Webinar
Introduction to the AI First Fund
Join Alumni Ventures’ team—Ray Wu, Jack Statza, and Sophia Zhao—for an introductory session on the AI First Fund, a venture fund focused exclusively on opportunities driven by artificial intelligence.
This webinar will explore how the AI First Fund identifies and backs startups where AI is not just a feature, but a fundamental driver of value creation. The team will share recent portfolio highlights, discuss emerging trends in AI investing, and explain the fund’s strategy for building a diversified portfolio of high-growth companies.
Whether you’re new to venture or looking to deepen your exposure to the AI space, this session will help you understand how the fund operates and how you can participate. You’ll also gain insight into how Alumni Ventures evaluates AI-first companies across verticals and stages. Reserve your spot today to learn how the AI First Fund is capturing the next wave of transformative innovation.
Why Attend?
- HomeUnderstand how the AI First Fund identifies transformative AI-native startups
- HomeLearn about key trends and signals shaping the future of AI investing
- HomeHear directly from the investment team about their sourcing and diligence strategy
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About your presenters
Ray is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 years of investing experience across a wide range of industries and geographies. Before joining Alumni Ventures, Ray was a partner and adviser at several global venture funds focusing on AI, Web3, FinTech and SaaS investment opportunities across the U.S. and Asia Pacific. Earlier, he spent more than 10 years in the corporate venture space: He was the managing director of HP’s new business ventures, responsible for startup technology evaluation, new business incubation, VC relationships, and minority investments, and earlier at Cisco Systems, holding several senior positions leading investment, M&A, internal incubation, and global consulting. Previously, Ray was a managing partner of a leading Internet consulting firm working with Fortune 1000 companies across North America. He earned a dual MBA degree from the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University.
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.
Jack Statza is an multi‑stage deep‑tech investor who has backed more than 80 startups, nine of which have already exited, across AI, blockchain, fintech, and other frontier technologies. At Alumni Ventures, he writes first checks as early as Seed and supports teams through IPO, accelerating their path from prototype to scale.
Prior to Alumni Ventures, Jack led AI, blockchain, and fintech investments at Allstate Strategic Ventures. Earlier, he advised clients on M&A transactions at Lazard and Livingstone, and began his career at Northern Trust, valuing illiquid VC/PE portfolios.
Jack holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a BBA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and is a CFA charterholder.