AME Cloud Ventures

About

AME Cloud Ventures is a Palo Alto-based venture firm founded in 2012 by Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo! ¹. The firm is backed entirely by Yang’s personal capital rather than traditional limited partners ¹². Yang has described its structure as: “There are no LPs — just me, myself and I” ¹.

The name “AME” is an acronym formed from the names of Yang’s wife and children, and also borrows from the Japanese word ame (雨), meaning rain ¹³. As stated on the firm’s website: “‘Ame’, pronounced ‘ah-may’, means rain in Japanese — a reflection on our belief that accurate, actionable data will be a major life-blood in the future economy.” ³ Yang has explained the name’s philosophy with: “Without rain, there is no life.” ¹

AME Cloud Ventures began as an angel-style vehicle in 2012. By March 2013, Yang had made roughly two dozen early investments, operating with a single associate (Nick Adams) and investing checks of $100,000–$500,000 ¹. Over subsequent years the firm scaled into a more structured operation with a reported fund size of approximately $500 million — still drawn entirely from Yang’s personal capital ².

The firm is headquartered in Midtown Palo Alto ³. Its team as listed on the firm website includes:

• Jerry Yang, Founding Partner — co-founded Yahoo! in 1995; board member at Workday and Alibaba ³.
• Jeff Chung, Managing Director — joined 2013; previously invested in growth-stage software and internet companies at Silver Lake; holds a BS from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School; board member at Savioke ³⁴.
• Wretch Chien, Principal — joined 2014; founded wretch.cc, Taiwan’s first major blogging platform (6 billion monthly page views before its Yahoo! acquisition); holds a Stanford MBA ³.
• Nick Adams, Venture Partner — joined 2012; five years in China and India before AME; Masters in Engineering from Imperial College; stepped back from new investments in 2020 but remains with the firm ³.
• Cathy Luu, Operations Manager — nine years at Yahoo! as Senior Executive Administrator to Yang before joining AME ³.

AME Cloud Ventures’ portfolio companies had collectively raised over $1.5 billion in the twelve months prior to the website’s last update ³. Tracxn reports the portfolio includes 17 unicorns, 15 IPOs, and 82 acquisitions as of 2025 ⁵.

Stated Thesis

AME Cloud Ventures publicly focuses on “seed to later stage companies building infrastructure and value chains around data” ³. The firm specifically targets “technology heavy companies gathering or creating unique data at every stage of the data stack — from infrastructure all the way to applications, mobile, and sensors” ³.

Yang has articulated the founding premise as follows: “The main investing premise is the idea that devices are more and more network connected…The cloud has become the next-generation supercomputer, and the smartphone has provided the revolution to spur its use.” ¹

The investment approach is widely described as an “anti-Yahoo playbook” with three core rules: (1) avoid consumer internet, (2) invest at the earliest stages, and (3) back only data-driven businesses with deep science or technology ². The firm also typically requires portfolio companies based outside Silicon Valley to relocate their headquarters to the Bay Area for hands-on support ².

AME describes itself as bringing “a unique and genuine set of resources to its founding teams, from strong operational and business experience, to networks of amazing mentors and international partners, particularly China” ³.

On AI specifically, Yang has said: “I think the AI wave is coming…We’ve seen a few waves of technology, and with each one of these waves, [we] go through this hype cycle.” ⁶

Inferred Thesis

Based on 17 independently verified portfolio investments (out of 252–395 reported across various aggregators), the following patterns emerge. The sample is small (~5–7% of the reported total), so percentages should be treated as directional rather than definitive.

Sector breakdown (17 verified investments): - Deep tech / AI / data infrastructure: 5 of 17 (29%) — Nervana Systems, Rigetti Computing, Zoom, Savioke, Flint - Biotech / life sciences: 5 of 17 (29%) — Synthego, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Freenome, Cartography Biosciences, Mammoth Biosciences - Space / aerospace / autonomous vehicles: 3 of 17 (18%) — Planet Labs, Capella Space, Embark Trucks - Robotics: 1 of 17 (6%) — Savioke - E-commerce / consumer: 1 of 17 (6%) — Wish - EdTech: 1 of 17 (6%) — Flint - Content / productivity: 2 of 17 (12%) — Evernote, Wattpad

Note: Some companies span multiple sectors; classification reflects primary sector. Numbers sum to more than 100% because Savioke appears in both AI/data and robotics.

Pattern diverging from stated thesis: Despite the stated “avoid consumer internet” rule, AME’s early portfolio (2012–2014) included consumer-facing investments such as Wish, Evernote, Wattpad, and Tango — all listed on the firm’s website ³. This suggests the anti-consumer rule became more strictly applied after the fund matured, or that these early investments pre-date the formal codification of the three-rule framework.

Stage distribution: AME invests across the full spectrum from seed through Series B+. Verified investments include seed rounds (Capella Space 2016 ³, Savioke 2014 ⁴), Series A (Zoom 2013 ⁸, Recursion 2016 ⁹, Embark 2017 ¹⁰, Flint 2025 ⁷), Series B (Nervana 2015 ¹¹, Synthego 2017 ¹², Rigetti 2017 ¹³), and later-stage follow-ons (Cartography Biosciences Series B 2025 ¹⁴, Recursion Series C 2019 ⁹). Typical check size: $1M–$10M ².

Geographic focus: Predominantly US-based companies, concentrated in Silicon Valley. Yang’s Asia connections (particularly China via Alibaba) create some cross-Pacific deal flow, but the verified portfolio is predominantly US-headquartered.

Co-investor patterns: AME frequently co-invests with Data Collective (DCVC), Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Lux Capital, Google Ventures, and 8VC across multiple verified investments.

Deep-tech concentration: The portfolio’s biotech and space/aerospace weight is disproportionately high relative to the median Bay Area VC. This is consistent with the stated “data with deep science” mandate — Nervana (AI chips), Rigetti (quantum computing), Synthego (CRISPR), Cartography Biosciences (oncology AI), and Capella Space (SAR satellites) all represent capital-intensive hard-tech bets.

Note: This analysis is based on 17 of a reported 252+ investments (~7%). Patterns should not be considered definitive given the small sample.

Portfolio

Note: Most early investments (2012–2014) lack confirmed round dates — years marked ~YYYY are inferred from company founding and fundraising timelines. This table represents approximately 7% of a reported 252+ investments; it is not a complete portfolio record.

In Their Own Words

On why he started AME Cloud Ventures (March 2013): “I feel like the thing I missed the most is what really early entrepreneurs were doing.” ¹

On the fund’s unusual structure: “There are no LPs — just me, myself and I.” And: “I invest in things for the long term and have a long horizon and the flexibility.” ¹

On the core investing thesis: “The main investing premise is the idea that devices are more and more network connected…The cloud has become the next-generation supercomputer, and the smartphone has provided the revolution to spur its use.” ¹

On the fund’s name: “Without rain, there is no life.” ¹

On his self-assessment as a new investor: “I’m not sure at all that I’m any good at this mentoring/investing business — that’s why I’m using my own money.” And: “I might not have better ideas, but I think my experience is unique and helpful [to entrepreneurs].” ¹

On AI (January 2025): “I think the AI wave is coming…We’ve seen a few waves of technology, and with each one of these waves, [we] go through this hype cycle.” ⁶

On the broader data opportunity (firm website): “Jerry started AME Cloud Ventures with the belief that data, cloud, and hardware advances will create unprecedented opportunities for great companies to be built.” ³

What Founders Say

Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom (a portfolio company since 2013), said in a 2019 TechCrunch interview that early investors including AME Cloud Ventures “are all very, very helpful. Not only from a capital side but the most important value.” ¹⁶ Yuan credited AME Cloud Ventures as one of Zoom’s earliest institutional backers alongside Qualcomm Ventures in the $6 million Series A in 2013 ⁸.

No additional independently sourced testimonials from AME Cloud Ventures portfolio founders were found at time of research.

Sources