Christine Tsai - Digital Investment Specialist

Christine Tsai is a highly experienced investment specialist with over 15 years’ experience in global markets. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of 500 Startups, an international early-stage venture capital and startup accelerator since 2010.

Tsai and 500 Startups have invested in over 1,800 startups across the globe, including notable investments in Udemy, Intercom, Viki, and many more.

About Christine Tsai

Christine Tsai is a highly experienced investment specialist with over 15 years of experience in global markets. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of 500 Global, an international venture capital firm since 2010.

After completing her university education in 2002, Tsai joined the international sales department of OSIsoft, where she held a support role to sales managers and distributors across over 20 international markets. Tsai started working for Google in 2003 in the technical support team for AdSense and Google Analytics. She then moved to lead product marketing for video monetization and eventually became the Product Marketing Manager of Google leading Google I/O a role she held until 2010. In 2007, Tsai was appointed as Product Marketing Manager of YouTube, where she was responsible for product marketing. Tsai also drove co-marketing for syndication partners like Sony, TiVo, EA, and Panasonic during her one-year tenure at YouTube.

Location

Christine Tsai was born in Guam and moved to the Bay Area, California, with her family when she was four years old. She enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.A. in Cognitive Science in 2002. During her time at the university, Tsai was accepted into the prestigious Theatre Rice Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program. She began her professional career at OSIsoft, where she held a support role to sales managers and distributors across over 20 international markets.

Tsai started working for Google in 2003 in the technical support team for AdSense and Google Analytics. She accelerated through the company and became lead product marketing for video monetization and eventually the Product Marketing Manager of Google leading Google I/O a role she held until 2010. In 2007, Tsai was appointed as Product Marketing Manager of YouTube, where she was responsible for product marketing. Tsai also drove co-marketing for syndication partners like Sony, TiVo, EA, and Panasonic during her one-year tenure at YouTube.

Remarkable Investments

As the head of 500 Global, Christine Tsai is responsible for a wide variety of startup investments. The company has a total of more than US$2.4 billion in assets across seven main funds and 13 micro funds.

Tsai and 500 Global have invested in over 2,800 startups across the globe, including notable investments in Udemy, Canva, Reddit, Intercom, Viki ( acquired by Rakuten), Wildfire ( acquired by GOOG), Credit Karma(acquired by Intuit), Twilio (TWLO), TheRealReal (REAL), and SendGrid (SEND).

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Latest News

In early April 2018, Bizwomen wrote that Christine Tsai is planning on rebooting 500 Startups after recent setbacks. Tsai was reported to have said that she never expected to be the person leading the company. She said that the company is driven by its mission to discover great founders around the globe and to help build ecosystems, and that they planned to refresh their mission values. Recode featured Christine Tsai and 500 Startups in April 2018. According to the article, the company was selling some of its parent company, Mother’s Ship’s equity to the Abu Dhabi Financial Group. The terms of the sale were not revealed. In June 2018, betakit.com reported that Neha Khera joined 500 Startups as a partner in Canada and plans to actively support around 20% of the company’s Canadian portfolio, which amounts to 36 companies.

In 2017, 500 Global co-founding partner Dave Mclure resigned, leaving Tsai as CEO of the company. Tsai had reported she never intended nor wanted to lead the company. Although 500 Startups suffered setbacks, Tsai led the company to even greater success and expansion. In 2021, the company rebranded as 500 Global after receiving a $140 million fund, the firm’s largest to date.

In 2025, 500 Global celebrated its 15th anniversary, with Tsai sharing a heartwarming post on LinkedIn and her journey watching her company, which began as an accelerator, grow into a multi-stage investor with $2.4 billion in assets across the globe.

During an interview with The Information in July of 2025, Christine delves into 500 Global’s early 2023 investment in PlayAI and its exit, as well as her recent fascination and engagement with the South Korean market.