October 2018
Vol 6 | Issue 209

Q&A with Sean O’Sullivan

Founder and Managing Partner, SOSV

Principal Series:

Family Office Insights sits down with Sean O’Sullivan to discuss his 20 year track record and  – SOSV –  the VC he founded and where he is Managing Partner, to capitalize on his history of top performing angel investing activity (i.e. 38% net IRR). SOSV is a multistage, global venture capital (“VC”) firm which invests through its four leading accelerator verticals in key megatrends: life sciences (IndieBio & RebelBio), hardware (HAX), food (Food-X) and cross-border internet (Chinaccelerator & MOX).  SOSV is the second most active seed investor globally, and the most active in the verticals of life sciences and hardware. 

He will discuss the firm’s evolution into an early-stage institutional investor – running world-class vertical accelerator programs with unparalleled deal flow – with dominant sector knowledge and outstanding returns while impact investing, as well as the current fundraising effort for SOSV IV (2019-2022), a $250M fund. 

Please join Family Office Insights for this gathering on Tuesday, October 16th, 2018 to learn more about SOSV.

Family Office Insights

PRESENTS: SOSV


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Sean O’Sullivan

Sean O’Sullivan is managing partner of SOSV, the world-leading “Accelerator VC”. With $300 million in assets under management, SOSV backs more than 150 startups annually through its accelerators. Recognized in 2017 as the world’s #1 most active global early stage investor and the #2 most active global seed investor*, SOSV’s accelerator model takes a small initial stake in startups and provides a framework and community where startups get further and faster than they could on their own.

O’Sullivan’s first company, MapInfo, grew to a $200 million public company with over 1,000 employees, and popularized street mapping on computers. His first internet company, NetCentric, developed many concepts in internet computing, and he is credited as the co-creator of the term “cloud computing”. Sean founded JumpStart International, a leading humanitarian organization in conflict zones, in the 2000s, where he oversaw over 3,500 staff at the height of the organization during the Iraq conflict.

SOSV runs the world’s #1 accelerators in hardware (HAX), life sciences (IndieBio/RebelBio), disruptive food (Food-X), and China cross-border startups (Chinaccelerator/MOX). As of 2017, SOSV is in the top 6% of venture capitalists globally based on return an investment (returns over 20 years average 32% Net IRR).

O’Sullivan received his Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production from the University of Southern California. He is also a primary supporter of such organizations such as Coderdojo (a global network of coding clubs that 50,000 kids attend every week) and Khan Academy (used by 15 million students to learn every month).   He’s on the board Khan Academy, Coderdojo, and a number of private companies.

* Crunchbase: “Global Innovation Investment Report – 2016 Year in Review”

 

To get in touch, please contact Audrey Chen at audrey.chen@sosv.com.