Linear Capital — Investment Thesis & Preferences

01Investment Thesis

'See them as ourselves' — we succeed when our founders succeed.

Exclusion Criteria

Not interested in non-tech driven companies; prefers founding teams with strong technical depth; does not typically invest in later-stage (post-Series B) companies at first check.

02Investment Team

HW

Harry Wang

Founder and CEO

NZ

Neil Zeng

Partner

JY

Jun Yang

Partner

CZ

Can Zheng

Managing Director

ZB

Zeren Bai

Executive Director

DD

Dunmin Dong

Senior Principal

TZ

Tianyi Zhou

Principal

SX

Sean Xiang

Principal

BL

Ben Li

COO & CFO

ML

Michael Ling

Managing Director, International

JZ

Joseph Zhang

Investor Relations Manager

03F4 Research Brief

Linear Capital Research

Investment Thesis

Linear Capital is a Frontier Tech fund founded in 2014 by Harry Wang, Facebook's first Chinese R&D manager. The firm takes a technology-driven approach to early-stage investing, identifying startups that excel at applying advanced technologies to solve real-world problems — which they call "Real Problems." The core investment thesis is built around three primary verticals: AI Software & Applications, AI Hardware & Embodied Intelligence, and AI for Science & Manufacturing (spanning energy, materials, and biotech).

Linear Capital's philosophy is captured in the phrase "See them as ourselves" — reflecting a deep partnership approach with founders. The firm is not just a capital provider; it actively provides hands-on operational support including hiring, customer acquisition, supply chain management, and investor relations. Linear is known for leading investments from the angel or seed stage and maintaining long-term conviction in portfolio companies, frequently making follow-on investments across multiple rounds. As one founder noted: "Entrepreneurs can call Linear team at midnight and spend hours discussing problems."

Sector Focus

Linear Capital's core investment sectors include:

AI Software & Applications: Enterprise AI platforms, data analytics, LLM applications, agentic AI, marketing tech, productivity tools
AI Hardware & Embodied Intelligence: General-purpose and humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles, AR/VR hardware, GPU/AI chips, ADAS systems
AI for Science & Manufacturing: AI-driven materials discovery, synthetic biology, biotech, drug discovery, industrial simulation, AI chemistry
Energy & Climate: Sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen fuel cells, solid-state batteries, clean energy technology
Autonomous Vehicles & Logistics: L4 autonomous trucks and last-mile delivery robots, eVTOL urban air mobility

Stage Focus

Linear Capital primarily invests at the earliest stages of a company's life:

Angel / Pre-Seed: Often the first and only institutional check
Seed: Standard institutional entry
Series A: Follow-on or initial investment in breakout companies

The firm explicitly focuses on being the first institutional investor and says it "typically leads investments from angel to Series A stage." Exceptional projects may receive larger checks beyond the standard range.

Check Size

Standard range: $1M–$10M per project
Larger commitments possible for exceptional cases
Maintains follow-on reserves; frequently doubles down across multiple rounds in portfolio companies

Lead Tendency

Linear Capital is a lead investor. The firm states it "typically leads investments with a significant proportion" and joins the board of directors. Their goal is to provide guidance at critical decision points without disruption, fully aligning interests with portfolio companies' long-term success.

Recent Activity (2024-2026)

Linear Capital is actively deploying from its 10 funds. Key recent investments and milestones include:

TARS: Led / participated in Pre-A ($455M) and Angel+ ($122M) rounds; defining portfolio company in embodied AI
D-Robotics: Continued backing across $100M Series A, $120M Series B1, and $150M subsequent rounds
Rino.ai: Multiple rounds including Series B and C1, totaling over $100M+; 20x YoY business growth
Manycore Tech: Listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) in 2025 — Linear's angel investment went public
RIVR: Seed-round portfolio company acquired by Amazon
AnyVerse: Co-led 300M CNY first round alongside Sequoia Capital
Deep Principle: Series A and A2 funding; selected as 2025 Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum
Metaphotons: Pre-A and Pre-A+ funding (Micro-LED industrialization)
Asterra: Exclusive angel investment in astrophotography robot camera

Portfolio Highlights

Linear Capital has invested in 170+ technology startups with a combined portfolio valuation of approximately $30 billion.

Notable portfolio companies include:

Horizon Robotics (9660.HK): Market-leading ADAS supplier; Linear was its first institutional investor; IPO'd on HKEX
EHang (NASDAQ: EH): World's first eVTOL to receive type certificate; Nasdaq IPO
Manycore Tech: Spatial intelligence platform (Kujiale/Coohom); HKEX IPO in 2025
Agile Robots: Global leader in intelligent robotics; strategic partnership with Google DeepMind
TARS: Embodied intelligence company; $455M Pre-A round (2025); pioneered Human-Centric Embodied Data Engine
Rokid: Leading AR glasses developer; partnered with Alipay for smart glasses payments
Tezign: AI content platform unicorn; serves 200+ major corporations; featured in People's Daily
Rino.ai: L4 autonomous driving; first firm backed by both logistics leader (SF Express) and OEM; 20x YoY growth
Sensors Data: Data & AI infrastructure for global gaming industry; serves 8,000+ games
D-Robotics: Universal hardware-software foundation for robotics; spun out of Horizon Robotics
Whale: Enterprise AI for consumer brands; $60M+ Series C1/C2; expanding globally from Singapore
RIVR: Last-mile delivery robots (Zurich); acquired by Amazon
FinalRound AI: AI interview assistant; helped 1M candidates from 100+ countries
Notta: Leading AI note-taking tool; 2021
Cobo: Digital asset custody platform for exchanges and institutions

Team

Investment Team:

Harry Wang — Founder and CEO. Facebook's second Chinese engineer and first R&D manager. Earliest investor in Horizon Robotics, Agile Robots, Manycore Tech, Rokid, and Tezign. Author of bestseller "Building up Facebook". Stanford MS&E, Zhejiang University CS. WEF Young Global Leader 2018, Aspen Global Leadership Network member.
Neil Zeng — Partner. Led investments in DeepPrinciple, SynMetabio, Green Synenergy, WONSOR. Former Partner at Future Capital Discovery Fund. Ex-Goldman Sachs London, ex-VP ChinaCache (NSDQ: CCIH). Master's from University of Surrey.
Jun Yang — Partner (joined full-time 2025). Former engineer/R&D director at Google, Facebook, and Square. Co-founder and CTO of Dada Group (Nasdaq IPO 2020). Ph.D. in CS from Carnegie Mellon University.
Can Zheng — Managing Director. Ex-Morgan Stanley China IT team founding member. Ex-TCS Accelerated Leadership Program. MBA University of Chicago. Named "Top 20 technology investors" by JazzYear.
Zeren Bai — Executive Director. Focuses on AGI applications. Ex-Tencent Cloud & Smart Industry Group. MS Columbia University. IBM Data & Analytics Challenge champion.
Dunmin Dong — Senior Principal. 14 years asset management. Focuses on AI hardware, consumer tech, globalization. Contributed to Li Auto and NIO investments.
Tianyi Zhou — Principal. Focuses on AI for chemistry, new materials, and biology. Cambridge University first-class honors in Natural Sciences; honorary Master's from Cambridge.
Sean Xiang — Principal. Focuses on energy transition and climate tech. Ph.D. Nanjing University; UCLA full scholarship research fellow.
Haitao Hu — Data Analyst. Joined 2024; focuses on AI products and vertical industry applications.

Operations Team:

Ben Li — COO & CFO (ex-Ernst & Young, 8 years transaction advisory)
Michael Ling — Managing Director, International (ex-Bear Stearns, JPMorgan, CDH Investments, Jeneration Group)
Grace Zou — Legal Director (ex-leading law firm, PE & investment funds)
Cherie Qian — Legal Director (ex-Global Law Office, Shihui Partners)
Franny Zhong — Finance Manager (ex-CICC Capital, PwC)
Kalyn Lu — Senior Finance Specialist (joined 2022; ex-YF Capital, Ernst & Young)
Han Fang — Head of Marketing (ex-ZhenFund, Hongshan, BAI Capital)
Joseph Zhang — Investor Relations Manager (ex-DUMAC Duke University Investment Office)

Geographic Focus

Linear Capital is headquartered in China (Shanghai primary, Hong Kong secondary) but actively seeks investments globally. The firm states it is "based in China, seeking out and investing in high-quality projects worldwide." Portfolio companies span China, Germany (Agile Robots, Munich), Switzerland (RIVR, Zurich), Canada (Momentum Materials), and the US (FinalRound AI, Vozo AI, Bot Auto). The firm has been expanding its international business through Managing Director Michael Ling since 2023.

Decision Process

Partnership-based decision-making led by Founder/CEO Harry Wang and the investment team. The firm joins boards of portfolio companies and takes significant ownership stakes. The team's deep technical backgrounds (Harry Wang — ex-Facebook; Jun Yang — ex-Google, CMU PhD; Zeren Bai — ex-Tencent; Can Zheng — ex-Morgan Stanley) enable rigorous technology evaluation. Investment decisions appear relatively fast — the firm is known for acting at the earliest stages before others recognize value.

LP Base

Linear Capital's LP base includes top global university endowments, the largest sovereign wealth funds, professional investment institutions/FoFs, leading enterprises from multiple business sectors, founders of well-known technology startups, and prestigious family offices worldwide.