Amanda Niu

General Partner & CFO at shine-capital

Reviewed Updated Apr 30, 2026

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Location New York, NY
Check Size $1M-$7M
Last Verified Investment Shine Capital (firm-level) (AudioShake Series A (firm participation)) — Oct 1, 2025
Social LinkedIn
Stage Focus
pre-seed seed series-a
Sector Focus
fintech gaming crypto web3 AI SaaS enterprise

Background

Amanda Niu is General Partner and CFO at Shine Capital, the New York-based early-stage venture firm founded by Mo Koyfman in 2019 12. She joined Shine in July 2021 and serves a hybrid investing/operating role: she invests in early-stage companies and runs the firm’s finance, operations, and back-office functions 13. Public sources describe her as bringing “an unusually broad executive-operator perspective” to the partnership 3.

Prior to Shine, Niu spent approximately eight years at Kickstarter (April 2013 - May/July 2021), where she advanced through Operations Manager, Controller, VP of Finance, SVP of Finance, and ultimately CFO from July 2019 to mid-2021 45. In her final years at Kickstarter she also led the People and Legal teams in addition to Finance 45. A LinkedIn recommendation from then-CEO Aziz Hasan describes her demonstrating “flexibility, range and innate sense of duty” while guiding the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic 5. She left Kickstarter in 2021 to join Shine 45.

Earlier in her career, Niu was Business Director at WIRED (April 2011 - March 2013) and Business Manager at WIRED (June 2010 - April 2011) 45. Before that she held progressive sales and marketing roles at Condé Nast Traveler from 2006 to 2010, starting as a Sales Assistant and rising to Associate Marketing Manager 4. She began her career as a Legal Assistant at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in 2005-2006 4.

Niu earned a B.A. from Williams College in 2005 with a concentration in English Literature and Psychology 46. She is also a founding member of Level (Level Leaders), a multiracial network of women that pools capital to angel-invest in Black women entrepreneurs and to discuss the racial wealth gap 7.

Stated Thesis

Niu’s published investing focus is broad-band early-stage technology investing aligned with Shine’s overall manifesto. VCSheet lists her sector focus as AI, Fintech, SaaS, Web3/Crypto, and Enterprise, with stage focus on pre-seed, seed, and Series A and check sizes in the $1M-$10M range 3. Signal by NFX records her investment range at $1M-$7M with a $5M sweet spot, and ranks her among top investors at the seed and pre-seed stages specifically for Gaming/eSports, Web3/Blockchain, Web3/Crypto, and FinTech 8. VCSheet summarizes her “primary focus areas” as gaming/eSports, web3/blockchain/crypto, and fintech 3.

Shine’s firm-level manifesto, which Niu invests under, frames the firm as “lateralist” and “non-linear,” states “We invest thematically,” and asserts “We are willing to be your first check; we, in fact, embrace it” 9. Shine’s website describes the firm as partnering with “creative, convincing, relentless entrepreneurs to build iconic businesses” 1.

No long-form personal investing-thesis essay or podcast appearance authored by Niu was located in available sources within the research time budget.

Inferred Thesis

Sample-size caveat: this section is qualitative. Within available primary sources, no Shine portfolio rounds were located in which Amanda Niu is named individually as the lead partner, board member, or quoted partner of record. Shine’s Series A and seed announcements where a Shine partner is named typically credit Mo Koyfman (e.g., Bliss, Two, Hivemapper, Plaid-era) or Alex Hartz (e.g., iVerify, Visia/BinIt, AudioShake) 10111213. This is consistent with Niu’s hybrid role as GP & CFO — she contributes to Shine’s collective investment decisions and operates the firm’s financial infrastructure rather than running a public sourcing-and-leading book like a sector-specialist GP.

What can be inferred from her aggregator-listed focus and Shine’s public portfolio:

Sector orientation (per aggregator profiles): Niu is ranked by Signal NFX in seed/pre-seed for Gaming/eSports, Web3/Blockchain, Web3/Crypto, and FinTech — a more crypto-and-gaming-tilted set than either Koyfman’s broader-spectrum profile (AI, fintech, SaaS, web3, enterprise) or Hartz’s lending/embedded-finance/applied-AI book 81415. Within Shine’s portfolio, the crypto/web3 cluster includes Goldsky and Hivemapper, and the consumer/gaming-adjacent positions include Notion’s broader Shine portfolio book 1610.

Stage: Pre-seed through Series A, consistent with Shine’s manifesto and the rest of the partnership 39.

Check size: $1M-$7M with a $5M sweet spot per Signal 8.

Geographic focus: New York-based 45; Shine itself is headquartered at 100 Crosby Street in NYC with a San Francisco satellite 1.

Differentiation from Koyfman and Hartz: Niu is the firm’s only partner with a dedicated CFO mandate, having operated finance and people functions at scale at Kickstarter 45. Where Koyfman is the firm’s external face and primary sourcer of Shine’s flagship Series A deals, and Hartz brings the SciFi-era embedded-finance and applied-vertical-AI book from San Francisco, Niu’s distinctive contribution is operator credibility on finance, people, and legal — useful for portfolio companies navigating their own finance/HR/legal infrastructure decisions, especially platform/marketplace businesses (the closest public analog to her Kickstarter operating experience). Her aggregator-listed lean toward gaming and crypto is the largest sector-level delta versus the rest of the partnership.

Honest gap: Round-level attribution to Niu in publicly available press coverage is thin. A more comprehensive inferred thesis would require access to Shine’s internal deal-by-deal partner attribution or direct disclosure of board seats, which were not located in available sources.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Shine Capital firm-level portfolio (~60+ active companies) 2021- Various 16

No round-level investments where Amanda Niu is named as the lead partner, board representative, or quoted partner of record were located in available primary sources within the research time budget. Shine’s published portfolio lists ~60 active companies across Consumer, Enterprise, AI/ML, Frontier, Crypto, Fintech, and Healthcare buckets, all of which Niu invests in as part of the partnership 16. Crunchbase’s Amanda Niu page was inaccessible (403) at research time and could not be used to verify named individual positions 17. This portfolio table is intentionally minimal pending discovery of Niu-specific round attributions; future passes should add specific companies as press coverage names her or as board memberships are disclosed.

In Their Own Words

No independently sourced first-person quotes from Amanda Niu about her investing philosophy, decision-making, or markets were located in available primary sources within the research time budget. Searches across Twitter/X, Bluesky, podcast directories, Medium, and press archives returned no Niu-authored or Niu-quoted material specifically tied to her Shine role. Her Medium profile (@amandaniu) belongs to a different person of the same name (a furniture-brand co-founder) 18. The Shine manifesto, which she invests under, is the closest available articulation of her firm-level investing voice 9.

A LinkedIn recommendation from former Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan describes her operating posture (not her investing voice): she “demonstrated flexibility, range and innate sense of duty” and “guided the organization through the pandemic while maintaining focus on company mission and values” 5. This is included as third-party characterization, not as a Niu quote.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials specifically describing Amanda Niu’s working relationship with Shine portfolio founders were located in available primary sources. This section should be revisited when Niu-specific deal attributions surface in press coverage or when portfolio founders publicly thank her in round-announcement posts.

Connections

  • Prior employer: Kickstarter — CFO (July 2019 - mid-2021), SVP Finance (2017-2019), VP Finance (2016-2017), Controller (2013-2016), Operations Manager (April-December 2013). Reported to and worked closely with then-CEO Aziz Hasan, who provides a public LinkedIn recommendation 45.
  • Prior employer: WIRED / Condé Nast — Business Director and Business Manager at WIRED (2010-2013); progressive sales/marketing roles at Condé Nast Traveler (2006-2010) 4.
  • Prior employer: Willkie Farr & Gallagher — Legal Assistant (2005-2006) 4.
  • Founding member, Level (Level Leaders) — multiracial women’s network pooling capital for angel investments in Black women entrepreneurs, organized around Women’s Equity Circles addressing the racial wealth gap 719.
  • Education: Williams College — B.A., concentration in English Literature and Psychology (2001-2005) 46.
  • Shine Capital team — Mo Koyfman (Founder & GP), Alex Hartz (GP, San Francisco), Ethan Daly (GP), Elie Seidman (Venture Partner), Jenna Field (Head of IR & Communications), Kari Garber (Chief of Staff), Maya Smith (EA & Office Manager); operating partners Adam Hanft and Carl Tremblay; strategic advisor Joe Quenqua 2.

Sources

  1. Shine Capital, homepage, accessed April 2026. https://shine.vc/↩↩↩↩

  2. Shine Capital, “Team” page, accessed April 2026. https://shine.vc/team↩↩

  3. VCSheet, “Amanda Niu (Shine Capital) — VC Breakdown & Contact,” accessed April 2026. https://www.vcsheet.com/who/amanda-niu↩↩↩↩↩

  4. TheOrg, “Amanda Niu — CFO and General Partner at Shine Capital,” accessed April 2026. https://theorg.com/org/shine-capital/org-chart/amanda-niu↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. Amanda Niu, LinkedIn profile (publicly visible portion including recommendation from Aziz Hasan, former Kickstarter CEO), accessed April 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandaniu/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  6. Williams College, college catalog and alumni records (Niu B.A. 2005), accessed April 2026. https://catalog.williams.edu/↩↩

  7. Level (Level Leaders), homepage describing the multiracial Women’s Equity Circles network, accessed April 2026. https://www.levelleaders.com↩↩

  8. Signal by NFX, “Amanda Niu’s Investing Profile — Shine Capital General Partner,” accessed April 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/amanda-niu↩↩↩

  9. Shine Capital, “Manifesto,” accessed April 2026. https://www.shine.vc/about/manifesto↩↩↩

  10. PR Newswire, “Bliss Aesthetics (‘Bliss’) Secures $17.5 Million Seed Round,” April 10, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bliss-aesthetics-bliss-secures-17-5-million-seed-round-to-launch-ai-powered-platform-connecting-patients-with-board-certified-plastic-surgeons-302425601.html↩↩

  11. iVerify, “iVerify Announces $12M in Series A Funding to Transform Mobile Security,” June 26, 2024. https://iverify.io/press-releases/iverify-announces-12m-in-series-a-funding-to-transform-mobile-security↩

  12. Raghav Mecheri (BinIt / Visia), “Visia: Our Seed Financing & Vision For Inbound Visibility,” Medium, January 29, 2024. https://medium.com/binit-ai/visia-our-seed-financing-vision-for-inbound-visibility-7fb4e62a8f79↩

  13. PR Newswire, “AudioShake Raises $14M to Make Sound More Usable in the AI Era,” October 1, 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/audioshake-raises-14m-to-make-sound-more-usable-in-the-ai-era-302572048.html↩

  14. Signal by NFX, “Mo Koyfman’s Investing Profile — Shine Capital General Partner,” accessed April 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/mo-koyfman↩

  15. Signal by NFX, “Alex Hartz’s Investing Profile — Shine Capital Partner,” accessed April 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/alex-hartz↩

  16. Shine Capital, “Portfolio” page, accessed April 2026. https://shine.vc/portfolio↩↩↩

  17. Crunchbase, “Amanda Niu — CFO & General Partner @ Shine Capital” (page returned HTTP 403 at research time; listed for traceability), accessed April 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/amanda-niu-c972↩

  18. Medium, “About — Amanda Niu” (different person; furniture-brand Eva co-founder, ex-neuropsychologist), accessed April 2026. https://medium.com/@amandaniu/about↩

  19. TechCrunch, “These folks are working to bring more diversity to the venture LP investing pool,” November 7, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/07/these-folks-are-working-to-bring-more-diversity-to-the-venture-lp-investing-pool/↩