Faculty DirectoryJulian Cheng
Adjunct Lecturer
Contact
2311 N Campus DrSuite 1400
Evanston, IL 60208
Email Julian Cheng
Departments
Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
Affiliations
Education
MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, IL
MS in Engineering Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
MS in Management Science & Engineering Coursework, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
BS in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana and Champaign, IL
Biography
Julian Cheng has managed several financial and institutional VC funds with $4 Billion AUM in 100+ startups in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, embodied AI, robotics, computer vision, new space, autonomous vehicles, genomic sequencing, healthtech, fintech, insurance, and others. Several investments from his funds have generated tremendous business, social, technology, and investor value with several startups becoming acquired including two Artificial Intelligence companies being acquired for $550M and $300M and others being sold to the top 5 large technology companies. His investments have also resulted in several IPOs including a hardware company valued at $28 Billion and a therapeutic company valued at $14 Billion. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, launching startups, and driving the commercialization of innovative technologies developed within university research environments. His experience bridges the gap between academic discovery and real-world market impact, supporting the transformation of cutting-edge research into scalable, successful ventures.
Julian is passionate about supporting and mentoring founders to build world-changing businesses, making an economic impact on the community, and building founders' character and positive corporate culture while producing outsized returns. Before becoming a venture capital investor, Julian managed and developed software and hardware for enterprises, high performance processors, and satellites, and co-founded two start-ups in the Internet of Things and education spaces. After working at large tech companies and start-ups in SF, LA, Austin, and NY, he returned to Chicago to help invest in and cultivate the local technical and entrepreneurial ecosystem in hopes to transform the community.
He is committed to building the next generation of investors and entrepreneurs by running a weekly Next Gen Investors program that draws dozens of PhD, MBA, MD, and undergraduate students of different backgrounds - from Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, University of Illinois and others. Industry veterans, university professors, professional athletes, public school principals, physicians, and former executives also attend these education sessions. He also leads the Next Gen Founders program teaching entrepreneurship to elementary, middle school, and high school students in hopes of building the next generation of diverse founders.
Julian holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studied engineering management at Stanford and Northwestern Universities where he obtained his Masters in Engineering Management, and obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Julian is a dedicated husband and father and is an active volunteer in the community where he serves on the Advisory Board of Northwestern University's NUvention Web + Media, NUvention Transportation, and NUvention Analytics. He mentors at local high schools' startup incubators and leads several youth extracurricular programs, sports leagues, and at his local church.