Fundraising Fox
Cyan Banister
InvestorCo-founder & General Partner at Long Journey Ventures
San Francisco, CA
Writes $100K – $1M checks · typically $500K
Find your path to Cyan
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to Cyan
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to Cyan. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗
About
Cyan Banister was an early angel investor in Uber, SpaceX and Postmates, and later became the first female investing partner at Founders Fund. She now invests through Long Journey Ventures, the early-stage firm she runs with Arielle Zuckerberg and Lee Jacobs, which closed its fourth fund in 2025. Largely self-taught after a period of homelessness in her youth, she is known for backing unconventional founders on instinct honed outside traditional networks.
Likely email· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published
- c•••@longjourney.vcreveal75% confident
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechFintechHardwareHealthtechSaaS
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Banister co-founded Zivity, an adult-themed social networking and subscription photography platform, in 2007. Banister is a co-founder of Thankroll.
- Charities
- In 2015 the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic was renamed the Scott & Cyan Banister First Amendment Clinic in recognition of the Banisters' gift in support of the clinic.
- Communities
- Banister spoke publicly at the 2018 TechCrunch Disrupt conference about her journey from living on the streets as a homeless teen to becoming a venture capitalist.
- Awards
- Cyan Banister and her husband Scott Banister won the Angel of the Year Crunchie award at the 2016 TechCrunch ceremonies.
- Hobbies
- Banister says she likes to leave space for adventure in her day and will make decisions with a roll of dice.
- Family
- She lives with her husband Scott Banister in San Francisco.
- More
- She identifies as a socially liberal libertarian and came out in 2016 as genderqueer.
From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.
Investments
Investor
AffirmAgariAI FoundationArtieAtoBBarndoor AIBindedBodsBoopBraveBrudBufferCargoCartaCashdropCheckrClasspassCloudPeepsContralineDealFlowAgentDensityDiamond FoundryDrivetimeDuckDuckGoEdgerunEQALEragonFairyFelicityMariexFirstbaseFlexFlex ProductionsFlexportFLORAFlow LaboratoriesFlow Laboratories, Inc.ForgeFrontierGameCrushGoogle DeepmindGoogle DeepmindGreenPark SportsHitchHome61HoneyLedgerHoodlineHOOKEDHot MicHot PotatoHQ TriviaHQTriviaInstamotor TechnologiesIntermedia LabsIRLLeadGeniusLeaftail LabsLendaLIT VideobooksLiteratiLiveOpsMasslessmaykMelengoMightyTextMimocoMother ScienceMykonos SoftwareNectirNewhoundNianticO.SchoolOnenameOpendoorOrsonOtherInboxPahdo LabsPandaPartenderPeakPhoneTellPingpadPlateJoyPopshop LivePostmatesPostmodaPrimerRapportiveRemyntRoadsterRoomiRTFKTSeedSeenSequelShare PracticeSilversheetSlideSootheSpaceXSplitwiseSRTXStellStellar LabsSubstrateSuitenessSunroomSuperplasticSuperpowertbhTekTrakTeleportTendertreeThumbtackTipTopToonstarTopsy LabsTrueFoundryTuringUberUpstartvidIQVigil LabsWonder DynamicsXperielYassZapposZivity
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Cyan BanisterStop Sleepwalking Through Life | Cyan Banister on The Tim Ferriss Show podcast
Tim Ferriss
From Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More) — Cyan Banister
Tim Ferriss
Long Journey Ventures Co-Founder Cyan Banister on how SpaceX shaped her view on risk
Sourcery with Molly O'Shea
Long Journey Ventures Co-Founder Cyan Banister on why she put everything into SpaceX
Sourcery with Molly O'Shea
Deep Dive on Long Journey Ventures Ft. Cyan Banister( Co Founder of Long Journey Ventures)
bizpodroohi
Cyan Banister on Long Journey Ventures Biggest Wins
bizpodroohi
4 more appearances
Colleagues at Long Journey Ventures
Network22
▶10 more connections
Elias Torres · scoutEric Chin · scoutFaizan J. Khan · scoutGenevieve Gilbreath · scoutJustin Mares · scoutMaryanna Saenko · scoutJonathan BruckJudd MorgensternLouis BerylRay Wu
Investors connected to Cyan in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Cyan Banister?
- Cyan Banister was an early angel investor in Uber, SpaceX and Postmates, and later became the first female investing partner at Founders Fund. She now invests through Long Journey Ventures, the early-stage firm she runs with Arielle Zuckerberg and Lee Jacobs, which closed its fourth fund in 2025. Largely self-taught after a period of homelessness in her youth, she is known for backing unconventional founders on instinct honed outside traditional networks.
- Where does Cyan Banister work?
- Cyan Banister is Co-founder & General Partner at Long Journey Ventures.
- What does Cyan Banister invest in?
- Cyan Banister invests in AI & Machine Learning, Deep Tech, Fintech, Hardware, Healthtech, SaaS.
- What check size does Cyan Banister write?
- Cyan Banister typically writes checks of $100K – $1M.
- What companies has Cyan Banister invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Affirm, Agari, AI Foundation, Artie, AtoB, Barndoor AI, Binded, Bods, Boop, Brave, Brud, Buffer, and 115 more.
- What awards has Cyan Banister received?
- Cyan Banister and her husband Scott Banister won the Angel of the Year Crunchie award at the 2016 TechCrunch ceremonies.
- What podcasts and interviews feature Cyan Banister?
- Tracked appearances include "Stop Sleepwalking Through Life | Cyan Banister on The Tim Ferriss Show podcast", "From Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More) — Cyan Banister", "Long Journey Ventures Co-Founder Cyan Banister on how SpaceX shaped her view on risk", and 7 more.
About this profile. Compiled from public sources — Long Journey Ventures's own website, press coverage and public professional profiles — and summarised by Fundraising Fox; every fact is kept with where it came from. Spotted an error, or would rather not be listed? Email privacy@fundraisingfox.com · How we build profiles · Your rights