Timothy Chen
InvestorManaging Partner at Essence Venture Capital
Seattle, Washington
Writes $10K – $10M checks · typically $1M
About
Engineer-turned-VC Timothy Chen focuses on early-stage infrastructure and developer tools, backing demo- and GitHub-first founders with a hands-on, feedback-driven process that favors fast learners and yielded Tabular’s ~35x Databricks exit.
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
Experience
- Essence Venture CapitalManaging Partnercurrent2019 — presentGreater Seattle Area
- The Infra PodCo-hostcurrent2024 — present
- Open Source Startup PodcastCo-hostcurrent2021 — present
- The Apache Software FoundationApache Foundation Membercurrent2013 — present
- Bessemer Venture PartnersOperator Advisorcurrent2021 — present
- Polygon TechnologyConsultant2022
- Grid.aiPrincipal Engineer2020 — 2021
- TendermintSVP of Engineering2019 — 2020Greater Seattle Area
- ClouderaPrincipal Software Engineer2018 — 2019Palo Alto, California
- HyperpilotCEO & Cofounder2016 — 2018San Francisco, California
- Mesosphere, Inc.Lead Distributed Systems Engineer2014 — 2016San Francisco Bay Area
- 343 IndustriesSoftware Development Engineer II2013 — 2014Kirkland
- VMwareMember of Technical Staff III, CloudFoundry2012 — 2013Greater Seattle Area
- Z2LiveSoftware Developer2011 — 2012
- EvriSoftware Engineer2010 — 2011
- MicrosoftSoftware Development Engineer2008 — 2010
Education
- University of WashingtonB.S., Informatics
- DigiPen Institute of TechnologyComputer Science
Skills & more
+12 more
Agile Project ManagementSoftware DesignMobile DevicesMobile ApplicationsBusiness IntelligenceObject Oriented DesignApache SparkRESTRubyHadoopXMLPythonLanguages Chinese · English
- Deep Reinforcement Learning Nanodegree — Udacity
- Deep Learning Specialization — Coursera
From Timothy's professional profile.
Deals · showing 100 of 110
NuonSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Jun 2024
TeleskopeSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Nov 2023
RunebookSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Jul 2023
SuperframeSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed May 2023
RestateSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Feb 2023
StreamfoldSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Oct 2022
Jasper.aiSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed May 2022
DodgeballSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Aug 2021
ArtillerySolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Jul 2021
Poggio LabsSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Jul 2021
AlkymiSolo GP
Apollo.ioSolo GP
ArcolSolo GP
AtmanitySolo GP
ChromaSolo GP
Clarify AISolo GP
CleanlabSolo GP
ClineSolo GP
CoiledSolo GP
ComfyUISolo GP
CommSolo GP
Crash OverrideSolo GP
DatafoldSolo GP
DeepSourceSolo GP
DeepTrustSolo GP
EffxSolo GP
EncoreSolo GP
Everest.Log10Solo GP
Fiddler AISolo GP
FlarionSolo GP
FlowgladSolo GP
FloxSolo GP
Flux AI Dev ToolsSolo GP
GenmoSolo GP
GokiteSolo GP
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GroundlightSolo GP
HeraldapiSolo GP
highlight.ioSolo GP
HumanSignalSolo GP
ImmerokSolo GP
JamsocketSolo GP
KeycardSolo GP
LanceDBSolo GP
LaunchnotesSolo GP
LettaSolo GP
MaestroSolo GP
MageSolo GP
Magic PatternsSolo GP
MeshSolo GP
MonographSolo GP
MotherduckSolo GP
OllamaSolo GP
OpenInferSolo GP
OrbSolo GP
Project DiscoverySolo GP
ProspectiveSolo GP
ReadySetSolo GP
ResourcelySolo GP
Rosebud AISolo GP
SardineSolo GP
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SarisSolo GP
SignadotSolo GP
Stay tunedSolo GP
TabularSolo GP
The Synthesis CompanySolo GP
Truffle SecuritySolo GP
TursoSolo GP
UnifySolo GP
UnkeySolo GP
UnstructuredSolo GP
WarpSolo GP
WorkbrewSolo GP
ZIR-AISolo GP
AdelphiSolo GP
AxolotlSolo GP
BasisSolo GP
BumpTopSolo GP
CoanaSolo GP
ContinualiqSolo GP
CoscreenSolo GP
DeepsourceSolo GP
DevzeSolo GP
DragonflydbSolo GP
EventualcomputingSolo GP
FlatfileSolo GP
FluxNinjaSolo GP
Gable list viewSolo GP
GoirisSolo GP
Good Start LabsSolo GP
HDRSolo GP
IopSolo GP
JunctionlabsSolo GP
LegionintelSolo GP
LevoSolo GP
LineaSolo GP
LiveblocksSolo GP
MixpeekSolo GP
MomentSolo GP
NectrySolo GP
NiloSolo GP
Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters. Some rows are inferred. Not right? Tell us.
Network2
Investors connected to Timothy in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does Timothy Chen work?
- Timothy Chen is Managing Partner at Essence Venture Capital.
- What does Timothy Chen invest in?
- Timothy Chen invests in AI & Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software.
- What check size does Timothy Chen write?
- Timothy Chen typically writes checks of $10K – $10M.
Founder mafias
University of Washington mafia109
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 102 more
Bessemer Venture Partners mafia17
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
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+ 10 more
Mesosphere mafia6
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Cloudera mafia4
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Polygon mafia3
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended University of Washington261
+ 255 more
Shared employers
Also worked at The Infra Pod1
Also worked at Polygon Technology17
+ 11 more
Also worked at Cloudera22
+ 16 more
Also worked at VMware101
+ 95 more