A recent article in the New York Times talks about a new venture capital firm that is focusing less on metrics and more on a company’s mission. Born in Singapore, Jonathan Teo graduated from Stanford University with a master’s degree in electrical engineering. He worked his way up at Google to become an engineer manager at the young age of 27. He was part of the Benchmark Capital team and had an integral part in their investments in Twitter and Instagram.
Now at the age of 34, Jonathan teamed up with his friend Justin Caldbeck to form Binary Capital. On the 17th of July, Binary Capital raised $125 million dollars in hard capital in just three months. While most venture capital firms look at a companies metrics and scale the companies future financial relevance, Binary Capital’s goal is to invest in 15 to 20 early stage startup tech companies that have the potential for global impact.
Binary Capital also plans on giving a portion of their earnings to charitable organizations that are chosen by their entrepreneurs. They eventually want to use the technology that they invest in to team up with global nonprofits in the developing world. The entrepreneurs that Binary Capital plans on partnering with not only have a vision of commercial success, but they are also focused on improving the lives of less fortunate people.
Jonathan and Justin will be taking a different approach to most venture capital firms. They want to find the elusive entrepreneurs out there that are not already in play. Entrepreneurs that venture capital firms have to pitch to are some of the best deals made because they truly have a vision for their company.
Justin Caldbeck and Jonathan Teo are known for their gritty, smart, hardworking efforts. Binary Capital is a venture capital firm to watch out for as they try and revamp the venture capital industry.
You can read more about Binary Capital in their very own New York Times article here.