Zhu Ventures Research
Source caveat: zhuventures.com currently shows a Squarespace "Website Expired" page, so nothing below comes from the firm's own site. It is assembled from LinkedIn, an Asian Tech Collective interview with David Zhu (Nov 2025), the SEC Form D record, Reevo's announcement and deal databases (The Venture Codex, Dealroom, PitchBook snippets). Treat details as moderate confidence.
Investment Thesis
Zhu Ventures (ZV) describes itself as a venture studio of "talent-dense builders and sellers" that builds era-defining companies in large markets ripe for innovation. It was formed in 2024 by David Zhu, who is also co-founder and CEO of Reevo, together with Cindy Hao. The idea came from Hao's experience at Atomic, a venture studio that incubated hundreds of startups, and from Zhu's existing advisory work for CEOs and executive teams. The model borrows the studio approach to governance and economics but leans on operating experience, founder networks and hands-on support rather than capital alone. Zhu has said the firm exists to "create many universes in parallel" alongside Reevo.
Stage Focus
PitchBook lists the firm as a Menlo Park venture studio making seed, early and late-stage investments; other databases tag it as a seed investor. Its one confirmed deal is the seed round for Reevo, which it led. Stage is best read as company-building at pre-seed and seed, with studio involvement from day one.
Check Size
Fund I is a $30M vehicle (SEC Form D, March 2024). The Reevo seed round was $10M led by Zhu Ventures, which implies single checks can be large relative to fund size for a studio-built company. No published typical check size; an angel-data site estimates $300K to $900K for David Zhu personally, which is unverified.
Lead Tendency
The lead role on Reevo's $10M seed points to leading when it builds a company itself. Participation elsewhere is not documented. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown to stay conservative.
Recent Activity
Reevo launched in November 2025 with $80M: a $10M seed led by Zhu Ventures and a $70M Series A co-led by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. In the interview, Zhu said Fund II was being prepared for a Q1 (2026) launch; no close has been confirmed in public sources. Lilac Labs appears in PitchBook as a second portfolio name (a 2024 seed, about $500K, one investor) but the details are thin.
Portfolio Highlights
- Reevo: AI-native revenue operating system consolidating sales, marketing and customer success. Founded 2024 by David Zhu, Cindy Hao, Curtis Tan and Clement Fang. Reported about 90 employees and a rapid ramp after launch.
- Lilac Labs: seed-stage company listed on PitchBook.
No exits are known.
Team
- David Zhu, Founder and General Partner. Born in China, raised in the Bay Area, UC Berkeley graduate, previously at DoorDash (2017) and a repeat startup founder. Solo GP on the Fund I Form D. Splits time between Reevo and ZV and has said he would advise his younger self to pick one lane.
- Cindy Hao, Founding Partner at ZV and co-founder of Reevo, formerly at Atomic.
LinkedIn shows 2 to 10 employees and four listed members. The firm is at 2100 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park.
Decision Process
Effectively a small partnership centered on one GP signatory, with a studio-style, high-involvement approach.
Founder Preferences
Talent-dense, long-bonded founding teams. Zhu stresses multi-decade friendships between founders, blame-free culture, resilience and operational rigor, and favors builders and sellers with go-to-market depth.
Geographic Focus
United States, concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Sector Focus
Evidence so far is B2B software and AI-native go-to-market tooling (Reevo). Some aggregator tags show AI/ML and data and analytics. The firm states no formal sector limits, only large markets ripe for innovation.
Gaps
The firm's website is down, so there is no official thesis statement, portfolio page or team page. Fund II status, further portfolio companies and a formal check range are unconfirmed. Re-research once the website returns or Fund II is announced.