Daniel Kan

Partner, Rebel Fund; Co-Founder, Cruise (former COO/CPO) at Rebel Fund

Reviewed Updated May 1, 2026

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Location San Francisco, California
Check Size $5K–$50K (sweet spot ~$25K per Signal NFX)
Last Verified Investment Hona (Seed ($3M, led by General Catalyst; Rebel Fund participated)) — May 2024
Social @dnkan LinkedIn
Stage Focus
pre-seed seed series-a
Sector Focus
ai healthtech consumer marketplaces autonomous-vehicles yc-ecosystem

Background

Daniel (“Dan”) Kan is an American entrepreneur, operator, and angel investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer / Chief Product Officer of Cruise Automation, the autonomous-vehicle company he started with Kyle Vogt in 2013 and that was acquired by General Motors in March 2016 for a reported $1B+ 1 2 3. He is the younger brother of Justin Kan, co-founder of Justin.tv (which became Twitch) and Socialcam 1.

Kan graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle (2005) and Claremont McKenna College (2009), and began his career at the San Francisco startup UserVoice before going on to co-found Exec, a Y Combinator–backed on-demand assistant/cleaning service, in 2011 1. Exec was acquired by Handy (then Handybook) in 2014 for under $10M, after which Kan immediately joined Vogt at Cruise — itself a YC W14 company — as co-founder 1.

After the 2016 GM acquisition, Kan and Vogt continued to run Cruise inside GM. Kan stayed with the company through 2023, ultimately as Chief Product Officer 4. He resigned on November 20, 2023, one day after Vogt’s own resignation, in the aftermath of the California DMV suspending Cruise’s driverless permit following an October 2023 robotaxi incident 4.

Kan is now an active angel investor and a Partner at Rebel Fund, the YC-alumni-only seed syndicate founded by Jared Heyman in 2019 5 6. His public investing profile lists him as a “leading super angel” with a long-tailed portfolio of YC and adjacent startups 7.

Stated Thesis

Kan does not publish a written investing thesis. The structural shape of his activity — angel checks across YC-batch companies, plus a partnership at the YC-aligned Rebel Fund — is itself the stated thesis: he backs YC alumni and other early-stage software founders where his operating reps (consumer marketplaces, on-demand ops, autonomous-vehicle product) and Cruise-era network are useful 5 6.

Per his Signal NFX profile, his self-described stage focus is pre-seed, seed, and Series A, with sector interests in AI, consumer health, pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce 7.

Inferred Thesis

Sample frame: small. Daniel Kan’s personal angel record is sparse in public databases — Signal NFX shows ~12 on-record direct investments 7, and PitchBook/Crunchbase/CB Insights list him primarily as an operator-investor rather than as a fund GP 8 9 10. He also invests through Rebel Fund, whose portfolio of 128 companies (Tracxn, Feb 2026) is collective rather than individually attributable 11. The numbers below should be read as qualitative, not statistical.

  • Stage: seed-heavy with occasional pre-seed and Series A follow-on. Signal NFX’s verified entries are dominated by seed rounds in the $2M–$10M range, with sweet-spot checks of ~$25K 7.
  • Sectors: AI, healthtech, consumer/marketplaces. Recent verified checks include Hona (GenAI medical records), Outset, Fathom (AI meeting notes), JustPaid (B2B fintech), Maker Wine (consumer CPG), and Evil Genius Games (consumer/media) 7 12.
  • YC alignment is strong. Through his Rebel Fund partnership, Kan participates in a fund whose portfolio is 100% Y Combinator alumni 5 6. Many of his direct angel checks also land in YC-adjacent companies.
  • Co-investors skew YC operator-angels. Signal NFX lists Harj Taggar (YC), Lachy Groom (Stripe alum), and Sequoia partners among frequent co-investors 7.
  • Active-investor signal: positive. The Hona seed round (May 2024) is the most recent publicly cited investment in which Kan/Rebel Fund are explicitly named 12. The cadence is lower than a full-time GP, consistent with his stated profile as an operator-angel.

Caveat (sample size): Public databases under-count private angel checks. Kan’s actual investment count is likely higher than the dozen Signal NFX has verified, but only the verified entries are usable as data here.

Portfolio

Verified angel/Rebel Fund investments named in public coverage. This list is illustrative, not exhaustive.

Company Year Stage Sector Source
Hona 2024 Seed ($3M, led by General Catalyst) Healthtech (GenAI medical records) 12
Outset 2023 Seed ($4M) Healthtech 7
Superorder 2023 Series A ($10M) Restaurant software 7
Delian Alliance Industries 2023 Seed ($6M) Defense/hardware 7
atla 2023 Seed ($5M) AI 7
JustPaid 2023 Seed ($4M) Fintech 7
Fathom 2022 Seed ($5M) AI/productivity (meeting notes) 7
Maker Wine 2021 Seed ($2M) Consumer CPG 7
Evil Genius Games 2023 Pre-seed ($2M) Consumer/gaming 7

Kan additionally participates as a Partner at Rebel Fund, whose 128-company portfolio includes unicorns Jeeves and Airbyte 11. Individual Rebel checks are not separately attributed to specific partners in public filings.

In Their Own Words

No directly quotable, publicly verifiable Daniel Kan statements about his investing philosophy were located after dedicated searching. He has spoken about Cruise’s product and operating decisions in interviews (e.g., the Grace Gong podcast episode #134) 13, but those quotes concern the autonomous-vehicle business rather than his angel/Rebel activity. Per Seedlist’s anti-hallucination rules, no paraphrased text is presented here as a direct quote.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Daniel Kan as an angel or Rebel Fund partner were found after dedicated searching. (Rebel Fund’s profile carries the same disclaimer — syndicate checks rarely surface in public founder commentary, which tends to credit lead investors.)

Connections

  • Co-founder, Cruise Automation (2013–2023) — built and exited the company with Kyle Vogt; remained inside GM through 2023, departing one day after Vogt on November 20, 2023 1 3 4.
  • Partner, Rebel Fund — invests alongside fellow YC-alumni partners Steve Huffman (Reddit), Jared Heyman (CrowdMed), Max Mullen (Instacart), Trip Adler (Scribd), Sebastian Mejia (Rappi), and Dan Siroker (Optimizely) 5 6.
  • Justin Kan (brother) — co-founder of Justin.tv/Twitch and Socialcam; the brothers co-founded Exec in 2011 1.
  • Y Combinator alumnus (W14) — Cruise went through YC’s Winter 2014 batch; Exec also passed through YC 1.
  • Frequent angel co-investors (per Signal NFX): Harj Taggar (YC), Lachy Groom, Sequoia Capital partners 7.
  • Fortune 40 Under 40 (2016) — recognized alongside Kyle Vogt for the Cruise/GM deal 3.

Sources

  1. “Dan Kan (executive),” Wikipedia, accessed May 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Kan_(executive) ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. “Cruise (autonomous vehicle),” Wikipedia, accessed May 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_(autonomous_vehicle) ↩

  3. “Daniel Kan, Kyle Vogt,” Fortune 40 Under 40 (2016), accessed May 2026. https://fortune.com/40-under-40/2016/daniel-kan-kyle-vogt/↩↩↩

  4. “Dan Kan, Cruise’s co-founder, quits one day after CEO’s exit,” The San Francisco Standard, November 20, 2023, accessed May 2026. https://sfstandard.com/2023/11/20/cruise-gm-cofounder-dan-kan-quits-kyle-vogt/↩↩↩

  5. Rebel Fund — homepage and partner roster, accessed May 2026. https://www.rebelfund.vc/↩↩↩↩

  6. “Rebel Fund: The Early Stage Founder’s Guide,” Superscout, accessed May 2026. https://superscout.co/investor/rebel-fund↩↩↩↩

  7. “Daniel Kan’s Investing Profile — Angel,” Signal NFX, accessed May 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/daniel-kan↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  8. “Daniel Kan — investment portfolio,” PitchBook, accessed May 2026. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/182097-9↩

  9. “Daniel Kan — CEO @ Fifth Door,” Crunchbase, accessed May 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-kan↩

  10. “Daniel Kan Portfolio Investments, Funds, Exits,” CB Insights, accessed May 2026. https://www.cbinsights.com/investor/daniel-kan↩

  11. Rebel Fund — Investor Profile, Tracxn, accessed May 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/rebelfund/__9LKEvRR6aOKp7LrB9ffURxW7s_q4DUE1AX4zKxZnBMY↩↩

  12. “Hona Raises $3 Million in Seed Round,” The SaaS News, May 2024, accessed May 2026. https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/hona-raises-3-million-in-seed-round↩↩↩

  13. “#134 Cruise’s Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Daniel Kan — Grace Gong,” SVP Pro / Smart Venture Podcast, accessed May 2026. https://svppro.com/134-cruises-co-founder-chief-product-officer-daniel-kan/↩