About
Sonny Vu is Chief Builder at Liminal, a Singapore and Boston-based fund backed by Temasek that partners with experienced founders to build and scale new ventures. He has co-founded five companies across hardware, healthtech, and consumer devices—including Misfit (acquired by Fossil for $300M), Elemental Machines, AgaMatrix, Impact Biosystems, and FireSpout—and has served as investor, advisor, or director to over 50 early-stage companies in hardtech, robotics, semiconductors, and healthtech. His background includes research at Microsoft in natural language processing and doctoral work in linguistics at MIT.
Experience
- LiminalChief Buildercurrent2025 — presentSingapore, Singapore
- AlabasterFoundercurrent2016 — presentUnited States
- BiolinqChief Architect2025San Diego, California, United States
- Elemental MachinesDirector (Founder)2014 — 2023Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- AREVOChief Executive Officer2020 — 2023Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- Impact BiosystemsDirector (Founder)2019 — 2022Greater Boston
- Fossil Group, Inc.President and CTO, Connected Devices2015 — 2018Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
- Misfit WearablesCEO, Chairman (Founder)2011 — 2015Salem, NH
- AgaMatrixCEO, Chairman (Founder)2001 — 2011
- FireSpoutCTO (Founder)1999 — 2001
- MicrosoftResearcher1999
Skills & more
Product Design99Machine Learning99Design Strategy99User Experience99Software Engineering99Strategy99Start-ups99Semiconductors16Materials Science15Power Electronics15Language Teaching65Number Theory
Languages English · French · Hebrew · Hungarian · Mandarin · Russian · Spanish · Taoih · Vietnamese
From Sonny's professional profile.
Colleagues at Alabaster
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Sonny Vu?
- Sonny Vu is Chief Builder at Liminal, a Singapore and Boston-based fund backed by Temasek that partners with experienced founders to build and scale new ventures. He has co-founded five companies across hardware, healthtech, and consumer devices—including Misfit (acquired by Fossil for $300M), Elemental Machines, AgaMatrix, Impact Biosystems, and FireSpout—and has served as investor, advisor, or director to over 50 early-stage companies in hardtech, robotics, semiconductors, and healthtech. His background includes research at Microsoft in natural language processing and doctoral work in linguistics at MIT.
- Where does Sonny Vu work?
- Sonny Vu is Managing Partner at Alabaster.
- Where did Sonny Vu go to school?
- Sonny Vu studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD (ABD), Linguistics); Beijing Normal University (Mandarin); Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Mathematics, Hungarian).
Founder mafias
Massachusetts Institute of Technology mafia546
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Elad GilPhDFounded Brain Co.Nat FriedmanBachelor of ScienceFounded XamarinMatt HuangB.S.Founded HotspotsDelian AsparouhovDropoutFounded Nightingale +1Drew HoustonBSFounded Dropbox +1Arash FerdowsiComputer ScienceFounded Dropbox
+ 539 more
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign mafia146
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Max LevchinBSFounded PayPal +1Luke NosekBSFounded PayPalAnsuman SatpathyPhilosophyFounded Santa Ana Bio +2DeVaris BrownB.S.Founded Super Heroic +2Harish AgarwalB.S.Founded Nori +2Amitt MahajanBSFounded Rare Bits +1
+ 139 more
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem mafia29
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Eyal ShinarLLBFounded Black Ore Technologies +1Amit BarBachelor of Science (BS)Founded Brand.ai +1Rony Patishi-ChillimBachelor of Arts (B.A.)Founded Fresh StartYoni GlickmanBAFounded AtlantiumErel MargalitFounded AnyClipTomer BarelMaster's degreeFounded Lightspark
+ 22 more
Beijing Normal University mafia6
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Budapest University of Technology and Economics mafia5
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology1,388
Fred WilsonCo-founder & Partner at Union Square VenturesElad GilSolo general partner investing through Gil CapitalAileen LeeFounder & Managing Partner of Cowboy VenturesHemant TanejaCEO & Managing Director of General CatalystNat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGBrad FeldCo-founder of Foundry and Techstars
+ 1,382 more
Also attended Beijing Normal University19
Sandy YuanAdvisor, AV & Robotics at Verissimo VenturesAkiko ShionoHead of Business Development at NordicNinjaLisa LiSenior Investment Associate at Rocana VenturesAlasdair ThongFounding Partner at Selvedge VentureNoémie Bristol CourgeonInvestment Director at Axeleo CapitalEvan ThorpePrincipal, Asia Pacific at SixThirty Ventures
+ 13 more
Also attended Budapest University of Technology and Economics16
Sandor PalfyVenture Partner at F-Prime Capital PartnersIstvan SzandaInvestor at Sand Hill AngelsBence GergelyPrincipal at PortfoLion Capital PartnersPeter MacherManaging Partner at Vespucci PartnersLevente ZsigmondInvestment Director at Vespucci PartnersAlessandro ZaccariaPartner at 360 Capital
+ 10 more
Also attended University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign421
Max LevchinCo-founder of PayPal; founder, chairman & CEO of Affirm; partner at SciFi VCLuke NosekCo-founder of PayPal; co-founder of GigafundSundeep PeechuGeneral Partner at Felicis VenturesDeep NisharInvestment Team at General CatalystPrashant ShahPartner at Monta Vista CapitalNoorPartner at Clear Ventures
+ 415 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Biolinq8
Pascal KroteePrincipal, Ph.D. at RiverVest Venture PartnersAlexander HoffmannGeneral Partner at ForbionDaniel BradburyInvestor at BioBritRob ChaplinskyCo-Founder & Managing Director at Link VenturesDaniel FrankePrincipal at M VenturesKatie ElliasManaging Partner at JDRF T1D Fund
+ 2 more
