Yuanling Yuan

Yuanling is a Partner at SignalFire and focuses on venture and growth-stage investments. She goes by “YY” (not to be confused with the Chinese social media company).

Prior to SignalFire, YY worked on the investment team at Blackstone’s Strategic Opportunity Fund, where she evaluated late-stage and IPO investment opportunities. At Blackstone, she also spent time on the Emerging Markets team, evaluating macroeconomic and political risk in countries such as China, Brazil and Egypt.

Her journey in startups began in early high school when she founded Chess in the Library, a non-profit organization that ran more than 30 chess programs in public libraries across Canada. In college, she co-founded Sublite, a student-to-student summer subletting marketplace backed by the Yale Entrepreneurship Institute and the Wharton Innovation Fund. YY graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and a newly discovered passion for art history.

When YY is not thinking about startups, she is most likely found playing chess in some corner of the world. She is a Women’s International Master and one of the top-ranked female chess players in Canada. Apart from chess, she loves hip hop dancing and indulging in a great book.