Sean Oisullivan

Sean O'Sullivan is an engineer, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and investor who founded SOSV in 1995. He graduated high school at 16 and earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.F.A. in film production from the University of Southern California. In 1985 he co-founded MapInfo, which pioneered street-mapping software for personal computers; the company went public in 1994 and grew to roughly $200 million in revenue with more than 1,000 employees. In 1996, at his second company, NetCentric, O'Sullivan and George Favaloro (of Compaq) are widely credited with coining the term "cloud computing." He holds around 30 patents in fields that later became multi-hundred-billion-dollar markets.

After MapInfo's IPO, O'Sullivan began investing his own capital as a "super angel," which became SOSV. Following the success of roughly two dozen early bets, he began institutionalizing the firm around 2007, building it into a global "deep tech" venture organization with about 10 general partners and 80+ staff. SOSV today runs the accelerator-style programs HAX (hard tech, based in Newark) and IndieBio (life sciences, in New York and San Francisco), backing on the order of 60–80 startups at inception each year. As of 2025 the firm manages roughly $1.5 billion; it closed a $306 million core fund in 2024, and previously raised a $277 million fund (its fourth core fund).

Beyond investing, O'Sullivan is a noted humanitarian and philanthropist. In 2003 he founded JumpStart International, a humanitarian engineering organization based in Baghdad that operated across Iraq (and the Gaza Strip) during 2003–2006, at times employing more than 3,000 people across up to 80 simultaneous projects in cities including Baghdad, Fallujah, and Najaf. Through the O'Sullivan Foundation he has been a primary funder of Khan Academy, CoderDojo, and I-ASC. He was also a founding chairman of the Irish Entrepreneurship Forum and appeared for two seasons as an investor on the Irish TV show *Dragons' Den* (from 2011).

• "The First Check in Deep Tech." SOSV specializes in being the first institutional investor in science- and engineering-heavy startups — typically pre-seed, before any VC-backed round (angel notes or non-dilutive grants are welcome).
• Deep tech for "human and planetary health." Core areas include biotech/life sciences, climate/decarbonization, robotics, industrial automation, energy transition, medtech, and supply-chain resilience.
• Program-driven, hands-on model. Companies typically go through IndieBio (bio) or HAX (hard tech); SOSV provides lab space, engineering support, and mentorship, then follows on. It writes ~$250K–$550K initial checks and generally seeks 10%+ ownership.
• What makes them say yes: multiple technical founders, defensible science/engineering, and willingness to join a program and relocate. SOSV explicitly does *not* invest in enterprise software, fintech, blockchain/crypto, cybersecurity, or e-commerce.
• Global by design: the portfolio spans dozens of nationalities and countries; SOSV positions itself as one of the world's most active deep-tech investors, with 1,000+ startups backed over its history.