INVESTOR NOTES / 001ANGEL INVESTOR / San Francisco, United States
Holly Liu
KNOW THE INVESTOR. SHARPEN THE PITCH.

Angel investor · San Francisco, United States

Holly Liu.

Recorded investments.
A clearer sense of fit.

Find where your company fits, how rounds are assembled, and what happened after the first investment.

THE ENTRY PATTERN2017–2026
89%

of dated first investments
were at Angel, Pre-Seed or Seed

First investment stage across 26 companies22 Seed, 1 Angel and 3 other-stage entries. Each dot represents one company.
Seed 22Angel 1Other 3

One dot = one company at first recorded investment.

26 companies · 26 recorded equity rounds
Dataset’s latest round 22 May 2026/Latest recorded investment 18 Oct 2023
THE FOUNDER’S BRIEF

Read the pattern before the pitch.

Written insights from the recorded portfolio, with the evidence linked below.

01

Start with the first entry

Holly Liu has dated investments in 26 companies. 23 first entries were at Angel, Pre-Seed or Seed (88.5%). An early-stage founder can use the sector and stage filters to find comparable companies before approaching the investor.

Explore the evidence ↗
02

Separate activity from reputation

0 first company relationships appear in the latest 24 months, compared with 6 in the preceding window. The latest recorded investment is 2023-10-18. This describes observed activity through 2026-05-22; it does not establish current availability.

Explore the evidence ↗
03

Plan the next financing step

5 of 26 companies with a full 24-month observation window raised another equity round. This investor backed 0 of those companies again within that window. The difference is a reason to research the wider syndicate, rather than assume the same investor will fund the next round.

Explore the evidence ↗
04

Use a specific point of relevance

Gaming is the largest displayed sector by company count, appearing in 8 portfolio companies; sector tags overlap. 1 first entries carry a recorded lead flag and the median first-round syndicate includes 9 other named backers. Shared rounds are evidence of co-investment, not evidence of an introduction route.

Explore the evidence ↗
01 / THE READOUT

Four signals before you pitch.

Start with observed behavior.
Every rate has a defined denominator.

01 — ROUND CONTEXT
$2.0M–$6.0M

The middle half of entry rounds

25th–75th percentile across 25 disclosed first rounds. Total round size; the investor’s own cheque is undisclosed.

Size your round ↗
02 — NEW RELATIONSHIPS
0companies

First investments in the last 24 months

22 May 2024–22 May 2026, versus 6 in the preceding 24 months.

See the rhythm ↗
03 — NEXT FINANCING
19%

Another equity round within 24 months

5 of 26 companies with a full observation window. The next round can include any investor.

Follow the path ↗
04 — REPEAT BACKING
0%

This investor invested again within 24 months

0 of the same 26 companies. Build a financing plan around the wider investor market.

Explore co-investors ↗
02 / FIND YOUR FIT

Where does your company sit?

Choose your sector and stage to find
companies he first backed in that space.

YOUR COMPANY

A match means a recorded investment in this category. It does not establish current interest or availability.

26matching companies
$3.5Mmedian first round (25 disclosed)
0first backed in last 24 months

All sectors · All entry stages. Round amounts are total financing, in USD.

Seed

Forge ↗

App for video game players to share short clips of their video game sessions

$11M total first round
Seed

Chaos Genius ↗

Provider of a cloud-based business observability platform

$3.3M total first round
Seed

Blaze Technology ↗

Developer of a no-code platform for building custom applications

$3.5M total first round
Explore matching portfolio companies ↓

The sector × stage map

First investments · companies can appear in more than one sector
Number of first investments by sector and entry stage. Select a cell to explore companies.
SectorAngelSeedSeries AAll stages
Gaming8
Gaming Tech4
Blockchain in Gaming4
FinTech4
Web 3.04
MarketingTech3
Blockchain in Financial Services3
03 / ROUND DESIGN

The round around the investor.

Use stage-specific financing ranges
to frame the size of your syndicate.

First-round size, by entry stage

USD · middle 50% and median
Angel0 disclosed
UndisclosedUndisclosed–Undisclosed
Seed22 disclosed
$3.4M$2.0M–$5.0M
Series A2 disclosed
$15M$13M–$18M
$10K$100K$1M$10M

Logarithmic scale. A dot marks the median; the band spans the 25th–75th percentiles. These are entire rounds, not individual cheques.

04 / WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

One investment. Two different paths.

A subsequent round and repeat backing
answer different fundraising questions.

26
companies with 24 months
of observable history

Raised another equity round

Any investor · within 24 months
19.2%
5 of 26 companies

Backed again by this investor

A subset of the companies above
0%
0 of 26 companies
i

Includes first investments on or before 22 May 2024. 0 newer companies and 0 undated histories are excluded. Follow-up stops at the dataset’s latest round on 22 May 2026. These observations do not measure returns or predict a company’s outcome.

See the stage-by-stage denominators +
First stageEligible companiesNext round ≤24 moSame investor again ≤24 mo
Angel11 / 10 / 1
Seed223 / 220 / 22
Series A20 / 20 / 2
Post-IPO11 / 10 / 1
05 / INVESTMENT RHYTHM

New names. Returning relationships.

Separate first investments from later
rounds in companies already backed.

New companiesRepeat rounds

*2026 is partial, through 22 May. Bar height counts first investments + repeat rounds; earlier years are complete calendar periods in this dataset.

06 / THE CO-INVESTOR MAP

Who else belongs on your research list?

Frequent shared rounds suggest a place
to investigate sector and stage alignment.

01
ANGEL

Kun Gao ↗

9 shared rounds · 9 companies

Latest shared round Nov 2022
02
ANGEL

Kevin Lin ↗

7 shared rounds · 7 companies

Latest shared round Oct 2023
03
ANGEL

Patrick Lee ↗

6 shared rounds · 6 companies

Latest shared round Nov 2022
04
FIRM

Y Combinator

5 shared rounds · 5 companies

Latest shared round Jan 2023
05
FIRM

Animoca Brands

3 shared rounds · 3 companies

Latest shared round Oct 2023
06
FIRM

Hashed

3 shared rounds · 3 companies

Latest shared round Apr 2022

Shared rounds establish recorded co-investment. They do not establish a personal connection, introduction route, or current willingness to invest.

07 / THE EVIDENCE

Explore the portfolio.

First investment comes first.
Amounts refer to that entry round.

26 dated companies
Complete dated portfolio, ordered by first investment, newest first.
CompanyFirst backedEntry stageTotal entry roundSame investor again?
Forge ↗San Francisco
Oct 2023Seed$11MNo later round recorded
Jan 2023Seed$3.3MNo later round recorded
Dec 2022Seed$3.5MNo later round recorded
Heroic Story ↗Los Angeles
Nov 2022Seed$6.0MNo later round recorded
Buildspace ↗San Francisco
Nov 2022Series A$10MNo later round recorded
Trend ↗Austin
Jul 2022Seed$3.0MNo later round recorded
Lovo AI ↗Berkeley
Apr 2022Seed$2.0MNo later round recorded
SkateX ↗San Francisco
Mar 2022Seed$5.0MNo later round recorded
Mar 2022Seed$1.1MNo later round recorded
Mar 2022Seed$5.0MNo later round recorded
Feb 2022Seed$3.8MNo later round recorded
Jan 2022Seed$9.0MNo later round recorded
Jan 2022Seed$9.0MNo later round recorded
Dec 2021Seed$3.5MNo later round recorded
Sipher ↗Tortola
Oct 2021Seed$6.8MNo later round recorded
Jul 2021Seed$3.0MNo later round recorded
Fountain Nine ↗San Francisco
Jul 2021Seed$1.9MNo later round recorded
Ditto Tech ↗San Francisco
Jun 2021Seed$1.5MNo later round recorded
May 2021AngelUndisclosedNo later round recorded
Collective ↗San Francisco
May 2021Series A$20MNo later round recorded
The Juggernaut ↗New York City
Oct 2020Seed$2.0MNo later round recorded
Oct 2020Seed$2.0MNo later round recorded
Mar 2019Seed$2.0MNo later round recorded
Jul 2018Post-IPO$320KNo later round recorded
Gnowbe ↗San Francisco
May 2017Seed$1.7MNo later round recorded
Jan 2017Seed$4.4MNo later round recorded
0 more companies have undated investments

Kept in the 26-company portfolio; excluded from entry-timing calculations.

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