# Russel Simmons

> Russel Simmons is a seed investor at Learnirvana, Inc. (San Francisco) backing Apps and News. See 6 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Learnirvana, Inc.](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/learnirvana-inc)
- Location: San Francisco, United States
- Total investments: 6
- Last investment: Feb 2023
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russel-simmons-9562

Russel Simmons is a seed investor at Learnirvana, Inc. in San Francisco focused on Apps and News. Russ co-founded Yelp Inc. in July 2004 with former colleague and friend Jeremy Stoppelman.Prior to Yelp, Russ was one of the early employees and the lead software architect at PayPal. He led a team of top engineers on critical projects related to security, scalability, stability, and internationalization as the company scaled rapidly. Followinghis time at PayPal, Russ joined Max Levchin's (co-founder of PayPal) incubator, where he teamed up with Jeremy.Russ holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $750k–$4.5M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Apps | 1 | 17% |
| News | 1 | 17% |
| Mobile | 1 | 17% |
| Fitness | 1 | 17% |
| Delivery | 1 | 17% |

13 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 3 | 50% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 17% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ShareWell | ShareWell is a peer assistance platform that allows users to participate in small group video sessions. The company was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. | $1.3M | Pre-Seed | Feb 16, 2023 |  |
| Haus | Haus specializes in the manufacturing and distillation of wine and spirits. Haus is taking on the American liquor industry, which hasn’t changed since prohibition. Through products made with only natural ingredients, new approaches to distribution, and transparent processes. | $4.5M | Seed | Jan 30, 2020 |  |
| Haus | Haus specializes in the manufacturing and distillation of wine and spirits. Haus is taking on the American liquor industry, which hasn’t changed since prohibition. Through products made with only natural ingredients, new approaches to distribution, and transparent processes. | $4.5M | Seed | Jan 30, 2020 |  |
| Circa | More and more people are relying on mobile as their primary source of news yet the content itself continues to be produced in a format that translates very poorly to mobile devices. Rather than trying to shoehorn existing content into a new environment, Circa is creating the first born-on-mobile news experience. It will deliver news in a uniqueformat – native to mobile devices with an experience intuitive to mobile users. Through comprehensive yet to-the-point news updates paired with an engrossing mobile experience, Circa redefines how news is produced, delivered and consumed. Circa is news reimagined.Circa was founded by |  | Seed | Mar 01, 2014 |  |
| Circa | More and more people are relying on mobile as their primary source of news yet the content itself continues to be produced in a format that translates very poorly to mobile devices. Rather than trying to shoehorn existing content into a new environment, Circa is creating the first born-on-mobile news experience. It will deliver news in a uniqueformat – native to mobile devices with an experience intuitive to mobile users. Through comprehensive yet to-the-point news updates paired with an engrossing mobile experience, Circa redefines how news is produced, delivered and consumed. Circa is news reimagined.Circa was founded by | $1.2M | Seed | Feb 01, 2014 |  |
| Postmates | Postmates is an on-demand food delivery platform that gives customers access to restaurants and retailers. The platform gives customers access to the most selection of merchants in the US with more than 600,000 restaurants and retailers available for delivery and pickup, many of which are exclusive to Postmates. The market leader in Los Angeles andmarkets across the southwest, Postmates covers 80% of US households, across all 50 states. Customers can get free delivery on all merchants by joining Postmates Unlimited, the industry's first subscription service. | $750K | Seed | May 01, 2011 |  |

6 of 6 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Backend Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/backend-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Brand Foundry Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brand-foundry-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Color Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/color) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Dream Machine](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dream-machine-vc) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Resolute Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/resolute-venturepartners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Scribble Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/scribble-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Learnirvana, Inc.

VC Fund · San Francisco, United States

Learnirvana, Inc. is a corporation that uses non traditional methodologies to help teach students learn about various subjects.

1 contacts available at Learnirvana, Inc..

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Russel Simmons | Founder and Chief | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/russel-simmons |

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## FAQ

### What does Russel Simmons invest in?

Russel Simmons invests primarily in Apps, News and Mobile startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 6 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Russel Simmons's check size?

Russel Simmons typically joins rounds of $750k–$4.5M at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Russel Simmons participates in.

### When did Russel Simmons last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Russel Simmons closed in Feb 2023. Shizune tracks 6 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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