University, Budapest University Of Technology And Economics, University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, The Hebrew University Of Jerusalem.
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