Partner @Cathayinnov, $2.5B global venture capital firm, focused on Series A/B across consumer and enterprise
Joined February 2009
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- Followers 810
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It was just 2016 when I joined with Mingpo, @denisbarrier, and the rest of @Cathayinnov to help start our next gen VC. Today, 6yrs into the journey, we partnered w/ 120 early stage cos, w/ ~1 in 6 now a unicorn. With now $2B AUM, we start the next chapter, €1B Fund III 🚀
12 Jul 2022
Celebrating a huge milestone today with the launch of Fund III — a €1B global #VentureCapital fund for the #transformation of industries & society.
Cathay’s @denisbarrier digs in to the vision, evolution & what we see as the next-gen VC playbook here: medium.com/cathay-innovation…
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SpaceX had a choice.
Pay for Cursor's data as pure R&D and hope a model ships. Or rent Colossus to Cursor, get the data engine running, and buy a one-year right to acquire for $60B if the model wins — or walk away for $10B if it doesn't.
They chose option two.
The signal came a month before the announcement. Elon tweeted three words about Cursor's supposedly proprietary model: "Yeah, it's Kimi 2.5."
The base model was free. Available to anyone.
What Cursor built on top was two years of professional engineers correcting real code inside private systems. The asset no lab can buy, replicate, or brute-force regardless of how many engineers they hire.
Not the editor. The last mile.
Coding is where AI makes the most money today. SpaceX just bet $10B to find out if Cursor's data plus xAI's compute beats what OpenAI and Anthropic have approximated without it.
With SpaceX IPO math, $10B is a rounding error. A $60B acquisition might turn out to be the best capital allocation in tech this year.
I wrote about what this means for every vertical AI company - why no lead is safe, why open source is actually vertical AI's best friend not its threat, and what the defensible moat actually looks like in 2026.
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I'm an early stage tech investor. I don't trade stocks.
But public comps drive multiples, multiples drive exit assumptions, and exit assumptions shape what I underwrite today. So I watch closely.
What I'm seeing: the market has stopped rewarding AI narrative and started demanding proof. ServiceNow beat earnings and dropped 17%. The rally is real but narrow — fewer than 15 S&P 500 names at their own highs even as the index hits records the other day.
Capital is concentrating fast. The companies that can show real AI budget capture will have options. The ones that can't are waiting on a window that may not open evenly.
This isn't a paused market. It's a selective reset.
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I’ve been having the same set of conversations over and over again the past few months. So I finally decided to just write them down.
Introducing: Signals by Simon.
A place to park thoughts I keep repeating in 1:1s—on AI, company building, and what’s actually changing underneath the surface.
I’ve spent the last decade trying to be the most helpful investor on the cap table, regardless of check size. This is me thinking out loud.
The first series is a question I can’t seem to shake:
AI is labor.
So what does a software company actually look like in that world?
The model is starting to flip.
You don’t sell software. You own the outcome.
Some of the best companies are already hitting 50% gross margins doing this.
But there’s a trap here that I don’t think people fully appreciate yet.
Strong revenue solid retention can look like product-market fit—when you’re actually just running a human-powered services business financed with the wrong kind of capital.
And if you miss that early, it breaks later.
What actually compounds here isn’t obvious.
The real question isn’t “software vs services.”
It’s whether execution scales non-linearly.
A few things I’ll be digging into:
→ Why customer two matters more than customer one
→ Why services aren’t the problem—linear scaling is
→ Where defensibility actually comes from in AI
→ Why execution beats features in an agent-driven world
Not predictions. Just loosely held opinions.
Full series below if you’re interested—curious what resonates.
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Simon Wu retweeted
Jan 5
Hot take: by next year, no one will call themselves an “AI company.”
In this clip, @sim0nwu of @Cathayinnov breaks down why the term "AI company" is already becoming meaningless; and what that means for valuations, traction, and the looming Series B crunch.
📌Listen to the full episode here: alphapartners.com/podcast/ca…
A special shoutout to our sponsor, @affinity__crm!
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Simon Wu retweeted
29 Dec 2025
The latest Driving Alpha drop: @sim0nwu from @Cathayinnov shares what truly builds trust between founders and VCs: it’s not just the pitch deck or the metrics, it’s early engagement and shared storytelling.
If you’re a founder with early traction, this is a playbook for landing strategic capital and your next customer.
📌 Full episode here:alphapartners.com/podcast/ca…
A special shoutout to our sponsor, @affinity__crm
#startups #venturecapital #founders #scaling #DrivingAlpha
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Simon Wu retweeted
17 Dec 2025
What if your VC could land you enterprise customers before your Series B?
Most venture firms bring capital. @Cathayinnov brings contracts with global Fortune 500s. In this episode of Driving Alpha, @sim0nwu reveals how his firm helps startups scale faster by plugging them directly into a global network of corporate LPs.
Simon breaks down what they look for in founders, why AI startups face a harder Series B than ever, and how to turn early traction into unstoppable scale.
🎧Watch or listen now to learn how Cathay Innovation turns corporate power into startup growth: alphapartners.com/podcast/ca…
A special shoutout to our sponsor, @affinity__crm and our host, @speedyvc!
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Simon Wu retweeted
28 May 2025
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Simon Wu retweeted
18 Apr 2025
Are We Entering a New Era of Valuations? 📈🤔
Listen to episode #145 of the Ignite Podcast with Simon Wu of Cathay Innovation on your favorite podcast player here: buff.ly/NS3PiB3
@sim0nwu @Cathayinnov
#Startups #VentureCapital #Investing
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Simon Wu retweeted
16 Apr 2025
How to Build an Impactful Brand in Silicon Valley? 🌉💼
Listen to episode #145 of the Ignite Podcast with Simon Wu of Cathay Innovation on your favorite podcast player here: buff.ly/Lh71u9L
@sim0nwu @Cathayinnov
#Startups #VentureCapital #Investing
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Simon Wu retweeted
28 Mar 2025
Counterintuitively, it may be the best moment to launch a creative agency. Most businesses won’t figure out how to use these tools on their own, but the content you can create will be far more amazing than before. And you can be much faster, which means more clients.
27 Mar 2025
Wow! One random photo One prompt.
Prompt: Creative ad from the 80s, Adidas
Generated with GPT4o
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Simon Wu retweeted
25 Mar 2025
What does it take to scale a $2.5B global venture firm while staying ahead of the biggest market shifts?
On this episode of Ignite Podcast, I sit down with Simon Wu @sim0nwu , Partner at Cathay Innovation @Cathayinnov , to unpack the evolving landscape of venture capital. Simon has acked category-defining startups like Chime, Glovo, and Ghost—and his perspective on AI, fintech, and portfolio strategy is one every investor and founder needs to hear.
🔥 Key topics we dive into:
Why AI is erasing traditional moats and shifting power to distribution & execution
How founders are scaling to $1M ARR faster than ever—without raising capital
The VC market cycle shift: Why fintech is back in favor and what’s next
How top firms leverage secondary sales to return capital and fuel new funds
The fundraising lessons Simon has learned from building a billion-dollar fund
This episode is packed with insights for investors navigating a competitive market and founders looking to scale smarter in the AI era. Don't miss it!
Chapters:
00:01 - Intro & Guest Introduction
00:41 - Simon Wu’s Background & Path to Venture Capital
02:16 - From M&A to VC: Lessons from Corporate Development
04:26 - Early Days at Cathay Innovation & Building a Global Firm
07:10 - The Role of Corporate LPs in Venture Capital
09:47 - Investment Strategy: Sectors & Geographic Focus
12:38 - Scaling Startups: Key Challenges from Series A to Growth
16:58 - AI’s Impact on Venture Capital & Startup Moats
21:27 - The Market Cycle Shift & The Return of Fintech
25:42 - Evaluating Growth Startups & The Importance of Distribution
28:26 - How Secondary Sales Help Funds Manage Risk
32:12 - Lessons from Managing a $2.5B Venture Portfolio
35:55 - Fundraising & LP Strategy for Growth-Stage Firms
40:22 - Navigating Competitive Deals & Winning Founder Trust
44:24 - The Future of AI, Venture, and the Startup Ecosystem
50:16 - Final Thoughts & Advice for Founders & Investors
👂🎧 Watch, listen, and follow on your favorite platform: tr.ee/S2ayrbx_fL
🙏 Join the conversation on your favorite social network: linktr.ee/theignitepodcast
#venturecapital #startups #AI #fintech #VCstrategy #scalingstartups #founders #growth
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Simon Wu retweeted
19 Mar 2025
What does it take to scale a $2.5B global venture firm while staying ahead of the biggest market shifts?
On this episode of Ignite Podcast, I sit down with @sim0nwu, Partner at @Cathayinnov, to unpack the evolving landscape of venture capital. Simon has backed category-defining startups like Chime, Glovo, and Ghost—and his perspective on AI, fintech, and portfolio strategy is one every investor and founder needs to hear.
🔥 Key topics we dive into:
•Why AI is erasing traditional moats and shifting power to distribution & execution
•How founders are scaling to $1M ARR faster than ever—without raising capital
•The VC market cycle shift: Why fintech is back in favor and what’s next
•How top firms leverage secondary sales to return capital and fuel new funds
•The fundraising lessons Simon has learned from building a billion-dollar fund
This episode is packed with insights for investors navigating a competitive market and founders looking to scale smarter in the AI era. Don't miss it!
Would love to hear your thoughts—what's the biggest shift you’re seeing in VC or startups right now? Drop a comment below! 👇
👂🎧 Watch, listen, and follow on your favorite platform: buff.ly/fgCXXAA
🙏 Join the conversation on your favorite social network: buff.ly/W7yRHV4
#venturecapital #startups #AI #fintech #VCstrategy #scalingstartups #founders #growth
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💯 it’s a people business at the end of the day
4 Mar 2025
Fred Wilson: "VCs are a service provider to entrepreneurs. We ride on their coattails. And so even though venture capital requires a sophisticated understanding of finance, technology, markets, strategy, it's ultimately a people business. Learning to be a successful venture capitalist is about learning how to work with people. A particular breed of people who are at the same time charismatic, brilliant, frustrating, anxious, and fragile. And our job is to meet them right there where they are, and support them with all our might."
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