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    Roy Bahat

    Venture capitalist, educator, and activist

    Roy E. Bahat is a prominent venture capitalist and business leader who currently serves as the Head of Bloomberg Beta, a position he has held since January 2013.1 Bloomberg Beta is an early-stage venture capital firm backed by Bloomberg L.P., focusing on investments in the future of work and machine intelligence.12

    Career Highlights

    • Bloomberg Beta: As head of the firm, Bahat leads investments in startups making work better, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and the future of work.2

    • Educator: Bahat is a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he teaches MBA courses on leading unionized workforces and the media industry.1

    • Entrepreneurship: He co-founded and served as chairman of OUYA, Inc., a gaming console company, from 2012 to 2015.1

    • Corporate Experience: Prior to his venture capital career, Bahat held executive positions at News Corporation and worked in New York City government.1

    Education and Background

    Bahat graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he earned a Master's degree in economics.

    Additional Roles and Interests

    • Chairs the Aspen Business Roundtable on Organized Labor.1
    • Served on the California Governor's Commission on the Future of Work.1
    • Known for his interest in worker power and the intersection of technology and labor.3

    Roy Bahat is recognized for his diverse experience across various sectors, including venture capital, government, media, and academia. His approach to venture capital emphasizes transparency and founder-centric practices, as evidenced by Bloomberg Beta's open-sourced operating manual.1

    Highlights

    Jun 10 · twitter

    AI will be able to make us laugh (waiting for it to win the New Yorker Caption Contest)...

    ... but will the AI be able to laugh?

    (I mean, it will perform in order to make us like it more. But... will it really? I think so.)

    Jun 9 · twitter

    Yes, we are actively investing. In fact, today we announced @bloombergbeta has a new fund to invest – our fifth.

    Startups keep evolving, faster than ever, and we know the best way we can support them is by staying steady, a constant on which they can depend. So our new fund is the same as the previous ones.


    Though it’s our first new fund in a world after generative AI, vibe coding is everywhere, engineers keep getting faster thanks to that AI, and AI startups hit revenue records all the time...

    We're doing what we've always done.

    We still…

    Want to serve extraordinary founders who define the future of work. Put #foundersfirst. Invest as early as day zero, and as late as our up-to-$1M-or-so first checks allow (i.e., pre-seed and seed). Define the "future of work" to extend beyond productivity tools, to how work can serve everyone. Commit to making the startup world welcome to people of all backgrounds. Invest from a $75M fund.

    Our three equal investing partners: @karinklein (who continues to run the "Acela corridor"), @jamescham, and me. (Well, we did recognize that @AngKMartin is a partner -- because we need operations to be great as investors.)

    Modeled on Bloomberg LP, we still aspire to be the most transparent investors. And we're here whether the market goes up or down.

    None of that has changed. Same as 2022, same as 2019, 2016, 2013.


    What’s different is… well… we’ve got more evidence we’re right where we like to be:

    93 founders we’ve backed have become millionaires — and 24 of those have made $10M or more Founders we’ve backed have gone on to raise more than $10B 10 startups we’ve backed are worth more than $1B (Flexport, Replit, MasterClass to name a few!) Startups we back outperform — worth $24M more at next round

    We’ve backed extraordinary founders like @Replit’s @amasad and @HayaOdeh and @Flexport’s @typesfast, where we were the first VC to say yes to both companies, along with companies like @AirspaceIntel, @CampusGrad, @MadeWithCapsule, @LambdaAPI, @LaunchDarkly, @MasterClass, @Netlify, @ShieldAITech, @weights_biases (just acquired by @Coreweave), and more.

    We’ve also been busy since last time, but since X (in which we are small shareholders after they acquired Laskie) may penalize me for links, I won't tell you that here :) Go look at the one named after a color and what's in the air for that one.

    Our firm is more than our partners and today, our team includes @AngKMartin, @loriberenberg, @amytam01, @KB2o22, @moraaonyonka (and assists from @megmbolger!).

    We of course remain close with those who have worked on our team, including @shivon @strickland_dan @theamberyang @minney_cat @harleysugarman @sydneyjtiedt @lisawehden @ShainaConners @morganpolotan @cody_mccauley among others!


    And we’re forever grateful to @MikeBloomberg, a founder backing us so we can back more founders. Cycles continue!

    We want to be the first text for early-stage companies, partners through your journey, working with winners.

    If you know a founder who’s a great fit for us, please share this! "Yes, we're actively investing."

    Yes, we are actively investing. In fact, today we announced @bloombergbeta has a new fund to invest
    Mar 6 · youtube.com
    Fireside Chat with Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta - YouTube
    Fireside Chat with Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta - YouTube
    Roy Bahat Head Bloomberg Beta
    Jun 5 · twitter.com
    Roy E. Bahat on X: "Today starts Bloomberg Beta's 10th anniversary ...
    Sep 11 · Forbes
    Jack Dorsey's Former Boss Is Building A Decentralized Twitter - Forbes
    Sep 8 · Economic Times
    AtoB, the First Fintech Payments Platform to Modernize America’s Trucking Industry, Announces $155M Series - Economic Times

    Related Questions

    What are some of the most successful startups funded by Bloomberg Beta?
    How does Roy Bahat's approach to venture capital differ from traditional methods?
    What inspired Roy Bahat to create Bloomberg Beta?
    How has Roy Bahat's background in politics influenced his work in venture capital?
    What are some of the key projects Roy Bahat has worked on at Bloomberg Beta?
    Roy Bahat
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    Location

    San Francisco, California, United States