Altos Ventures was founded in 1996 by Han Kim, Ho Nam, and Anthony Lee, three Stanford MBA classmates who began managing their first fund the same year through an introduction from a professor. The firm's public materials describe a deliberately contrarian, patient philosophy - favoring durable businesses with strong unit economics over trend-driven sectors, and staying involved with portfolio companies for more than a decade after the first check. That patience produced two of venture capital's largest single-firm outcomes: Altos held roughly 25% of Roblox at its 2021 IPO, a stake reported to be worth more than $8 billion, and was an early backer of Coupang, the South Korean ecommerce company that priced its own 2021 IPO at an implied $62.1 billion valuation.
Coupang's 2021 NYSE IPO - Altos was an early backer of the South Korean ecommerce company, which priced at an implied valuation of $62.1 billion