Sonny Vu
InvestorManaging Partner at Alabaster · Director at Elemental Machines
Salem, New Hampshire, United States
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521 people in our graph share verified history with Sonny — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Wesley ChanunlockedSonny: together at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1996–2000)
×3Sonny: together at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
×7Sonny: together at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sonny: together at AgaMatrix
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.
Director at Elemental Machines
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Elemental Machines's investors · 6
Co-founders at Elemental Machines
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Sridhar IyengarExecutive Officer, Director
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 mafia1,221
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Elad GilPhDFounded Brain Co. +1Hemant TanejaMinorFounded Hippocratic AINat FriedmanBachelor of ScienceFounded XamarinBrad FeldS.B.Founded TechstarsMatt HuangB.S.Founded Paradigm +1Delian AsparouhovDropoutFounded Nightingale +1
+ 1,214 more
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign mafia352
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Max LevchinBSFounded PayPal +2Luke NosekBSFounded PayPalAnsuman SatpathyPhilosophyFounded Santa Ana +4Maria FardisB.S.Founded Iovance +2DeVaris BrownB.S.Founded Super Heroic +2Harish AgarwalB.S.Founded Nori +2
+ 345 more
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem mafia136
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Amnon ShashuaProfessorFounded Mobileye +3Micha Y. BreakstonePh.DFounded Chorus AI +2Daphne KollerBScFounded Coursera +2Eyal ShinarLLBFounded Black Ore Technologies +1Chris ThomasStudy AbroadFounded Terrascope +1Ofer ShapiroB.ScFounded Quantumpulse +1
+ 129 more
Budapest University of Technology and Economics mafia16
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Gergely NemethBachelorFounded DoorDashViktor BeneiMScFounded BitrisePeter MartonBachelor's degreeFounded OpenMeterCameron HakeFounded BystreetKamel CharafBachelor's degreeFounded CompresrGabor HeltovicsMBAFounded Serda Therapeutics
+ 9 more
Beijing Normal University mafia10
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Alasdair ThongChinese LanguageFounded Ada Ventures +1Carolyn EdelsteinMandarin Chinese language studyFounded OpenBiomeJosh GardnerCertificate of FluencyFounded VerataDi QiFounded LanternKat WangStudy AbroadFounded PartnerHQDon LinB. S.Founded Telesair
+ 3 more
Same school
Also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology2,000
Hemant TanejaCEO & Managing Director of General CatalystNat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGBrad FeldCo-founder of Foundry and TechstarsMatt HuangCo-founder and Managing Partner at ParadigmDelian AsparouhovPartner at Founders Fund and co-founder of VardaDrew HoustonCo-founder & CEO of Dropbox
+ 1,994 more
Also attended Beijing Normal University29
Sandy YuanAdvisor, AV & Robotics at Verissimo VenturesAkiko ShionoHead of Business Development at NordicNinjaLisa LiSenior Investment Associate at Rocana VenturesAlasdair ThongFounding Partner at Selvedge VentureRocky YuInvestor at AGI HOUSE VENTURESAli-Abbas PunjaniSenior Vice President, PE Team at Helios Digital Ventures
+ 23 more
Also attended Budapest University of Technology and Economics34
Gergely NemethSenior Engineering Manager at DoorDash; co-founder of RisingStackSandor PalfyVenture Partner at F-Prime Capital PartnersBence GergelyPrincipal at PortfoLion Capital PartnersPeter MacherManaging Partner at Vespucci PartnersLevente ZsigmondInvestment Director at Vespucci PartnersAlessandro ZaccariaPartner at 360 Capital
+ 28 more
Also attended University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign864
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
+ 858 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Biolinq11
Clay RowlandInvestment Associate at Mission BiocapitalPascal KroteePrincipal, Ph.D. at RiverVest Venture PartnersAlexander HoffmannGeneral Partner at ForbionDaniel BradburyInvestor at BioBritRob ChaplinskyCo-Founder & Managing Director at Link VenturesDaniel FrankePrincipal at M Ventures
+ 5 more
