Eric Zhu, at 17, launched Aviato, a private market data analytics platform, from his high school bathroom in Carmel, Indiana, and is now emerging from stealth with $2.3 million in venture funding
Aviato, like its competitors Crunchbase and PitchBook, monitors funding rounds and headcount, as well as data points such as company credit card revenue, employee vesting schedules, and the locations of top engineers’ current employment, among other metrics.
It is not an accident that the sounds above are somewhat similar to the internal database that SignalFire constructed.
Zhu stated that Aviato’s objective is to develop a platform similar to what SignalFire has internally developed. He noted that his company has collaborated closely with its founder, Walter Kortschak, to develop its product.
Zhu informed TechCrunch that his initial interest in venture capital and startups resulted from his being in the right location at the right time during the slow days of the pandemic. He acquired knowledge about the field through Discord group chats that he participated in in 2020 at the age of 13, including individuals such as Sam Altman.
In 2021, he founded Esocial, a digital platform for schools, due to this interest. Ten months later, it was acquired. He subsequently became a member of Bachmanity Capital, a firm that provides financial support to early-stage enterprises with the potential to apply to the government.
The concept for Aviato was conceived during the construction of the fund. He realized that, although data startups such as Crunchbase and PitchBook were adept at data monitoring, they lacked the analytical layer he believed was necessary to render these platforms truly beneficial.
Zhu stated that Aviato was inspired by the notion that private market data has been historically extremely unstructured. “That is why funds invest tens of millions of dollars in developing their internal databases.”
To construct Aviato, a tribute to HBO’s “Silicon Valley” television series, Zhu conducted meetings from his high school restroom. He had erected a green screen, a ring light, and an alibi to be absent from class in the stall.
Even though Zhu was ultimately expelled from school for his actions, he was able to secure clients such as Republic Capital, NEA, and 8VC.
Aviato received $2.3 million in venture funding from various sources, including SoftBank, Soma Capital, and 8VC. A few years ago, Eric Bahn, a co-founder and general partner at Hustle Fund, made a personal investment in the startup.
Bahn informed TechCrunch that he scheduled a meeting with Zhu following the teenager’s submission of one of the most impressive unsolicited emails he had ever received. According to Bahn, the Zoom conversation was extremely peculiar.
“He had his braces on,” Bahn recalled about Zhu, who was 14 years old at the time. “He clearly looked quite young, but he was oddly mature. The really strange part is he was clearly in the bathroom stall as a high school freshman, and I was like, ‘Where the f*** are you right now?’ I literally said that. He said, ‘I pretended that I had diarrhea, so I think I have like 30 minutes to chat with you.’”
Bahn joked that he was likely flushing his $3,000 investment down the commode, both metaphorically and literally. However, his perspective evolved three years later, as Zhu matured and the product was realized.
“I began experimenting with the product on my own; it is quite well-crafted,” Bahn stated. The quality of the individuals he has employed has already been demonstrated to me. His executive team is comprised of highly competent architects.
David Razavi, the former CTO of LowerMyBills and former product lead at LendingTree, was appointed co-founder and COO of the startup last autumn. Harrison Kessel functions as the CTO and completes the founding team.
At Zeet, which Sequoia supported, Kessel was the third employee. He was responsible for the development of the data infrastructure of the developer-focused data application platform.
Zhu has relocated to San Francisco and is completing his online secondary school education. He stated that his parents are still somewhat uncertain about his activities, and his mother may still desire him to pursue a medical career. However, Zhu appears to be less concerned about this.
“We’ve built a product, and a lot of people like it,” Zhu said. “Our customer base is venture funds, private equity funds and more. I want to sell to every single person that works with private markets in general. We will be able to replace PitchBook.”
