Benny Liao

Founder-turned-VC | Backing early-stage AI / Enterprise SaaS / Consumer

📍 United States🔄 Updated September 2026💼 25 investments📅 5 years investing🗓 Last invested May 2026
VC🌍 United States20+ investmentsInvested this year
25
Total investments
9
Early stage
5
Mid stage
4
Late stage
5y
Years active

Portfolio

23 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Investor
May 2026
Numix helps startups unlock tax credits and run reliable accounting in one place. We combine AI-powered workflows with expert accountants to deliver bookkeeping, tax, payroll, and CFO support—so founders can move faster, stay audit-ready, and stop leaving money on the table.
early stageAccounting
Investor
Mar 2026
Starcloud is building data centers in space to address the AI energy challenge. Starcloud recently launched the first Nvidia H100 to space. Starcloud was founded in January 2024 and raised a $170M Series A in early 2026, becoming the fastest unicorn in YC history. Their backers include Y Combinator (S24), Benchmark, EQT, NFX, In-Q-Tel, the NVIDIA Inception Program, and the World Economic Forums Technology Pioneers. Starcloud White Paper: Starcloud.com/wp Starcloud Concept Video: Starcloud.com
Investor
Mar 2026
An AI-native Hollywood platform built by Emmy-nominated filmmakers and MIT AI researchers, producing premium microdramas, films, TV, IP and branded content, and expanding into a global creator platform.
Investor
Dec 2025
Context graphs for AI agents. YC F25. Build agents that learn, understand, and gain experience over time.
Investor
Dec 2025
The next-generation AI developer platform unifying the development and deployment of AI for the world.
Board Observer
Nov 2025
Expert Intelligence builds AI systems that scale expert decision-making in regulated laboratory environments where data is limited, stakes are high, and validation is mandatory. Our Limited Sample Model (LSM) approach enables high accuracy, traceability, and audit readiness from small, heterogeneous datasets.
Investor
Nov 2025
Ambiguous builds AI coworkers that work like teammates. Our coworkers have real identities (e.g. @oliver, @claire) and work naturally through human interfaces like email, Slack, and Google Docs. They handle everyday operational tasks like scheduling and CRM updates by default, and can run complex playbooks using your SOPs — such as managing customer inquiries and processing refunds. Under the hood, Ambiguous is an agentic operating system designed to plan and execute the low-complexity, high-frequency tasks no one wants to do. The first wave was coding agents. The second was customer service. The third is Ambiguous coworkers: a new category of work management where humans and AI collaborate as teammates.
Investor
2025
Rhino is your go-to app for secure and comfortable rides in São Paulo. Whether its your daily commute or a special occasion, Rhino makes every journey stress-free and enjoyable. Redefine your transportation with premium, armored cars available 24/7 at the touch of a button.
Investor
2025
BentoML is an enterprise-grade Inference platform for deploying and managing AI models at scale. It offers full control without the complexity, allowing teams to serve any model including LLMs, embeddings, and agentic pipelines across VPC, on-prem, or hybrid environments with tailored optimization, advanced orchestration, and fine-grained performance tuning. From prototype to production, BentoML covers the full inference lifecycle with instant model deployments, elastic autoscaling, built-in observability, compliance-ready features, and mission-critical reliability, freeing your team to deliver AI that drives real business outcomes faster.
Investor
2025
Atolio is how enterprises use LLMs to find answers privately and securely - the foundational AI solution for safely making knowledge useful and accessible.
Investor
2025
We are an innovative team dedicated to harnessing AI technology to transform childrens education. Our mission is to enhance reading experiences and improve learning outcomes through intelligent solutions. With over 20 years of experience in education and a proven track record in educational product development, we have a profound understanding of the needs and factors that influence learning. Our AI-driven reading platform provides personalized reading paths and real-time feedback that tailors each childs interests and skill levels. Featuring an extensive collection of books, our platform ignites a passion for reading while fostering cognitive and language development. In partnership with top schools, we integrate the latest educational research into our products, helping children build positive reading habits in a fun and interactive environment that fosters a genuine love for reading.
early stageEducation
Investor
2024
Inference is the engine that powers AI, and Groq was built from the silicon up to deliver the worlds fastest inference at scale. We pioneered the LPU—the first processor designed specifically for AI inference—and are transforming that innovation into a global cloud platform powering production AI workloads. With the capital, infrastructure, and team to execute, were uniquely positioned to define the next era of AI infrastructure. The opportunity is massive, and its still wide open. Now lets go build it!
Investor
2024
#1 innovative CDP, connect your data and turn it into actionable campaigns!
Investor
2024
Augment is the AI coding platform built for enterprises - powered by a highly secure, production-grade Context Engine developed over 2.5 years in stealth until our public launch in November 2024. Augment semantically indexes your entire codebase, documentation, dependencies, and internal knowledge in real time to enable devs to ship code faster, onboard in days instead of months, and modernize legacy systems with confidence. We are alumni of global-leading AI and cloud companies including Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Snowflake, and Databricks - all on a mission to provide enterprises with context that actually understands your codebase. If, like us, you believe in augmenting and not replacing software developers, join us on our mission to improve software development at scale using AI.
Investor
2024
Want a stunning, unique website? Our AI designs, develops and hosts your websites and apps.
Show all 23 investments ↓
Experience · 28 entries
All (28)
Investments (25)
Founder (1)
Board (1)
2026
Investor
May 2026
Numix helps startups unlock tax credits and run reliable accounting in one place. We combine AI-powered workflows with expert accountants to deliver bookkeeping, tax, payroll, and CFO support—so founders can move faster, stay audit-ready, and stop leaving money on the table.
early stageAccounting
Investor
Mar 2026
Starcloud is building data centers in space to address the AI energy challenge. Starcloud recently launched the first Nvidia H100 to space. Starcloud was founded in January 2024 and raised a $170M Series A in early 2026, becoming the fastest unicorn in YC history. Their backers include Y Combinator (S24), Benchmark, EQT, NFX, In-Q-Tel, the NVIDIA Inception Program, and the World Economic Forums Technology Pioneers. Starcloud White Paper: Starcloud.com/wp Starcloud Concept Video: Starcloud.com
Investor
Mar 2026
An AI-native Hollywood platform built by Emmy-nominated filmmakers and MIT AI researchers, producing premium microdramas, films, TV, IP and branded content, and expanding into a global creator platform.
2025
Investor
Dec 2025
Context graphs for AI agents. YC F25. Build agents that learn, understand, and gain experience over time.
Investor
Dec 2025
The next-generation AI developer platform unifying the development and deployment of AI for the world.
Show all 28 entries ↓
Investment activity
2021–2026 · 25 investments
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