Fundraising Fox
Timothy Chen
InvestorGeneral Partner at ESSENCE VC · Managing Partner at Essence Venture Capital
Seattle, Washington
Writes $10K – $10M checks · typically $1M
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About
Managing Partner at Essence; previously SVP Engineering at Cosmos and cofounder of Hyperpilot (acquired by Cloudera), with early roles at Mesosphere and CloudFoundry, and is an Apache member.
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
Skills & more
+8 more
Software DevelopmentBig DataAgile MethodologiesXMLPythonRuby on RailsAgile Project ManagementSoftware DesignLanguages Chinese · English
- Deep Reinforcement Learning Nanodegree — Udacity
- Deep Learning Specialization — Coursera
From Timothy's professional profile.
Deals · showing 100 of 108
Clarify AISolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Jan 2025
ComfyUISolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Dec 2024
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
UniformSolo GP
via Essence Venture Capital · filed Nov 2021
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
AdelphiSolo GP
AlkymiSolo GP
Apollo.ioSolo GP
ArcolSolo GP
AtmanitySolo GP
ChromaSolo GP
CleanlabSolo GP
ClineSolo GP
CoiledSolo GP
CommSolo GP
CoScreenSolo GP
Crash OverrideSolo GP
DatafoldSolo GP
DeepSourceSolo GP
DeepTrustSolo GP
EffxSolo GP
EncoreSolo GP
EventualSolo GP
Everest.Log10Solo GP
Fiddler AISolo GP
FlarionSolo GP
FlatfileSolo GP
FlowgladSolo GP
floxSolo GP
FluxSolo GP
GableSolo GP
GenmoSolo GP
Good Start LabsSolo GP
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GroundlightSolo GP
HeraldSolo GP
highlight.ioSolo GP
HumanSignalSolo GP
ImmerokSolo GP
IopSolo GP
KeycardSolo GP
KiteSolo GP
LanceDBSolo GP
LaunchnotesSolo GP
LettaSolo GP
LevoSolo GP
LiveblocksSolo GP
MaestroSolo GP
MageSolo GP
Magic PatternsSolo GP
MeshSolo GP
ModalSolo GP
MonographSolo GP
MotherduckSolo GP
NectrySolo GP
NiloSolo GP
OllamaSolo GP
OpenInferSolo GP
OrbSolo GP
Project DiscoverySolo GP
ProspectiveSolo GP
ReadySet TechnologiesSolo GP
ResourcelySolo GP
Rosebud AISolo GP
SardineSolo GP
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Saris AISolo GP
SignadotSolo GP
TabularSolo GP
The Synthesis CompanySolo GP
Truffle SecuritySolo GP
TursoSolo GP
UnifySolo GP
UnkeySolo GP
UnstructuredSolo GP
WarpSolo GP
WiziaSolo GP
WorkbrewSolo GP
ZIR-AISolo GP
AxolotlSolo GP
BasisSolo GP
CoanaSolo GP
ContinualiqSolo GP
DevZeroSolo GP
DragonflydbSolo GP
FluxNinjaSolo GP
FusedSolo GP
GoirisSolo GP
HDRSolo GP
JunctionlabsSolo GP
LegionSolo GP
LineaSolo GP
MixpeekSolo GP
Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters. Some rows are inferred. Not right? Tell us.
Other disclosed investments
Investor
ASMICoana (acquired by Socket)CommsorDataDistillrFennel AIGatheroundInfracostMobile.devRecceSalus CloudTransform
Per curated public sources.
Network2
Investors connected to Timothy in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Timothy Chen?
- Managing Partner at Essence; previously SVP Engineering at Cosmos and cofounder of Hyperpilot (acquired by Cloudera), with early roles at Mesosphere and CloudFoundry, and is an Apache member.
- Where does Timothy Chen work?
- Timothy Chen is General Partner at ESSENCE VC.
- 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.
- What companies has Timothy Chen invested in?
- Investments tracked here include ASMI, Coana (acquired by Socket), Commsor, DataDistillr, Fennel AI, Gatheround, HumanSignal, Infracost, Launchnotes, Mobile.dev, Nuon, Platform Engineering Labs, and 5 more.
- Where did Timothy Chen go to school?
- Timothy Chen studied at University of Washington (B.S., Informatics); DigiPen Institute of Technology (Computer Science).
Founder mafias
Microsoft mafia1,464
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Bessemer Venture Partners mafia31
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Cloudera mafia28
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Polygon mafia11
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Mesosphere mafia10
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended University of Washington623
+ 617 more
Also attended DigiPen Institute of Technology5
Shared employers
Also worked at The Infra Pod1
Also worked at Polygon Technology23
+ 17 more
Also worked at Cloudera44
+ 38 more
Also worked at VMware252
+ 246 more