Henry Shi
About Henry Shi
Henry Shi is a technology entrepreneur based in San Francisco. He co-founded Super.com, then called Snapcommerce, with Hussein Fazal in April 2016. The first product was SnapTravel, which let people find and book hotel deals over messaging apps. Shi was the company's CTO and later COO as well. Before that he worked as a software engineer at Google, where Wikipedia says he built YouTube's Music Insights in 2014.
In September 2024 he left the COO and CTO role and moved to a board seat as co-founder. In a later post he said he was focusing on helping founders, angel investing and writing about AI. His own descriptions of Super.com cite $1B+ in annual sales, $200M+ in annual revenue and more than $150M raised from investors. These are his figures and have not been independently checked.
In 2025 he joined Anthropic. In an X post he described the role as Special Projects and Technical Chief of Staff. Crunchbase lists it as Member of Technical Staff. In the same post he said he would keep angel investing, helping founders, writing and hosting events. He studied at the University of Waterloo and holds a Georgia Tech MSCS in machine learning. Crunchbase also lists a Stanford GSB stint that it labels a dropout. He writes the Substack "Henry's Best Hits" and runs the Lean AI Leaderboard, a site tracking small teams with high revenue.
The Lounge record, based on Crunchbase, shows 18 investments, with 13 in AI since 2023. Crunchbase shows no lead investments, no exits and no companies founded as a lead founder in that count. Crunchbase's public person page now shows 20 investments. Its most recent listed deals are a seed round in Clouted and an angel round in Espa.
Shi has also described his own pace. In a 2025 post about joining Anthropic he said he had angel invested in 30+ AI startups over the previous year. That figure is higher than Crunchbase's count, so the public database probably does not capture every deal. His LinkedIn and Intro profile describe him as an angel and seed investor in AI and technology startups.
Investment dates for most individual deals are not public in the sources we found.
Shi's investing is concentrated in AI-native companies. His LinkedIn and Intro profile list Fal.ai, Higgsfield AI, Ollama, LlamaIndex and Superblocks as select angel investments. His Substack says he is an active angel in AI-native companies such as Ollama (backed by Benchmark), LlamaIndex (Greylock) and fal.ai (a16z). So some of his portfolio companies have institutional lead investors.
Crunchbase's AI list adds Mem0, SolveAI, Maneva, Happyverse, Clouted, Fileread, Espa, Phia, New Lantern and Adrenaline.
His writing shows a particular interest in lean, AI-native companies: small teams that reach meaningful revenue with little outside capital. His Lean AI Leaderboard tracks them. He has used the term "seed strapping" for taking a small amount of seed capital and then scaling on revenue.
Shi describes himself as an angel and seed investor in AI and technology startups. His portfolio includes AI infrastructure and developer tooling, such as Ollama, LlamaIndex, fal.ai and Superblocks. It also includes consumer and applied AI, such as Higgsfield AI and Phia. He is based in San Francisco. We found no stated geographic restriction.
On what he looks for, his LinkedIn says he wants to meet "bright, ambitious and highly motivated" people with a proven record of getting things done. His public writing also favors capital-efficient founders who go AI-first from day one. In a Village Global interview he said that speed of execution is the AI moat that holds up against frontier model releases.
He has not published a check size, so none is given here. Do not rely on an NFX Signal profile for a different Henry Shi, who is a Los Angeles based managing partner. That profile is not him.
- Ollama: listed by Shi among his select angel investments, and described on his Substack as Benchmark-backed. Investment date not public.
- LlamaIndex: on both his own list and Crunchbase's AI portfolio. His Substack describes it as Greylock-backed. Investment date not public.
- fal.ai: listed by Shi as an angel investment and described on his Substack as a16z-backed. Investment date not public.
- Higgsfield AI: on both his own list and Crunchbase's AI portfolio. Investment date not public.
- Superblocks: listed by Shi as a select angel investment. Investment date not public.
- Mem0, SolveAI, Maneva and Happyverse: AI investments listed on Crunchbase. Dates not public.
- Clouted: seed round, listed on Crunchbase as his latest investment.
- Espa: angel round, listed on Crunchbase.
- Fileread, Phia, New Lantern and Adrenaline: AI investments listed on Crunchbase. Dates not public.
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Henry Shi has made 18 investments according to Crunchbase. 13 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including Mem0, SolveAI, Maneva, LlamaIndex and Happyverse.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Henry Shi
Who is Henry Shi the angel investor?
Henry Shi is a San Francisco based co-founder of Super.com (formerly Snapcommerce and SnapTravel) and a former COO and CTO there. He angel invests in AI startups and now works at Anthropic.
What AI startups has Henry Shi invested in?
His LinkedIn lists Fal.ai, Higgsfield AI, Ollama, LlamaIndex and Superblocks. Crunchbase also shows Mem0, SolveAI, Maneva, Happyverse, Clouted, Fileread, Espa, Phia, New Lantern and Adrenaline.
What is Henry Shi's check size?
He has not published a check size, so we do not list one. Founders should ask him directly.
What stage does Henry Shi invest in?
He describes himself as an angel and seed investor. His recent Crunchbase entries include a seed round (Clouted) and an angel round (Espa). Some of his portfolio companies have later-stage institutional backers.
How can founders reach Henry Shi?
He is active on LinkedIn and X (@henrythe9ths), and he writes a Substack. He also takes paid 1:1 calls through Intro.
Does Henry Shi still work at Super.com?
He left his COO and CTO role in September 2024 and stayed on as a co-founder and board member. In 2025 he joined Anthropic.
Is Henry Shi an angel investor?
Yes. Henry Shi invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 18 investments.
What AI companies has Henry Shi invested in?
Henry Shi's AI investments include Mem0, SolveAI, Maneva, LlamaIndex, Happyverse, Higgsfield, Clouted and Fileread.
Where is Henry Shi based?
Henry Shi is based in San Francisco, United States.