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Justin Kao

Justin Kao

Partner·DFJ Growth

San Mateo, CA, USA

Bio

Professional summary

Justin Kao is a Partner at DFJ Growth investing around healthcare, life sciences, AI, hard sciences, and enterprise applications. He co-founded Helix in 2015, serving as founding CEO and later chief business officer, and previously worked as a partner at Khosla Ventures and an investor at Warburg Pincus. His DFJ Growth bio lists Cellanome, Cellares, Delfi Diagnostics, Osmind, and Paradigm Health among his companies.

Notable companies

Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed

CellanomeCellaresDelfi DiagnosticsOsmindParadigm Health

Background

Career, education, and skills

Career history

  • DFJ GrowthPartnerPresent
  • Khosla VenturesPartner
  • HelixCo-founder, Founding CEO and Chief Business Officer2015
  • Warburg PincusInvestor
  • Boston Consulting GroupConsultant

Education

  • Stanford UniversityB.S. in Chemical Engineering
  • Stanford UniversityM.S. in Bioengineering
  • Stanford Law SchoolJ.D.
  • Stanford Graduate School of BusinessM.B.A.

Other partners at DFJ Growth

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Founder and Managing Partner at DFJ Growth, focused on growth-stage companies that have moved beyond seed and early funding and are emerging category leaders.

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Brian Akin

Brian Akin

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Chris Shanahan

Chris Shanahan

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DFJ Growth principal focused on hard-tech, defense, autonomy, energy, robotics, and lifetech.

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Evan Fu

Evan Fu

Associate

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DFJ Growth associate with Goldman Sachs software, internet, and fintech banking experience.

AerospaceDefense technologyFinancial technologyInternetSoftware
Gil Lubetzky

Gil Lubetzky

Chief Information Officer

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Venture-platform CIO with IT leadership roles across Threshold, DFJ Growth, and Draper Associates.

information technologysystems managementventure operations
Jocelyn Kinsey

Jocelyn Kinsey

Partner

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Jocelyn Kinsey is a Partner at DFJ Growth, where she has worked on investments across healthcare, consumer, mapping, robotics, defense, and creator platforms.

Deep techDefense/dual‑use
John H. N. Fisher

John H. N. Fisher

Founder and Managing Partner

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John H. N. Fisher is a Founder and Managing Partner at DFJ Growth and a co-founder of DFJ.

Company buildingGrowth‑stage technology
Kevin Tu

Kevin Tu

Partner

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DFJ Growth partner focused on AI infrastructure, security, developer tools, and frontier technologies.

AI infrastructureDeveloper toolsEnterprise applicationsFrontier technologiesSecurity
Randy Glein

Randy Glein

Founder and Managing Partner

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Randy Glein is a Founder and Managing Partner at DFJ Growth, where he backs rapidly scaling technology companies.

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Rob Ciechowski

Rob Ciechowski

Senior Associate

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DFJ Growth senior associate focused on biotech, pharma services, and life-science technology.

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Sam Fort

Sam Fort

Partner

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Sam Fort is a Partner at DFJ Growth focused on enterprise applications and infrastructure, fintech, and blockchain technology.

DataEnterprise softwareSecurity