Sutian Dong

Background

Sutian Dong is a venture capital investor based in New York City, currently a partner at Multitudes, a fund focused on early-stage ventures exploring shifts in human consciousness and culture ¹. She is originally from Texas ².

Dong earned a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from NYU Stern School of Business ². She began her career in fashion as Director of Marketing at Norisol Ferrari, a New York-based couture and luxury outerwear brand, and held sales roles at MarketFactory ^{3 1}.

She transitioned into venture capital at FirstMark Capital, one of the pioneer VC firms in New York City, where she worked as a senior associate from 2009 to 2015 ^{4 3}. At FirstMark, she focused on investments across the internet and cloud landscape, including healthcare IT, fintech, enterprise SaaS, and e-commerce, working alongside the team on deals including Pinterest and Shopify ^{1 3}.

In January 2016, Dong joined Female Founders Fund (F Cubed / F3) as a partner, where she and founding partner Anu Duggal built what became one of the most recognized brands in seed-stage investing in female-founded companies ^{3 5}. During her tenure at F3, the fund grew from its initial $5.85 million Fund I to a $27 million Fund II closed in May 2018 ^{6 7}. For Fund II, Dong and Duggal invited existing portfolio founders to become limited partners, enabling them to gain investment experience ⁷.

In 2020, Dong departed Female Founders Fund to launch Multitudes ^{1 8}.

Beyond investing, Dong co-founded the Global Women in VC Community in 2015, which has grown to over 6,000 members across 3,500 funds in more than 200 cities and 70 countries, making it the oldest and largest network of female technology investors worldwide ^{2 9}. She serves on the boards of Vitamin Angels and the International Center of Photography ^{1 10}.

Stated Thesis

At Female Founders Fund (2016-2020):

Dong publicly described F3’s thesis as grounded in the financial outperformance of female-founded companies, not impact investing. She stated: “We are a financial investor, we’re not an impact fund. We exist to deliver top decile returns” ³. The fund invested exclusively in female-founded companies at the seed stage, across e-commerce, marketplaces, web-enabled products and services, and platforms ⁵.

Dong described her investment focus on “thematic shifts” driven by societal, cultural, and technological change: “We like to invest in thematic shifts; we look at what’s happening societally, culturally and technologically that’s causing big consumer behaviors to move” ¹¹. She identified specific areas of interest including direct-to-consumer commerce, the intersection of science/biology and computer science, the changing face of work and the 1099 economy, and beauty and wellness ^{3 6}.

At Multitudes (2020-present):

At Multitudes, Dong’s stated thesis shifted significantly. She describes the fund as investing in and incubating “projects that explore the edge of human consciousness” ¹. Multitudes invests in early-stage companies, funds, DAOs, and other new structures, with interest in religion, new therapeutic models, experiential spaces, and modern delivery of traditional practices ¹. She has stated her goal is to “create products, technologies, platforms, services, and communities that move humanity in a positive direction by not changing how we do things, but changing the way that we think and feel” ⁸. The fund also backs early-stage companies with scalable solutions across crypto, care, climate, and culture ².

Inferred Thesis

The inferred thesis below is based on Dong’s publicly verifiable investments made primarily during her tenure at Female Founders Fund (2016-2020). Individual attribution is difficult because F3 investments were made as a two-GP fund alongside Anu Duggal, so portfolio patterns reflect the fund’s collective decisions rather than Dong’s solo preferences.

Based on 15 verified portfolio companies associated with F3 during Dong’s tenure:

Sector distribution: - Consumer / E-commerce / DTC: 6 of 15 (40%) — ELOQUII, Zola, Primary, Rockets of Awesome, Winky Lux, Billie - Health & Wellness: 3 of 15 (20%) — Maven Clinic, Thrive Global, Shine - Fintech: 1 of 15 (7%) — Tala - Food & Beverage: 2 of 15 (13%) — BentoBox, Kin Euphorics - Marketplace / Platform: 2 of 15 (13%) — WayUp, Rent the Runway - Other: 1 of 15 (7%) — Co-Star

Stage distribution: Predominantly seed-stage. F3 made 43 seed investments with an average round size of $3.15M across its history ¹². The fund also participated in some follow-on rounds at Series A ($5.92M average) ¹².

Geographic concentration: Portfolio companies were concentrated in New York City, with some presence in San Francisco and Los Angeles ³. Dong described herself as “very long New York” ³.

Founder profile: 100% female-founded or female co-founded companies, by fund mandate. No exceptions observed.

Notable patterns: - Strong emphasis on consumer brands and DTC companies, likely influenced by Dong’s fashion industry background - Dong emphasized the importance of brand IP: “The [intellectual property] around the brand is more important than ever” ¹¹ - Co-investor patterns include Greycroft, Lakehouse Ventures, and Goldman Sachs-backed funds - The fund’s portfolio generated over $3 billion in enterprise value ⁵, with notable exits including ELOQUII (acquired by Walmart, 2018), BentoBox (acquired by Fiserv for ~$320M, 2021), and Billie (acquired by Edgewell) ^{13 14}

Gaps between stated and inferred thesis: Dong’s stated interest at F3 in fintech and the “1099 economy” is underrepresented in the verified portfolio, with only Tala fitting the fintech category. The portfolio skews more heavily toward consumer brands and wellness than her stated thesis might suggest. Sample size is limited — F3 invested in 71+ companies total ¹², and only 15 are verified here, representing roughly 21% of the portfolio.

Portfolio

Investments made during Dong’s tenure at Female Founders Fund (2016-2020) and at FirstMark Capital (2009-2015). Individual deal attribution is approximate as these were fund-level investments.

Note: Many investments listed above predate Dong’s January 2016 arrival at F3. Investments marked with “~” use approximate dates; the fund was founded in 2014 and Dong joined in 2016. This table represents approximately 21% of F3’s 71+ total investments ¹². Investments at FirstMark Capital (Pinterest, Shopify) were fund-level deals where Dong was a team member, not a decision-maker ¹.

In Their Own Words

“We are a financial investor, we’re not an impact fund. We exist to deliver top decile returns.” — Sutian Dong, AlleyWatch interview, April 2017 ³

“We like to invest in thematic shifts; we look at what’s happening societally, culturally and technologically that’s causing big consumer behaviors to move.” — Sutian Dong, Glossy interview, 2018 ¹¹

“Venture capital is jet fuel. It is amazing for rockets. However, if you are building a car and you put jet fuel into your car, it will break your car.” — Sutian Dong, Burkland Associates podcast, 2024 ¹⁹

“Venture is a service industry and money is one of the most fungible things that a VC can bring.” — Sutian Dong, AlleyWatch interview, April 2017 ³

“Amazon can launch a play on Boy Brow and call it Man Brow, but would you buy Man Brow by Amazon? I don’t think so.” — Sutian Dong, on the defensibility of DTC brands, Glossy interview, 2018 ¹¹

“The generation right now is really committed to changing permanently how people interact and how people treat each other.” — Sutian Dong, TIME interview, 2018 ⁷

“Most humans want certainty, right? And so to be comfortable with uncertainty or I’ll even go broader, to be comfortable with things that the majority of people are uncomfortable with is a skill that anyone can learn.” — Sutian Dong, Plan B podcast, 2024 ⁸

“We’re saying to the world that you can have a fund that’s 100% female founders and compete with everybody else.” — Anu Duggal, on F3’s positioning (Dong served as co-GP), TIME interview, 2018 ⁷

What Founders Say

Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO of Tala, stated: “F3 has partnered with us from very early on and we’ve been grateful to be part of this dynamic community of female founders” ¹⁶.

No other independently sourced founder testimonials specifically about Sutian Dong were found. Founders who worked with Female Founders Fund have generally described F3 as their most helpful investor, according to the fund’s own reporting ⁶. However, individual testimonials attributable to Dong’s personal involvement could not be independently verified.

Connections

• Board member, Vitamin Angels — nonprofit board seat, joined February 2020 ¹⁰
• Board member, International Center of Photography — nonprofit board seat ¹
• Co-founder, Global Women in VC — co-founded with Jessica Peltz-Zatulove in 2015; 6,000+ members across 70+ countries ^{2 9}
• Former Senior Associate, FirstMark Capital (2009-2015) — worked alongside Rick Heitzmann and team ⁴
• Former Partner, Female Founders Fund (2016-2020) — alongside Anu Duggal (Founding Partner) ⁵
• Mentor, Monarq Incubator ⁴
• Speaker: SXSW, Glamour Women of the Year Summit, SuperVenture, SuperReturn North America ¹

Sources