John Lee

John Lee General Information

Biography

Mr. John Lee serves as a Partner at JAZZ Venture Partners. He serves as a Board Member at Mercaso and Transcripta Bio. He is an experienced early-stage investor, focusing on companies across frontier technology, enterprise software, robotics, healthcare, and artificial intelligence. He gravitates towards startups that are using science and technology to break down barriers to productivity growth and enable a better future for the largest number of people. As an entrepreneur and investor, he has worked closely with technologists and scientists from company formation to exit. He brings deep expertise in understanding nascent technologies and how they translate into products. Prior to JAZZ, he was a Principal at Osage University Partners (OUP), a VC firm focused on investing in startups that commercialize university technologies and scientific breakthroughs. He helped grow OUP's footprint across over 100 leading research institutions. Additionally, he drove OUP's seed investment strategy, where he worked closely with serial entrepreneurs in forming companies. Previously, he started his investing career at Lux Capital, a leading deep technology VC firm. His investments and board roles include Algorithmia, Body Labs (acq. AMZN), Corelight, Clarifai, Elementary, Embodied Robotics, Guardant Health (NYSE: GH), Kymeta, Menlo Security, SiFive, and Streetlight Data. Before early-stage investing, he worked at Mahindra & Mahindra, one of Asia's largest conglomerates. At Mahindra, he was part of a small team that led the acquisition of SsangYong Motors, which remains the largest cross-border acquisition between India and South Korea. Prior to this, he founded his first company as an undergraduate at Cornell and his second while working at Mahindra & Mahindra. Being a founder led him to the venture side, where he seeks to combine his excitement to work with breakthrough founders and his passion for frontier technologies. His diverse experiences give him the empathy and insight to be a dependable partner for the entrepreneurs he works with. He earned a B.S. in Biology & Society from Cornell University. He served as a Board Member at Zeitworks.