Justin Kao

I’m drawn to hard problems and to founders who are fierce and optimistic about solving them. As a former founder in the DFJ Growth portfolio, I deeply valued working with partners who understood the emotional rollercoaster that every entrepreneur goes through. I try to help founders in the same way – by championing their vision, helping recruit world-class talent, and always remembering that building a company is both brutally difficult and profoundly rewarding.

Justin Kao is an entrepreneur and investor who is passionate about transforming human health. In 2015, he co-founded Helix (a DFJ Growth portfolio company), serving as founding CEO and later as chief business officer. Justin led the company’s partnerships with health systems, payers, and life sciences companies, and played a pivotal role in the company’s COVID-19 efforts, where it scaled to a large provider of diagnostic testing and viral surveillance.

Justin loves working with founders who operate at the intersection of different disciplines. In particular, he is excited by companies that use data and AI to improve healthcare, whether helping providers deliver personalized care, modernizing the antiquated “back office” of healthcare, engineering more efficient therapeutics, or better matching patients to the right drugs or trials. He also focuses on how AI can accelerate progress in the hard sciences, including chemistry, physics, materials, and beyond. Finally, Justin believes AI will reshape the enterprise, with particular interest in applications across finance, legal, HR, and operations.

Prior to DFJ Growth, Justin was a partner with Khosla Ventures and an investor at Warburg Pincus. He was actively involved with investments in Silk Road Medical (NASDAQ: SILK), Outset Medical (NASDAQ: OM), JHP Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Par Pharmaceuticals), Constitution Medical (acquired by Roche Diagnostics), Accriva Diagnostics (acquired by Werfen), Singular Bio (acquired by Invitae), and SOC Telemed (NASDAQ: TLMD). Justin started his career at the Boston Consulting Group and also spent time at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where he played a key role in the acquisition of Proteolix.

Justin holds a BS in chemical engineering (with distinction) and an MS in bioengineering from Stanford University. He also received a JD from Stanford Law School and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Outside of work, Justin is a lifelong Lakers and Dodgers fan and enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy. On weekends, he can be found treasure hunting at Costco, indulging in a boba, or chasing around his two children (one human, one canine).