About
Julia Yan joined Prelude Ventures as a Senior Associate in 2026. She previously spent nearly four years as CEO and co-founder of Baleena, a climate tech and fashion startup that built hardware to help brands track and manage material deterioration in their supply chains, and earlier worked as a summer associate at Strategy& and in business development and customer research at an early-stage healthtech startup, beginning her career in the insulating materials lab at Doble Engineering. She holds a B.S.E. in Materials Science & Engineering with a minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania.
Experience
- Prelude VenturesSenior Associatecurrent2026 — presentSan Francisco, California, United States
- BaleenaCo-Founder & CEO2022 — 2025Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- 776 FoundationClimate Fellow2023 — 2025
- University of PennsylvaniaTeaching Assistant2021 — 2022
- Strategy&Summer Associate2021New York City Metropolitan Area
- Petal Jewelry Inc.Business Development and Customer Research Analyst2020
- Doble Engineering CompanyInsulating Materials Laboratory Intern2020
- The D. E. Shaw GroupD. E. Shaw Discovery Fellow2020New York City Metropolitan Area
- University of PennsylvaniaENGR 105 Teaching Assistant2019
- North Carolina State UniversityStudent Researcher2017 — 2018Dr. Dickey and Dr. Velev, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Education
- University of PennsylvaniaBachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), Materials Science and Engineering; Minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship2018 — 2022
Skills & more
MatLab13Microfluidics11Scientific Computing10
Languages Chinese · English · Spanish
From Julia's professional profile.
Colleagues at Prelude Ventures
Alexandra Harbour
Advisor at Prelude Ventures
Anneli Matheson
Executive Assistant at Prelude Ventures
Bryan Shill
Principal at Prelude Ventures
Carly Anderson
Principal at Prelude Ventures
Edward Yang
Senior Associate at Prelude Ventures
Eileen McMahon
Coordinator of Operations and Executive Support at Prelude Ventures
Gabriel Kra
Managing Director at Prelude Ventures
Juan Pablo Soulier
Partner at Prelude Ventures
Frequently asked questions
- Where does Julia Yan work?
- Julia Yan is Senior Associate at Prelude Ventures.
Same school
Also attended University of Pennsylvania765
Dasha MaggioPartner at Felicis Ventures, writer on venture capital and founder psychologyNancy WangInvestor at Felicis VenturesLeah von SiemensPartner at Manta Ray VenturesEghosa OmoiguiFounder and Managing General Partner at EchoVC PartnersAkshat GoenkaInvestor at Moonfire VenturesJames KuklinskiInvestor at Spark Capital
+ 759 more
Shared employers
Also worked at 776 Foundation1
Also worked at University of Pennsylvania110
Wesley BarrowPartner at Correlation VenturesDavid MagermanManaging Partner at Differential VenturesNuan ZhangInvestor at Episode1Vyas RamananVenture Partner at Third Rock VenturesLouis BernemanFounding Partner at Osage University PartnersBrian HalakManaging Partner at Medical Excellence Capital
+ 104 more
Also worked at Strategy&125
Naomi Pilosof IonitaBoard Partner at Menlo VenturesLou SegallDirector, Strategy at Sapphire VenturesEmilie KarlssonClient Team Member at Generation Investment ManagementJonathon GeorgeVice President at Flare Capital PartnersSean EbertSenior Partner at Altira Group LLCRob HicksChief Financial Officer at Giant Ventures Global Llp
+ 119 more
Also worked at The D. E. Shaw Group45
Karthik ArdhanareeswaranInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Divyansh SaksenaAnalyst at Congruent VenturesSudeep JandyamPrincipal at TCVPaul GuPartner at Mythos Ventures Management, LlcPeter FindleyGeneral Partner at Anchorless BangladeshWilliam WangPartner at Highland Creek Partners
+ 39 more