Lee Hower
Investor @ Skillz
Boston, United States
Lee Hower is a seed investor at Skillz in Boston focused on Software and SaaS. Lee is a co-founder & Partner at NextView Ventures. NextView is a high conviction, hands-on seed VC firm. And we champion founders who want to redesign daily living for everyday people. Learn more about our approach here:http://nextviewventures.com/approach/Lee started his career as an early employee of PayPal inproduct and business development roles, through the company’s 2002 IPO and sale to eBay. After PayPal, Lee was a co-founder of LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) and served as head of corporate development.Lee began his VC career as a Principal at PJC, a Boston-based early-stage VC firm, where he helped to build the firm’s internet investment practice. At PJC Lee led investments in Multiply (acq. by Naspers) and FanIQ (acq. by Datran Media), and was actively involved in the firm’s investment in Sittercity.Lee graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Management & Technology program, with a BAS in Systems Engineering and a BS Economics from the Wharton School. He was selected as Wharton’s Commencement Speaker. He lives with his wife and small daughter and splits his time between Boston and San Francisco.
- Total investments:
- 43
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 33%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Lee Hower invests in
Stages Lee Hower invests in
Countries Lee Hower invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 8 (19%)
- SaaS 5 (12%)
- E-Commerce 4 (9%)
- Health Care 3 (7%)
- Enterprise Software 3 (7%)
Stage
- Seed 16 (37%)
- Series A 10 (23%)
- Pre-Seed 4 (9%)
- Series B 3 (7%)
- Series C 2 (5%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Fuse
|
Fuse develops software that automates and streamlines the loan origination process across various types of lending. The company offers a low-code platform featuring customizable workflows and AI agents, enabling financial institutions to handle consumer, vehicle, solar, debt consolidation, credit card, business, and property-related lending. Itsplatform supports automation and integration with other systems, facilitating faster decision-making and efficient loan processing for banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Fuse also provides solution options for personal, small business, commercial real estate, and equipment financing, along with tools for direct and indirect financing, payment deferral plans, and business operations funding. | $25M / Series A / Mar 16, 2026 | |
|
Fuse
|
Fuse develops software that automates and streamlines the loan origination process across various types of lending. The company offers a low-code platform featuring customizable workflows and AI agents, enabling financial institutions to handle consumer, vehicle, solar, debt consolidation, credit card, business, and property-related lending. Itsplatform supports automation and integration with other systems, facilitating faster decision-making and efficient loan processing for banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Fuse also provides solution options for personal, small business, commercial real estate, and equipment financing, along with tools for direct and indirect financing, payment deferral plans, and business operations funding. | $15M / Series A / Apr 04, 2025 | |
Forum
|
Forum is a marketplace for peer support groups that connects mission-driven facilitators with people seeking support for life's biggest challenges–including life transitions, career, health, relationships, and more. Peer support is a proven model for personal change, healing, and growth – and our vision is a world where everyone has easyaccess to it. | $5.3M / Seed / Nov 08, 2023 | |
Lula
|
Lula Technologies is a provider of insurance services. With Lula, customers are able to better assess their customer's risk, administer policies, manage their claims, and embed their own insurance products into their business flows. | $35.5M / Series B / Aug 03, 2023 | |
Datapeople
|
Datapeople organizes and augments your recruiting data to help you improve key parts of your hiring process, from the job description candidates first see to the reports you share with your company. | $13M / Series A / Jun 27, 2023 | |
SERV
|
SERVCommerce provides a SaaS and AI-based messaging and CRM platform for home service providers. The company's platform makes it easier for contractors and service professionals to sell home, personal, and commercial services online with AI-powered messaging and business automation. | $800K / Pre-Seed / Apr 01, 2023 | |
|
Fuse
|
Fuse develops software that automates and streamlines the loan origination process across various types of lending. The company offers a low-code platform featuring customizable workflows and AI agents, enabling financial institutions to handle consumer, vehicle, solar, debt consolidation, credit card, business, and property-related lending. Itsplatform supports automation and integration with other systems, facilitating faster decision-making and efficient loan processing for banks, credit unions, and other lenders. Fuse also provides solution options for personal, small business, commercial real estate, and equipment financing, along with tools for direct and indirect financing, payment deferral plans, and business operations funding. | $6M / Seed / Jul 05, 2022 | |
Red Leader
|
Red Leader Technologies is a hardware and software company building HD software-defined lidar systems for 3D mapping. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Palo Alto, California, United States. | $10M / Series A / May 26, 2022 | |
Waivr
|
Waiver provides protection against most common banking fees. | $1.4M / Pre-Seed / Apr 06, 2022 | |
Waivr
|
Waivr is a financial technology company that provides real-time payments to merchants. | $1.4M / Pre-Seed / Apr 06, 2022 | |
| See all 43 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Skillz
Skillz is the marketplace platform that helps players discover mobile games and compete against other players around the world. At the same time, the company helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling social competition in their games. Leveraging its patented technology, Skillz has hosted over 2 billion tournaments entriesfor 30 million mobile players worldwide and distributes over $60 million in prizes each month. Headquartered in San Francisco and Portland, the company is backed by leading venture capitalists, media companies, and professional sports leagues and franchises including the investment arm of the NFL and owners of the New England Patriots, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Mets and Sacramento Kings. Skillz has also earned recognition as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000.
Skillz Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Andrew Paradise
CEO and Founder
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Casey Chafkin
Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)
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Jane Wie
Developer Integrations Specialist
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Miriam Aguirre
Chief Technology Officer
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Favian Garcia
Controller
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FAQ
What does Lee Hower invest in?
Lee Hower invests primarily in Software, SaaS and E-Commerce startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 43 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
When did Lee Hower last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Lee Hower closed in Mar 2026. Shizune tracks 43 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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