Ed Sim
EducationHarvard University BA Economics
OccupationVenture capitalist
TitleFounder and general partner of Boldstart Ventures
Websiteboldstart.vc

Ed Sim is an American investor who founded the investment company Boldstart Ventures.[1] He lives in Miami, Florida.[2]

Early life and education

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Sim grew up in Towson, Maryland, the son of parents who emigrated from South Korea.[1] He studied economics at Harvard and played lacrosse.[1][3]

Career

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In 1996, Sim was working in New York City as an analyst for JPMorgan when he first saw the Mosaic web browser.[4] His fascination with the browser led him to become a software venture capitalist. He joined the now defunct Prospect Street Fund later that year.[1] Later on in the 1990s, he considered applying to Harvard Business School, but met Salomon Smith Barney vice chairman Bob Lessin, who hired Sim to run a new venture fund, Dawntreader.[1] Sim's early investments with the fund included video conference startup GoToMeeting, chatbot provider LivePerson and Quora predecessor Answers.com.[1]

The Stock market downturn of 2002 limited Dawntreader's ability to raise additional funds.[1] In 2010, Sim launched his own company, Boldstart Ventures, with fellow angel investor Eliot Durbin.[1]

In 2020, Boldstart saw a successful exit with customer service software company Kustomer, reportedly acquired by Facebook for $1B.[5] In July 2020, Sim and his Boldstart Partner Durbin were named on TechCrunch's list of VCs that founders love the most.[6]

In 2022, Boldstart saw a number of other successful exits, including robotic process automation company Catalytic and restaurant management app Sling.[4] The company also made follow-on investments in its unicorn portfolio companies, including cybersecurity company Snyk and blockchain infrastructure company Blockdaemon.[4]

Also in 2022, Sim moved to Miami from New York City.[7] In May 2023, Business Insider named Sim the industry's number one seed investor.[4] By June 2024, Boldstart was reportedly managing over $800 million in assets.[1] Sim was listed as #10 on the Forbes' 2024 Midas Seed List of global seed investors.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "No Business, No Problem: The Secrets Of This VC's "Inception Investing"". Forbes. June 5, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  2. ^ "Profile: Ed Sim". Forbes. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  3. ^ "Cornell Downs Laxmen | Sports | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com.
  4. ^ a b c d "Ed Sim got into venture capital by answering a newspaper ad. Today he's the industry's No. 1 seed investor". Business Insider. May 23, 2023. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  5. ^ Loizos, Connie (February 17, 2021). "Boldstart Ventures gets bigger thanks to Kustomer and other early bets on technical founders". TechCrunch.
  6. ^ Crichton, Danny (July 14, 2020). "The VCs who founders love the most". TechCrunch.
  7. ^ "Boldstart Ventures has two new funds to plug into teams with an idea and little else". Techcrunch. June 1, 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  8. ^ "The Midas Seed List 2024". Forbes. June 5, 2024. Retrieved August 19, 2024.



Category:Living people Category:American financial company founders Category:American financiers Category:American investors Category:People from Towson, Maryland Category:Harvard College alumni