Jimmy Zhu has been vice-president of venture investing for Citi Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial services firm Citi, since September 2016. He invests in and collaborates with startups that are building products that help enterprises to be more efficient, focusing on sectors including financial technology, customer experience and enterprise IT.
Vanessa Colella, chief innovation officer of Citi and head of Citi Ventures, said in her nomination: “Jimmy has the unique ability to see the broader landscape and understands how to spot the signals in the noise. His analytical prowess and passion for solving the complex issues impacting our business make him a powerhouse in venture capital.
“Jimmy led Citi Ventures’ recent investment in Even Financial, the leading API for financial services search, acquisition and monetisation. Even’s B2B2C (business to business to consumer) platform is revolutionising financial services by creating an online finance ecosystem of financial institutions, marketers, affiliates and consumers. Jimmy’s experience leading data analytics teams gave him unique insight into Even’s value proposition and drove Citi Ventures to lead Even’s $25m strategic round.
“Jimmy also sourced Citi Ventures’ investment in Honey, an online coupon aggregator. After years spent analysing and tracking consumer behaviour for pricing and yield management at Facebook, Jimmy recognised the power of Honey’s mechanism in generating a vast user base – over 10 million members – and unparalleled consumer trust.
“After just three years at Citi Ventures, Jimmy has become a key player on our venture investing team.”
Zhu started his career in management consulting, where he advised companies using granular data and analytics, before joining social media company Facebook in 2011, concentrating on monetisation analytics and product marketing. He then joined VC firm Canaan Partners where he invested in analytics platforms and fintech.
Zhu holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and has a bachelor of science in mathematics and another in management science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
