About
Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and author known for developing the Lean Startup methodology. As an active angel investor, he focuses on companies that align with principles of continuous innovation and long-term value creation. His investment strategy emphasizes validated learning and rapid experimentation to build sustainable businesses.
Key facts
At-a-glance profile data
- Website
- ericries.com
- Type
- Angel
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, United States
- Portfolio companies
- 8
- Stages
- SeedSeries APre-SeedEarly Stage VC
- Cheque size
- $1M to $18M
- Sector focus
- Enterprise ApplicationsFintechAIBusiness/Productivity SoftwareMedia and Information Services (B2B)
Recent investments
| Date | Company | Round | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mar 2025 | Chef Robotics | Series A | $21M |
| 31 Jan 2024 | Lightbeam.Ai, Inc. | Series A | $18M |
| 26 Jan 2024 | Chef Robotics | Other Equity | $15M |
| 1 Aug 2023 | Chef Robotics | Seed | $11M |
| 9 May 2022 | Manara, Co. | Pre-Seed | $3M |
| 2 Mar 2022 | Tenderly | Series B | $40M |
| 13 May 2021 | Chef Robotics | Seed | $6M |
| 1 Nov 2020 | Lightbeam.Ai, Inc. | Seed | $5M |
| 26 Feb 2020 | Strattic | Seed | $7M |
| 4 Jan 2018 | WP Engine | Private Equity | $250M |
“Corporate Strategy Externship: Eric Ries is personally joining live sessions to mentor you. For 4 weeks, Eric Ries is personally joining live sessions to mentor you 👀 Yes, THE Eric Ries. He wrote The Lean Startup (1M+ copies sold), founded…”
View on Reddit“The Lean Startup by Eric Ries — One image preview of the book’s core ideas and takeaways. I made a one-image preview for The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. This is not meant to replace the book. It is more like a quick visual guide to help read…”
View on Reddit“Conference for startup founders - May/15 - Eric Ries (The Lean Startup). We are organizing a conference on May/15 for startup founders and future founders. Today, we just announced that Eric Ries , the author of The Lean Startup, will be a…”
View on Reddit“A lot of entrepreneurs hate big companies. But if you hate them so much, why are you trying to build a new one? The truth is, as soon as a startup has any kind of success whatsoever, it will face big company problems. -- Eric Ries.”
View on Reddit“Built a hands-on Lean Startup tool (with Eric Ries’s book, by permission)—looking for founder feedback!. Hey Lean Startup community, I’m a founder who kept seeing people upload The Lean Startup PDF to ChatGPT or ask for practical guides—but…”
View on RedditSome comments are pulled from public discussions around the web (look for the source icon). Quotes are excerpts; click through to read the full thread.
Frequently asked
What companies has Eric Ries (Angel Investor) invested in?
Eric Ries (Angel Investor) has invested in Chef Robotics, Lightbeam.Ai, Inc., Manara, Co., Tenderly, Strattic and 3 more.