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Maria Shen

General Partner at Electric Capital

Maria Shen is a General Partner at Electric Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors. She has been with Electric Capital since August 2018 and was recently promoted to General Partner in June 2023, alongside Ken Deeter.4

Professional Background

Before joining Electric Capital, Maria co-founded and served as the CTO of Bambify, a startup aimed at helping e-commerce businesses connect with manufacturers globally. She has also worked at Microsoft, where she contributed to search technologies that were integrated into over a billion devices, including features for Windows 10 and the Cortana search assistant.23

Maria holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard University and a Master of Engineering in Computer Science from Cornell University. She is particularly interested in supporting women, minority, and immigrant founders in the tech industry.23

Investment Focus

At Electric Capital, Maria specializes in sectors such as Web3, blockchain, fintech, and marketplaces, primarily focusing on seed and Series A investments. Her investment range typically falls between $1 million to $5 million, with a sweet spot around $2.5 million.12

Contributions to the Ecosystem

Maria is known for her efforts in promoting open-source development within the crypto space and has been involved in creating resources like the Developer Report, which tracks the activities of developers in the blockchain ecosystem.5 She actively encourages engagement from diverse founders and is reachable via her Twitter handle, @MariaShen.23

Highlights

Jul 22 · twitter

Ethereum turns 10 in 8 days.

Ethereum hosts the largest digital financial economy with 100% uptime.

Ethereum ranks #1 by:

  • TVL ($87B+, 65%+ share)
  • Value secured ($1T+ among top 100 tokens)
  • Stablecoin issuance ($147B, 60%+ share)
  • RWAs ($7.7B in RWAs)

Data below 👇🏽

Jul 3 · twitter

ETH isn’t just a digital store of value—it’s SoV with yield.

Most store-of-value assets fall into two camps: scarce but inert (gold, BTC, art) or yield-generating but fragile (stocks, real estate).

ETH combines the best of both: it’s portable, durable, scarce, seizure-resistant and it pays yield.

That aligns with investor behavior—65% of U.S. households own yield-bearing real estate, while only 11% hold non-yielding gold.

Capital flows to assets that protect and produce. As that preference scales, ETH isn’t just a new asset—it’s a new archetype. A programmable, income-generating store of value that could eat market share from legacy stores.

Related Questions

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Maria Shen
Maria Shen, photo 1
Maria Shen, photo 2
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Experience

General Partner at Electric Capital (August 2018 - Present)
Advisor at WorkRamp (May 2018 - Present, San Francisco), Co-Founder & CTO at Bambify (June 2016 - May 2018, Greater New York City Area), Program Manager at Microsoft (August 2013 - June 2015, Bellevue at Memozoid (September 2011 - August 2013, Cambridge, MA)

Education

Master of Engineering in Computer Science, Cornell University (2015 - 2016), Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government with a secondary degree in Computer Science, Harvard University (2009

Location

San Francisco, California, United States