Jon Gelsey
About Jon Gelsey
Jon Gelsey is a technology executive based in the Seattle area. Crunchbase lists him in Seattle, and RaiseHunt and his LinkedIn profile list Mercer Island, Washington. He began in hardware. His own account covers product management and system architecture at Convex, including the Convex C2 minisupercomputer, the GaAs-based C3 and the Convex SPP line that became HP's Superdome server. He was also a product manager for Mentor Graphics' Calibre family. He is the named inventor on U.S. patent 7,108,933 for a thermally efficient hydrogen storage system.
Gelsey then moved into corporate strategy and investing. NGP Capital's profile says he held venture investment responsibilities at Intel Capital. Crunchbase lists him as Director of Strategy and M&A at Microsoft from 2007 to 2014. His Crunchbase bio names publicly disclosed Microsoft deals that include Powerset, Multimap, Tellme and StorSimple, and says he led one third of the company's acquisitions closed in 2013. GeekWire also notes that he founded the home technology company Home Network News.
He was CEO of Auth0, an identity-as-a-service company, from January 2014 to December 2017. Crunchbase says it grew from 5 employees to nearly 300 during that time, with customers in more than 100 countries. Okta announced its acquisition of Auth0 for $6.5 billion in 2021, after he had left. In 2018 Xnor.ai, an edge AI startup spun out of the Allen Institute for AI, named him CEO, succeeding founder Ali Farhadi. Apple acquired Xnor in January 2020. NGP Capital and Blackbird both report a publicly reported price of about $200 million. Blackbird's speaker page describes him as being on a sabbatical.
Crunchbase records 7 investments in 7 portfolio companies. None are marked as lead investments, and Crunchbase shows one exit. Crunchbase also lists 3 board and advisor roles: Symmetry Systems and Macrometa (board member) and Prifender (advisory board member).
The dated rounds on record fall between 2021 and 2023. NFX Signal lists Plus (seed, March 2021), Madrona Venture Labs (May 2021), Magnify (seed, November 2021), Trinsic (seed, 2022), CommandK (seed, February 2023) and Zuplo (seed, November 2023). Crunchbase also lists a pre-seed round in Pixel8earth. CB Insights shows him as an angel investor in Zuplo.
He usually invests alongside institutional firms and other operator angels. Co-investors on these rounds include Madrona, Boldstart Ventures, Felicis Ventures, BoxGroup and Trilogy Equity Partners. Tracxn shows fewer investments than Crunchbase and NFX, so the sources do not fully agree on the count.
No source names a portfolio company that Gelsey backed specifically as an AI company. NFX Signal does place him on its seed and pre-seed rankings for AI. It also ranks him in data services, consumer internet and enterprise. RaiseHunt tags his record with AI, machine learning and data analytics.
His most direct AI experience is operating experience. At Xnor.ai he led a company that built efficient neural network models for devices with limited computing power. GeekWire reported that Xnor had raised a $12 million round led by Madrona in May 2018, shortly before he took over as CEO. His LinkedIn profile lists ElastixAI under experience. A UBQT post on that profile says the ElastixAI co-founders previously built Xnor.ai with him. The sources do not say whether he has invested in ElastixAI.
The sources show a pre-seed and seed investor. NFX Signal lists him as an angel with an investment range of $5K to $50K and a sweet spot of $25K. That range comes from his NFX profile, and he has not stated it elsewhere that we found.
The companies on record cluster around enterprise software, developer infrastructure, data and identity. Tracxn lists enterprise applications and enterprise infrastructure as his top sectors. RaiseHunt lists API, cloud infrastructure, data analytics, developer tools and identity. All known portfolio companies are in the United States. His Auth0 background gives him credibility with founders selling to developers and security or identity buyers.
We found no public statement from him on what he looks for in a pitch, and no stated geographic limits. His Crunchbase bio highlights M&A and deal structuring, negotiation, and scaling companies internationally.
- Zuplo: seed round of $9M announced November 2023, per NFX Signal. CB Insights also records an earlier angel round in 2021.
- CommandK: $3M seed round in February 2023, per NFX Signal.
- Trinsic: $9M seed round in 2022, per NFX Signal.
- Magnify: $6M seed round in November 2021, alongside Madrona.
- Madrona Venture Labs: round in May 2021, per NFX Signal.
- Plus: seed round in March 2021, per NFX Signal and Crunchbase.
- Pixel8earth: pre-seed round, per Crunchbase. Anjney Midha is a listed co-investor.
- crunchbase.com/person/jon-gelsey
- signal.nfx.com/investors/jon-gelsey
- geekwire.com/2018/tech-moves-xnor-ai-taps-former-auth0-leader-ceo-micr
- ngpcap.com/people/advisor
- blackbird.vc/blog/sunrise-speaker-spotlight-jon-gelsey-xnor-ai-auth0
- linkedin.com/in/jongelsey
- tracxn.com/d/people/jon-gelsey/__WP04Ne3LxZ1b6EN1a6TovPf6fNx844hHWamaB
- raisehunt.com/investors/jon-gelsey
Investing activity
Jon Gelsey has made 7 investments according to Crunchbase across 7 portfolio companies, and has seen 1 exit.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Jon Gelsey
What check size does Jon Gelsey write?
His NFX Signal profile lists a range of $5K to $50K with a sweet spot of $25K. We found no check size stated by Gelsey himself.
What stage does Jon Gelsey invest in?
His known investments are pre-seed and seed rounds, including Pixel8earth (pre-seed) and Zuplo, CommandK, Trinsic and Magnify (seed). He is not listed as a lead investor on any round.
Has Jon Gelsey invested in AI startups?
NFX Signal ranks him in AI at pre-seed and seed. No source names a portfolio company as an AI investment. He was CEO of Xnor.ai, an edge AI company that Apple acquired in 2020.
What is Jon Gelsey's background?
He was CEO of Auth0 from 2014 to 2017 and CEO of Xnor.ai from 2018 to 2020. Before that he led strategy and M&A at Microsoft, and earlier he worked at Convex and Mentor Graphics.
Is Jon Gelsey actively investing?
His most recent dated investment on record is Zuplo's seed round in November 2023. His NFX profile and a Blackbird speaker page describe him as on sabbatical. We found no current statement about whether he is investing.
Where is Jon Gelsey based?
Crunchbase lists Seattle, Washington. His LinkedIn profile and RaiseHunt list Mercer Island, Washington.
Is Jon Gelsey an angel investor?
Yes. Jon Gelsey invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 7 investments and 1 exit.
How can founders reach Jon Gelsey?
Founders on Lounge can see Jon Gelsey's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Jon Gelsey to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.