Helen Liang
Founder & Managing Partner at foundersx-ventures
Summary Updated Jun 18, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Helen Liang is the Founder and Managing Partner of FoundersX Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based, AI-first venture capital firm she founded in 2016 with backing from a Stanford founders circle 12. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed Harvard Business School’s PE/VC program in 2022 1. Before founding FoundersX, she spent more than a decade in product roles in the high-tech industry 1. She is a guest lecturer at Stanford and an invited speaker at TechCrunch events 1. FoundersX operates from Menlo Park with additional hubs in Cambridge, MA and New York 13.
Stated Thesis
FoundersX publicly describes itself as “AI-first,” investing in “full-stack AI, from next-gen compute chips, AI & Space infrastructure, physical AI foundation models and robotics, to Agentic AI solutions across industries” 3. Liang has emphasized agentic AI as the firm’s defining bet for 2025-2026:
“2025 marked the rise of agentic AI as a fundamental driver of business transformation.” 3
“We expect agentic AI adoption to expand dramatically, reaching mass-market levels in consumer and enterprise applications.” 3
Inferred Thesis
Sample size is modest — the firm publicly highlights approximately 15-20 specific portfolio companies, with claims of 100+ total investments 123. Based on the named companies that can be verified:
- Fintech is the most visible sector — Kapital (LatAm SMB lending), Jeeves (cross-border expense), Kontigo (stablecoin neobank), Alinea Invest (Gen Z investing), Bitstack (Bitcoin neobank) 3. Five of the ~15 named portfolio companies (~33%) are fintech, skewing toward Latin America and underserved consumer segments.
- AI infrastructure and applied AI dominate the rest — Solve Intelligence (legal AI), Arintra (medical billing AI), Jericho Security (cybersecurity AI), 1910 Genetics, Kernel Bio, Linvest21.ai, Cognito TX 12.
- Stage: Predominantly seed, with FoundersX highlighting that eight seed-stage portfolio companies raised $120M+ in Series A in 2025 2.
- Geography: US-headquartered companies with notable LatAm fintech exposure.
- Notable gap: Despite “robotics” and “space infrastructure” in stated thesis, the publicly-named portfolio skews heavily toward software/AI applications rather than hardware.
Sample size caveat: percentages above reflect only the ~15 publicly-named companies the firm highlights; the broader 100+ portfolio is not independently verifiable.
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | ~2016 | Growth | 1 |
| Salt Security | ~2018 | Seed | 1 |
| Jeeves | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| Kapital | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| Universal Quantum | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| 1910 Genetics | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| Kernel Bio | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| Meru Health | ~2019 | Seed | 1 |
| Nitra | ~2020 | Seed | 1 |
| Alinea Invest | ~2021 | Seed → Series A 2025 ($10M) | 12 |
| Arintra | ~2021 | Seed → Series A 2025 ($21M) | 12 |
| Cognito TX | ~2022 | Seed | 1 |
| Jericho Security | ~2023 | Seed → Series A 2025 ($15M) | 12 |
| Linvest21.ai | ~2023 | Seed | 1 |
| Solve Intelligence | ~2023 | Seed → Series A 2025 ($12M) | 12 |
| Glyphic Bio | ~2023 | Series A 2025 ($38M) | 2 |
| Kontigo | ~2024 | Seed | 3 |
| Bitstack | ~2024 | Seed | 3 |
This table represents approximately 15-20% of the firm’s claimed 100+ investments; years are approximate and based on company founding or first publicly-noted round.
In Their Own Words
“Our portfolio’s strong revenue growth and successful up-rounds highlight unprecedented scaling speed, especially in data-rich fields like fintech.” — Helen Liang, FoundersX Ventures 2025 portfolio recap 3
“Shaping the future together with top 1% founders.” — Helen Liang, FoundersX team page tagline 1
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found at this time.
Sources
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FoundersX Ventures, “Helen Liang, PhD” team page. Accessed June 2026. https://foundersx.com/team/helen-liang↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Yahoo Finance, “FoundersX Managing Partner Helen Liang, PhD: Portfolio Companies Raised over $120 Million in Series A Funding, Showcasing GenAI-Driven Growth in Cybersecurity, Fintech, and Healthcare,” 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/foundersx-managing-partner-helen-liang-164500890.html↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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FoundersX Ventures blog, “Reuters: FoundersX Ventures Marks Transformative 2025: Portfolio Companies Raised Over $360 Million Capital with Explosive Growth Driven by Agentic AI.” Accessed June 2026. https://www.foundersx.com/blog/reuters-foundersx-ventures-marks-transformative-2025-portfolio-companies-raised-over-360-million-capital-with-explosive-growth-driven-by-agentic-ai↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩