Jeremy Liew

Jeremy Liew
Born	(1971-09-21) September 21, 1971 Singapore
Occupation	Venture capitalist
Known for	Early investments in Snapchat and Affirm Holdings, Inc.

Jeremy Liew (born 21 September 1971) is a former venture capitalist best known for his pioneering investments in Snapchat and Affirm Holdings, Inc..

Early life and education

Born in Singapore and raised in Perth, Western Australia, Liew represented Australia at the International Math Olympiad during his high school years, competing alongside future Fields Medal recipient Terry Tao. He holds degrees in both linguistics and mathematics from the Australian National University.

Following his undergraduate studies, Liew worked as a business analyst at McKinsey in Sydney and briefly in Johannesburg. He later joined CitySearch in Los Angeles, focusing on sales and strategic initiatives. In 2000, he earned an MBA from Stanford University. After completing his MBA, he took on the role of vice president of strategic planning at USA Networks, where he played a part in its evolution into IAC (company), managing acquisitions such as Ticketmaster, Expedia, and Hotel.com. He also held a corporate strategy position at AOL/Netscape before transitioning into venture capital.

Venture capital

Jeremy Liew became the inaugural consumer-focused partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2006. At that time, Lightspeed was a relatively small venture firm centered on technology startups and not widely recognized beyond Silicon Valley. Liew noticed that startups favored by young women frequently achieved success, leading him to conclude that this demographic often shapes cultural movements. To deepen his insights into consumer behavior, he broadened his scope beyond Silicon Valley to include Los Angeles and New York, adopting a data-centric methodology to analyze consumer trends.

By 2015, the majority of boards on which Liew served were located outside Silicon Valley. His investment strategy, often described as "follow the woman," directed him to Snapchat in 2012 after a colleague mentioned his daughter's enthusiasm for the app. Meeting co-founder Evan Spiegel, Liew became Snapchat's earliest investor.

Lightspeed’s initial commitment to Snapchat was $485,000, which grew to $8.1 million through subsequent funding rounds. By the time of Snapchat’s 2017 IPO, this investment had appreciated nearly 250 times, reaching just under $2 billion. However, tensions arose between Spiegel and Liew over the original investment terms; these were later renegotiated to provide Lightspeed with additional discounted shares. Notably, Liew was the sole investor granted these preferential conditions.

This deal significantly boosted Lightspeed’s profile, transforming it into a major fund and elevating it among top-tier venture capital firms. The returns from the IPO surpassed the entire amount raised in Lightspeed’s 2006 fund, establishing Liew as one of the firm’s most successful investors and a prominent figure within the venture capital community.

Investments

Liew was the first institutional backer and an early board member of Bonobos, a premium e-commerce apparel brand now part of Walmart. He also invested early in The Honest Company, founded by Jessica Alba, where he served on the board. As a co-leading institutional investor, he joined Affirm’s board; Affirm is a consumer installment loan provider that went public in 2021.

Known as a "social game visionary," Liew has invested in gaming companies including Playdom (acquired by Disney), Serious Business (purchased by Zynga), Kixeye, and Fan Controlled Football. He emphasizes user engagement over aesthetics and has expressed doubts about games on platforms like Facebook. In 2023, Lightspeed appointed Moritz Baier-Lentz to oversee its gaming division.

Within media and entertainment sectors, Liew backed startups such as Giphy (acquired by Facebook), HQ, Cheddar Inc., and Beme (which was acquired by CNN). His notable exits include companies like Flixster (acquired by Warner Brothers), Kongregate (bought by both GameStop and later by Modern Times), and Slice (acquired by Rakuten). Recognizing that consumer trends often originate with female audiences, Liew invested $7 million in Rothy's, which produces sustainable footwear made from recycled plastic bottles.

Some investments did not meet expectations; these include Zest AI (formerly ZestFinance), which pivoted from subprime consumer lending to software solutions; Living Social, a daily deals company acquired by Groupon for zero dollars in 2016; Sidecar, an early ridesharing startup that ceased operations in 2015 after losing market share to Uber and Lyft; and Mic, whose valuation dropped dramatically from hundreds of millions to $5 million before being sold to Bustle. Liew attributed Mic’s decline largely to changes in Facebook’s algorithm.

Digital Currency

Liew advocates for cryptocurrency and has made investments in companies focused on digital currencies. He sees its significance especially during times of political turmoil when public confidence in traditional money diminishes. As a co-leader of the initial funding round for Blockchain.com, he particularly supports bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by trading volume. Liew has forecasted that bitcoin’s value could escalate to $500,000 by the year 2030.

He has repeatedly been recognized on the Midas List as one of the foremost dealmakers in venture capital. In August 2021, shortly before his 50th birthday, Liew declared his intention to reduce his active investing activities while continuing his role as a partner at Lightspeed.

Philanthropy

Liew is a founding trustee of Presidio Knolls School, a San Francisco-based Mandarin immersion institution serving grades PreK through 8.

In response to the 2021 Atlanta tragedy involving the killing of six Asian women, Liew collaborated with fellow technology investors to support initiatives addressing anti-Asian discrimination and violence.

Together with his wife, Ranee Lan, he was instrumental in fundraising for a playground located at Sue Bierman Park near San Francisco’s Embarcadero district, close to the Ferry Building. Additionally, they have contributed to and backed affordable housing initiatives within San Francisco.

Personal life

Liew is married and has two children, residing in the United States for over two decades. He holds citizenships in both Australia and the U.S., yet primarily identifies as an Aussie. His interests include participation in the San Francisco-based Movement Practice.

Political views

Rejecting grievance-driven politics from both the Right and Left, Liew does not believe a return to America’s so-called "good old days" is feasible. After postponing naturalization for more than ten years, he became a U.S. citizen in order to vote in 2016. While not firmly aligned with the Democratic Party, he endorses national Democrats and supports moderate candidates in local elections.