Jay Zhao

As part of the investment team at Granite Ventures, Jay Zhao helps the firm evaluate early stage investment opportunities and provides support to existing portfolio companies. His current areas of interest include consumer internet, wearable, big data and decentralized applications. Jay actively works with Mechio, Airpair and Workboard on the aspects of recruiting, strategy and partnership development. He was also involved with Sense, Mixamo and Grid2Home. Prior to Granite Ventures, Jay was a venture partner at Health Nest, a seed fund accelerator that focuses on investing in and supporting consumer mobile startups in digital health vertical. Jay helped construct the program and led the first batch investments. Before Health Nest, Jay was a founder & CEO at Pureland, a venture-backed eCommerce company that aimed to deliver high-quality tea through a socially-conscious model. In his spare time, Jay serves as an active adviser for the startup community with expertise in fundraising, business development and lean startup coaching. Jay holds a Finance and Management degree from Tulane University – A.B. Freeman School of Business.