Founded in 2017, Eminence Ventures has invested in more than 20 early-stage companies, including eSign, Tezign, Zilliz, Recurrent, Glue Up, Duckbill, and Instant Design, many of which have become leaders in their industries. We owe our progress over the past four years to our exemplary team members.
It is an honor to announce promotions and to ensure that members of our team receive recognition and attention for outstanding work. While these promotions reflect the success of the individual, it also signals the growing strength of our team and showcases our culture of mentoring, coaching, and challenging each other toward excellence. At Eminence, we believe in filling our ranks primarily from within. As our team grows, we are confident that the following Eminence values will only grow stronger:
- Be an owner
- Be entrepreneurial
- Be radically candid
- Create unmatched value
- Win big in the long run
Today, Eminence is proud to announce Jack Ren as Partner, Laven Luo as Managing Director, and Joy Dai as Investment Director.
Jack Ren, Partner
Jack joined Eminence in early 2019 and quickly became an invaluable member of the team. An electrical engineer by training, Jack discovered his passion for enterprise SaaS and cloud companies during his time at Yale SOM and Silicon Valley. In less than three years, he led our effort in cloud infrastructure investments with his passion and deep understanding of industry leading cloud companies both in China and the U.S.
Jack has an outstanding ability to understand complex technologies and business structures and applies that knowledge both in his diligence and at the board table. A leader who believes in helping his teammates grow and become the best versions of themselves, he constantly amazes our teammates, founders, and industry peers with his intelligence and humility.
Most recently, Jack led funding for Nature Automation’s first institutional round, marking Eminence’s first investment in the robotic process automation space. Jack also invested in Yanrong Cloud, a cloud storage platform that saw its core product revenue grow fiftyfold one year after our initial check.
Laven Luo, Managing Director
Laven joined Eminence in 2018 as an Investment Manager. During the past four years, he has demonstrated strong investment acumen and has been promoted from his initial position to Investment Director, Vice President, and now Managing Director. Trained as an aerospace engineer, Laven is a natural research-driven, thematic investor who has built deep domain knowledge in industry cloud verticals such as logistics, fintech, eCommerce (including cross-border eCommerce), and healthcare.
Laven believes in impatience with actions and patience with results. One notable demonstration of his principles is that Laven never backs down from challenges or rejections and relentlessly finds opportunities to showcase his professionalism and domain knowledge to founders, so much so that during one startup pitch meeting, a founder offered Laven a position on the spot. We are glad that Laven turned the founder down and convinced him to take our capital instead. Within Eminence, Laven plays an even more vital role where he serves as a trusted friend and mentor to his younger colleagues.
Most recently, Laven sourced and co-led our investment in Nature Automation, a robotic process automation company, and Yanrong Cloud, a cloud storage company. He also invested in Duckbill, a leading logistics company, and Colinkco, a cloud-based ERP and B2B eCommerce platform focused on the FMCG industry.
Joy Dai, Investment Director
Joy joined Eminence in 2019 initially as the Executive Assistant to our Managing Partner. As the former analyst at Morgan Stanley, she recognized Eminence’s potential and joined us without hesitation. In the process of helping Eminence raise an oversubscribed Fund II (USD), she impressed us with her passion in early-stage investing and strong curiosity to learn and grow as an investor. Following her transition to the investment team in early 2021, Joy demonstrated strong entrepreneurialism by taking the initiative to learn from her colleagues, participate in industry conferences, and build relationships with entrepreneurs and industry peers. One of the most impressive qualities Joy brings is her ability to combine logic with empathy, making her a valued member to our team, our founders alike, and everyone she meets.
Most recently, Joy played an important role in our investment in Instant Design, a web-based design and prototyping platform comparable to Figma in the United States.
Congratulations to Jack, Laven, and Joy for much-deserved promotions, and to the entire Eminence team that mentored, challenged, and cheered them as they achieved such phenomenal success.