Yelena Shkolnik
Partner at jump-capital
Reviewed Updated Aug 4, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Yelena Shkolnik is a Partner at Jump Capital, a thesis-driven venture firm making Series A investments in fintech, IT/data infrastructure, and vertical B2B SaaS 12. She is based in Los Angeles, where she was raised, and joined Jump in 2015 12.
Her pre-VC career started in investment banking at UBS, then film finance at DreamWorks, and then venture at Chicago-based MK Capital before Jump 3. She was named to Crain’s Chicago Business “Rising Stars in Tech” list in 2020 4.
Jump Capital is headquartered in Chicago and describes itself as focused on Series A rounds with typical check sizes of $8–$10M, leading approximately 70% of the rounds it participates in 1. Per NFX Signal, Shkolnik’s personal check range spans $100K–$10M with a sweet spot around $1M 2.
Stated Thesis
Publicly, Shkolnik describes her focus as “the convergence of fintech, content, and commerce,” particularly through streaming platforms, social media, and creator-economy platforms enabling both entertainment and financial transactions 1. Her formal areas at Jump are enterprise software, media, fintech, and crypto 15.
Inferred Thesis
Based on 6 publicly verified Series A / Seed investments (small sample — qualitative only, no percentages 2):
- Stage: Predominantly Series A ($8–$14M rounds), with occasional Seed follow-through into Series A (Obsess). This matches Jump’s stated Series-A specialization.
- Sector: All 6 verified investments cluster in enterprise software with a commerce/media tilt — Vinyl Equity (music-royalty fintech), Highline (payments / earned-wage payroll), Recurate (resale/circular commerce infrastructure), Toolio (retail merchandising SaaS), Obsess (immersive/AR commerce), TVision (TV attention analytics). The through-line is exactly the “convergence of fintech, content, and commerce” she publicly claims.
- Geography: US-centric (New York, LA, Chicago).
- Co-investor pattern: Repeats include Foundation Capital, Founder Collective, Summit Partners, Gradient Ventures, XRC Ventures, and RevTech Ventures 2. These are consistent with Series-A commerce-tech syndicates.
- Ownership behavior: Jump leads roughly 70% of the rounds it participates in per firm materials 1; Shkolnik’s TVision role — quoted in the round announcement as the Jump principal — is consistent with that lead-heavy posture 6.
- Notable gap: Despite her stated crypto interest 1, no verified crypto investments appear on her personal NFX Signal profile as of this pass. Jump has a separate $350M crypto fund 7 but Shkolnik’s personal named deals to date are non-crypto commerce/enterprise.
Portfolio
| Company | Year | Stage | Sector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVision | 2018-07 | Series A ($12M round; Jump co-led with Accomplice) | TV/CTV attention measurement | 26 |
| Obsess | 2020-10 | Seed ($3M round) | Immersive / AR commerce | 2 |
| Obsess | 2021-06 | Series A ($10M round) | Immersive / AR commerce | 2 |
| Toolio | 2021-10 | Series A ($8M round) | Retail merchandising SaaS | 2 |
| Recurate | 2022-05 | Series A ($14M round) | Resale / circular commerce | 2 |
| Highline | 2022-08 | Series A ($13M round) | Payments / earned-wage payroll | 2 |
| Vinyl Equity | 2026-06 | Series A ($20M round) | Music royalty fintech | 2 |
This is a 6-company verified sample surfaced via NFX Signal; Shkolnik has stated she has participated in “more than a dozen” investments during her Jump tenure, so this table represents roughly half of that claimed count 1.
In Their Own Words
On working in crypto:
“The crypto community is an active and engaged one. So I think it is easier to get publicity for the work we do in crypto. But in crypto, we’re not just investors, we’re also builders.” — Yelena Shkolnik, dot.LA interview 1
On creator-economy tokenization and ownership:
“Is it easier for me to sort of incentivize you by saying, ‘Hey, you’re gonna have some fractional equity ownership in Nike?’ Or is it easier for me to incentivize you with a social token? I don’t know.” — Yelena Shkolnik, dot.LA interview 1
On the current entrepreneurial moment:
“I think that this general motif…is just the opportunity for everyone to be an entrepreneur and kind of determine their own destiny.” — Yelena Shkolnik, dot.LA interview 1
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials located during this research pass. A follow-up pass targeting Obsess, Toolio, Recurate, and TVision founder interviews is recommended.
Sources
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dot.LA, “Jump Capital’s Yelena Shkolnik on the Convergence of Fintech, Content and Commerce,” accessed August 2026. https://dot.la/yelena-shkolnik-jump-capital-2657027450.html↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Signal by NFX, “Yelena Shkolnik’s Investing Profile — Jump Capital Partner,” accessed August 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/yelena-shkolnik↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Bloomberg profile, “Yelena Shkolnik, Jump Capital Partners: Profile and Biography,” accessed August 2026. https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/2016194↩
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Crain’s Chicago Business, “Rising Stars in Tech 2020 — Yelena Shkolnik,” accessed August 2026. https://www.chicagobusiness.com/recognitions/rising-stars-in-tech/2020/yelena-shkolnik/↩
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Jump Capital team page, “Yelena Shkolnik,” accessed August 2026. https://jumpcap.com/team-members/yelena-shkolnik/↩
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TVision Insights, “Measurement Company TVision Raises $11.5M in New Funding,” accessed August 2026. https://www.tvisioninsights.com/resources/has-raised-11-5-million-in-new-funding↩↩
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Cryptonomist, “Jump Capital crypto fund hits $350M in firm’s largest raise ever,” July 2026. Accessed August 2026. https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/07/29/jump-capital-crypto-fund/↩