AI and Hollywood

Edward has 15+ years of investment experience in the U.S. and China, including a successful track record with investments such as Cruise Automation (acq. by GM), Life360 (IPO), Palantir (IPO), and Brave Software. In addition, Edward has served on the limited partner advisory committees at Cendana Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures, and he has deep operating experience at tech and cybersecurity companies. Most recently, he was Director of Investments at enterprise security company Qianxin, where he led $700 million in fundraising, ran multiple M&A deals, and managed a large investment portfolio. As Assistant GM for Qianxin, he also incubated their cybersecurity spinout fund Security Capital. At 360, he led International Investments and Strategic Development. He started his venture career as Vice President at DCM, a global early-stage VC firm managing $4 billion. He holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from UCLA, where he is a Kauffman Fellow (class of ’15).

Sophia brings a wealth of experience in capital advisory, corporate development, and operational optimization, establishing impactful collaborations with CXOs and Founders. With a diverse industry exposure encompassing cloud computing, mining and minerals, consumer goods, and Web3, Sophia has been at the forefront of transformative technologies. Since 2018, she has been immersed in the crypto universe, working at Galaxy Digital, Huobi US, and Crypto.com. In these roles, Sophia engaged with startups and institutional clients on capital raising and trading across the Americas, EU, and Asia regions.

Actively fostering innovation and mentorship, Sophia serves as a mentor and judge at prestigious institutions such as Yale’s Tsai City for Innovation, Berkeley’s Blockchain Xcelerator, Techstars, and Layer 1 protocols, including Ethereum, Algorand, and Solana. She maintains close ties with the blockchain communities at Stanford and Yale.

Driven by a passion for shaping the future through frontier technologies, Sophia is currently supporting AI data and applications deals within her team. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, an MBA from the University of British Columbia, and an MAM from the Yale School of Management.

Gigi Louisa Johnson is a creative technologist and futurologist — building expanded futures — with over 25 years of experience in the media and technology industries. At Maremel’s Rethink Next Lab, she runs collaborative futures programs with partners around the world. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and events on the topics of AI, media technology, and the future of creative work. She is the host and producer of the Creative Innovators Podcast. At Maremel, Gigi is designing mixed-reality environments as well as producing programs on AI and new creative tools. At UCLA, she ran the UCLA Center for Music Innovation and taught MBAs and executives at UCLA Anderson about disruption in creative industries. Before UCLA, Gigi was a managing director at Bank of America, where she financed M&A in transforming media sectors. She has a doctorate in education, a UCLA MBA, and a BA from USC Cinematic Arts.

Jaeson Ma is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist & artist who oversees all creative endeavors as Co-Founder and CEO at OP3N, the global Web3 chat super-app that serves as a one-stop-shop for all communication, connection, and commerce with on-chain interactions in a simple unified interface. With a mission to create a more frictionless, decentralized, and democratized creator economy on a global scale, Jaeson drives the vision of OP3N.

He is the founder/partner of multiple companies such as 88rising, Stampede Ventures, East West Ventures, and EST Media focusing on the Asian market through entertainment, media, and technology. He is also a strategic advisor & financier to social music video app Triller and a co-founder of ZASH and a General Partner of Caravan Digital Studios. As well, a Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle member.

During his career, he has raised capital and advised on transactions totaling over $1 billion. He is also a Senior Advisor to Tencent Music Entertainment & KKBox fund KKFarm, Sparklabs Foundry, and a Venture Partner for consumer tech fund GoodWater Capital.

His investments include Musical.ly (TikTok), Grab, Coinbase, Dark Horse Comics, Slock.it, Brain.ai, Oursong, Triller, Lomotif, XiaoPeng, Kind Heaven, OneOf & MAUM restaurant (Michelin Star).

Robin Guo is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz on the A16Z GAMES team, focused on investments in web2 and web3 studios, gamified consumer apps, anime, and novel applications of AI to games. He’s helping lead the firm’s gaming accelerator SPEEDRUN, and has worked on multiple deals including Azra Games, Theorycraft, Metatheory, PLAI Labs, and Believer.

Prior to joining a16z, Robin worked on the Corporate Development team at Riot Games, which has invested in Carry1st, Frost Giant, Raid Base, and other gaming startups. He also led their exploration into web3 from a product strategy and GTM perspective. Prior to Riot, Robin spent a few years at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. focused on healthcare, biotech, and private equity cases.