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Outliers

About Outliers

Outliers was started as a MIT special interest group on SciFi-inspired research. In 2016, 20 students & professors syndicated $2M for investing in token-based projects, known as the Outliers Fund I (OFI). We collectively read 880 white papers, tokenomics, smart contracts, worked with 160 founders and invested in 32 of them. In 2018, we exited OFI at 16.2 MOIC and distributed 13.16 DPI to all the LPs. We did it again for Outliers Fund II (OFII) at 11.23 MOIC and distributed 9.71 DPI to all the LPs.

We just completed deploying $33M for Outliers Fund III (OFIII), and OFIII has entered into its Growth & Exit Period (2025-2028). Starting 2025, we have launched two new venture funds: Outliers Scientific Fund (OSF) focusing on Space Technology and Outliers Intelligence Fund (OIF) focusing on Computing.

Poseidon Ho

Poseidon Ho

Founding Partner (Taipei, SF Bay Area)

Poseidon started Outliers Fund I (exited), Fund II (exited), and Fund III. From 2026 to 2035, he is focused on running Outliers Scientific Fund for investing in defense & commercial Space technologies; Outliers Intelligence Fund for investing in AGI, robotics, and intelligence technologies. Prior to founding Outliers Fund, Poseidon researched ant-inspired collective intelligence and reality computing at MIT Media Lab, San Diego Zoo, and Microsoft Research. He received 4 research fellowships, 15 international design & programming awards during his studies at National Taiwan University, MIT, University of Washington, and Tsinghua University. Poseidon is also known as the highest stake poker player from Taiwan, with tournament prizes in 2025 being $2.2M+.

David Chou

David Chou

GP & Head of IR (Taipei)

David leads fundraising, investor relations and exit strategy at Outliers Fund III. David advised Poseidon on fundraising and investor relations when Poseidon was running Outliers Fund I; invested as a LP at Outliers Fund II; and invested his Fund II LP payout and became a GP in Outliers Fund III. Throughout David’s 27-year career in VC/PE investment, M&A, IPO, leverage buyout, he has completed 60+ cross-border transactions worth over $9B, including investing $500K in Alibaba as the first institutional investor in 1999. David received his MBA from Columbia University, B.S. Economics / Geology from National Taiwan University, and attended Executive Program from Tsinghua University in Beijing

Ira Winder

Ira Winder

Head of Research & CTO (Tokyo, Boston)

Ira Winder leads research and technology at Outliers Fund, where he develops financial engineering models and simulation frameworks to inform investment and exit strategies. As a member of the investment committee, Ira contributes technical due diligence and assesses the feasibility, scalability, and sustainability of potential deals. Prior to joining Outliers, Ira conducted research at the MIT Media Lab, where he co-developed the Tactile Matrix—a tangible, real-time urban simulation system that has been utilized by city governments worldwide and featured by Gates Ventures, the G7 Summit, and the Singapore World Cities Summit, among others. Ira has held academic appointments at the MIT Department of Urban Planning & Studies and at the Henkaku Center for Radical Transformation at Chiba Institute of Technology. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from MIT, and is an affiliate of the Engineering Systems Laboratory within the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Albert Chou

Albert Chou

General Counsel & CFO (Taipei, Shanghai)

Albert leads finance & tax at Outliers Fund, overseeing the fund’s financial strategy, accounting & auditing, tax reporting, and regulatory compliance. Albert is a board member of Outliers Fund’s investment committee, where he performs financial due diligence and evaluates investment deals’ financial statements, tax planning, legal and regulatory compliance. Albert brings over 30 years of professional experience in tax and finance from leading high-tech companies like Apple Computer, Inc. and the Big Fours including Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PwC across the U.S., China and Taiwan offices. Albert holds LL.M. from New York University, University of Pennsylvania and J.D. from Rutgers University.

Hsiou-wei W. Lin, PhD

Hsiou-wei W. Lin, PhD

Senior Advisor (Taipei)

Hsiouwei serves as a senior consultant at Outliers Fund, providing advice and delivering recommendations for the solutions for the fund in financial modeling, financial statement analysis and financial forecast regarding the investees, as well as accounting and auditing. He serves as a Professor at Department of International Business and Professor at Department of Accounting, NTU. His experience in industry and finance fields include chairing the Committee for Academic Division of Finance and Accounting of National Science Council, Taiwan and sitting on the board for China Development Financial Holding, MStar Semiconductor, Go-In Engineering, Overseas Chinese Bank, KGI Bank, and Cosmos Bank. Hsiouwei received his PhD in Business and MBA in Finance degrees from Stanford University and New York University, respectively.

Brian Dai

Brian Dai

Chief Branding Officer (Shanghai, Taipei)

Brian heads brand growth at Outliers. He turns complex scientific concepts into stories people connect with and ensures the fund’s vision is understood. His background spans global icons like Disney and Ford to contemporary consumer unicorns like Heytea. He brings innovation to established giants and sustainable growth to startups. Brian evaluates potential investments based on strategy and product quality. He prioritizes the consumer experience, which complements the deep tech and financial focus of the partners. He adds commercial sophistication to the fund and identifies the unique strategies that define market leaders.

Sophia Wang

Sophia Wang

Research Associate

Sophia leads space research at Outliers Fund. She’s specialized in the engineering of highly autonomous systems. Sophia has built in-orbit technologies, from exoplanet observation software and optical communication crosslink hardware to containment systems for the Mars Sample Return Mission. She has worked with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ames Research Center, and Goddard Space Flight Center. At the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, Sophia contributed to proof of concept robotics towards the first demonstration of self assembly in space with NASA Starshade. She’s interested in understanding, leveraging, and constructing complex systems. Outside of Aero/Astro, she applies her systems thinking to design technology policy and build research institutions. Sophia received her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from MIT.
Zac Wang

Zac Wang

Research & Investment Associate (Taipei)

Zac leads research for Web3 projects and helps our portfolios build community, providing strategies for user growth and token economic design. He joined Outliers Fund in 2023 and assists Poseidon with various fund tasks. Prior to investing in and working at Outliers Fund, Zac assisted with project research, event planning, and community operations for Web3 at Cherubic Ventures. He has previously held roles in product management and marketing at several Web2 startups. Zac received his B.A. in Business Administration from National Taipei University.

Molly Ho

Molly Ho

Marketing & Design (Taipei)

Molly leads marketing and design at Outliers Fund, overseeing all visual communications and producing multimedia content to express the company’s culture through social media. Since 2018, she has collaborated with Outliers Fund on brand identity and visual system development, contributing to the design of visual assets for multiple events. She previously interned at Baidu Raven (now Xiaodu Connect) as an interaction designer in Beijing, and worked as a graphic designer at Radical Department (rebranded as Butlr) in San Francisco. She also served as the lead designer and consultant at semiconductor company OSE.

Milestones

Fully deployed Outliers Fund III. Managing and exiting portfolios. Raising Outliers Fund IV.

Continue deploying Outliers Fund III and managing 22 portfolios. Ran Outliers Hacker Houses in 50+ cities worldwide.

Deployed Outliers Fund III on Ethereum via Syndicate. Launched Outliers VC DAO and recruited its founding members.

Exited Outliers Fund II at $23.1M (11.2x) and raised $20M for Outliers Fund III. Structured ecosystem funds.

Set up Asia offices in Shanghai & Singapore. 3 startups acquired, 2 filing for IPO (Outliers Lab #1)

Brought Outliers Lab #1 startups to 12 cities for roadshows with $100M+ raised collectively.

Exited Outliers Fund I at $32.4M (16.2x), launched Outliers Lab #1 with 10 incubation portfolios and invested in 6 of them as Outliers Fund II.

Scored 880+ web3 projects based on their white papers, token economics, smart contracts and invested in 32 of them.

Founded Outliers as a special interest group at MIT and syndicated $2M from 20 students & professors, known as Outliers Fund I.

Outliers Fund

Backing Scientist-led Ventures Through Scientific Research & Collective Intelligence.
© Outliers Fund. All Rights reserved
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