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Moritz Baier-Lentz

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Moritz Baier-Lentz
Photo of Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2023, credit: OMR Podcast / Lightspeed Venture Partners
Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2023
Born
Moritz Baier

(1986-01-20) January 20, 1986 (age 38)
Hanover, Germany
Nationality Germany,  United States
EducationStanford University (M.B.A, M.A.)
Employer(s)Lightspeed Venture Partners, World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs, IBM
Board member of1047 Games
The Believer Company
Gardens Interactive
Inworld AI
k-ID
Methodical Games
Volley
SpouseAlissa Baier-Lentz
Websitegaming.lsvp.com

Moritz Baier-Lentz is a German-American venture capitalist. He is a partner and the head of gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners,[1] leading the firm's investments in gaming and artificial intelligence applications, including agentic simulations in video games and generative AI in media creation.[2]

Previously, Baier-Lentz was a vice president in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs, where he founded and led the firm's global gaming practice.[3] A former #1 ranked competitive player of Diablo II,[4] he has invested over $100 million[5] into entrepreneurs who have been leading the creation of video games like Fortnite,[6] Call of Duty,[7] League of Legends,[8][9] Halo, Destiny, Overwatch, Valorant,[10] Apex Legends, Sky,[11] StarCraft II, and Warcraft III.[12]

Awards and professional memberships

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In 2016 and 2017, Baier-Lentz was regarded by Forbes (U.S.) and Capital (Germany) as one of the most influential finance professionals in their 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 lists, respectively.[13][14] In 2017, he joined the German-American Atlantik-Brücke[15] and in 2023, he was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum[16] and invited to participate as a delegate in the 54th Annual Meeting in Davos.[17] Baier-Lentz holds an MBA and M.A. from Stanford University, and graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.[18]

Early life and education

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Baier-Lentz grew up as a first-generation high school graduate in rural Germany[19] and spent his teenage years playing Blizzard Entertainment’s multiplayer action role-playing game Diablo II, culminating in a global #1 ranking among 13 million active players in 2003.[20] He used a combination of proceeds from virtual goods sales[19][21] and German national academic merit scholarships from Studienstiftung and DAAD to help finance his undergraduate and graduate studies.[22]

Career

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Investment banking

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After starting his career as a data scientist at IBM,[1] Baier-Lentz joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, and founded and led the firm's global gaming practice.[23] During his tenure as vice president, he advised gaming and technology corporations on over $300 billion in transaction volume across mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, venture capital, and other strategic transactions, including Dell's $67 billion acquisition of EMC and IBM’s $34 billion purchase of Red Hat.[12]

Venture capital

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BITKRAFT Ventures

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Baier-Lentz went on to become a partner and management team member at BITKRAFT Ventures,[24] where he scaled the firm to approximately $850 million in assets under management and to become the most active gaming lead investor in 2020, 2021, and 2022[12] before joining Lightspeed.

Lightspeed Venture Partners

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After setting up Lightspeed's gaming and interactive media practice in early 2023, Baier-Lentz elevated the firm to become the largest set of funds with a dedicated sector focus (investing from over $6.5 billion of early- and growth-stage capital)[25] and the most impactful lead investor in gaming in 2023 and 2024; having led rounds of aggregated $162 million[26] and $170 million[27] across both years, respectively.

Gaming industry

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CEO Forum and Lightspeed Advisory Council

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Baier-Lentz hosts the annual CEO Forum at the Game Developers Conference with Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, and Sony—an off-the-record gathering for the CEOs of the world's largest gaming and interactive media companies. Previous attendees have included Sarah Bond (President of Xbox), Jason Citron (founder and CEO of Discord), Walter Driver (founder and Co-CEO of Scopely), Frank Gibeau (CEO of Zynga), Jim Fang (President of miHoYo), Johanna Faries (President of Blizzard Entertainment), Yves Guillemot (founder and CEO of Ubisoft), John Hanke (founder and CEO of Niantic), Brendan Iribe (founder and former CEO of Oculus), Takashi Kiryu (President of Square Enix), Laura Miele (President of Electronic Arts), Michael Morhaime (founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment), Michał Nowakowski (Co-CEO of CD Projekt), Haruki Satomi (CEO of Sega), Phil Spencer (CEO of Microsoft Gaming), and Strauss Zelnick (CEO of Take-Two Interactive, owner of Rockstar Games).[28]

Some of these executives are also members of Lightspeed's Advisory Council, which further includes Michael Eisner (former CEO of The Walt Disney Company), Dara Khosrowshahi (CEO of Uber), Bernard Kim (CEO of Match Group), and Danny Lange (SVP of Artificial Intelligence at Google).[29]

Game Changers

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In partnership with Nasdaq, GamesBeat, and executive judges from the gaming and media industry,[30] Baier-Lentz founded Game Changers, a yearly initiative to highlight 25 startups across gaming, interactive media, and artificial intelligence.[31]

World Economic Forum

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In his role as Young Global Leader and Davos delegate, Baier-Lentz advises the World Economic Forum on gaming, extended reality, governance aspects of artificial intelligence, and the convergence of frontier technologies. [32]

Forbes

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After originally making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Finance category 2016,[33] Baier-Lentz served as a judge for the Games category in 2024.[34]

Speaking engagements

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Moritz Baier-Lentz in 2024 at the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Baier-Lentz has been featured as a speaker at the World Economic Forum,[35] Goldman Sachs,[36] Stanford University,[37] Harvard University,[38] Massachusetts Institute of Technology,[39] Axios,[40] South by Southwest,[41] Slush,[42] and the Game Developers Conference.[43]

Personal life

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Baier-Lentz is an Ironman and ultramarathon runner, including the 251-kilometer long, self-sufficient Marathon des Sables[44] and the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons on 7 continents within 7 days).[45][46]

References

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  1. ^ a b Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  2. ^ Gardner, Matt. "Lightspeed Taps Gamer-Turned-VC To Lead Firm's Debut Gaming Arm". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  3. ^ Flynn, Kerry (2023-01-18). "Lightspeed hires Baier-Lentz as head of gaming". Axios. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  4. ^ Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  5. ^ Gardner, Matt. "Gardens Raises $31 Million, Gets Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft Exec Backing". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  6. ^ Gardner, Matt. "Lightforge Games Raises $15 Million For New RPG From Big-Name Investors". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  7. ^ "Methodical Games raises $15M to create multiplayer action-adventure game". VentureBeat. 2022-11-16. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  8. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2023-03-07). "Believer, a new approach to gaming, raises $55M from Lightspeed, a16z and more". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  9. ^ "Ex-Riot employees raise $55M for new studio The Believer Company". VentureBeat. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  10. ^ "Riot veterans raise $37.5 million for Theorycraft Games startup". VentureBeat. 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  11. ^ "Gardens raises $31.3M for fantasy action role-playing game". VentureBeat. 2021-07-11. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  12. ^ a b c "Lightspeed picks up Moritz Baier-Lentz to lead game investments". VentureBeat. 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  13. ^ "30 Under 30 2016: Finance". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  14. ^ "Das sind die Nachwuchs-Talente der Finanzbranche". capital.de (in German). 20 February 2018. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  15. ^ "Atlantik-Brücke Jahresbericht 2017/18" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  16. ^ "New Class". The Forum of Young Global Leaders. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  17. ^ "World Economic Forum Annual Meeting". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2024-01-27.
  18. ^ "Past Award & Certificate Recipients". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  19. ^ a b "Lightspeed's new head of gaming wants to rethink investments in the vertical | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  20. ^ Renbarger, Madeline. "How VC Moritz Baier-Lentz went from being one of the world's best professional gamers to the new head of Lightspeed's gaming practice". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  21. ^ "What play-to-earn games mean for the economy - and metaverse". World Economic Forum. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  22. ^ "Einer, der auszog". asv.faz.net. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  23. ^ Morrell, Alex. "RISING STARS: Meet 16 investment bankers age 35 and under doing huge deals". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  24. ^ Shieber, Jonathan (2020-02-21). "Gaming-focused investment firm Bitkraft closes in on at least $140 million for its second fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
  25. ^ "Lightspeed Gaming & Interactive Media". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  26. ^ "Global Gaming Deals Activity Report 2023". InvestGame. 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  27. ^ "Global Gaming Deals Report Q3'2024". InvestGame. 2024-10-17. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  28. ^ "CEO Forum at GDC 2024 — Difficult Conversations, Reasons for Optimism". Lightspeed Venture Partners. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  29. ^ "Lightspeed Advisory Council". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  30. ^ Takahashi, Dean (2024-06-12). "Game Changers top game startup list returns with Lightspeed, GamesBeat and Nasdaq". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  31. ^ "Meet the Game Changers 2025". Lightspeed Venture Partners. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  32. ^ "Moritz Baier-Lentz - Agenda Contributor". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  33. ^ "Forbes Profile: Moritz Baier-Lentz". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  34. ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30 North America 2024: Games — Leading a technological and artistic revolution". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  35. ^ "Moritz Baier-Lentz - Agenda Contributor". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  36. ^ "Goldman Sachs | Podcast: 'Exchanges at Goldman Sachs' - Episode 92: eSports: The New Global Pastime". Goldman Sachs. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  37. ^ "FAME Conference 2022: The Metaverse | FAME Conference 2022". fameconference.sites.stanford.edu. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  38. ^ "Side Program – 2019 German American Conference at Harvard". Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  39. ^ "Guests - MIT Gaming Industry Club | MIT Sloan School of Management". sloangroups.mit.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  40. ^ "Media dealmakers chat AI as a business accelerator | Axios". axios.com. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  41. ^ "Reality Check: Are VR and AR Ready for Prime Time?". SXSW 2023 Schedule. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  42. ^ "Slush Nov 30 - Dec 1, Helsinki: Moritz Baier-Lentz, Partner & Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners". Slush 2023 Speakers. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  43. ^ "GDC 2023 SESSION VIEWER".
  44. ^ Longman, Jeré (2019-04-25). "An Amputee's Toughest Challenge Yet: Her 140-Mile Run in the Desert". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  45. ^ "World Marathon Challenge 2023 Competitors & Results". World Marathon Challenge. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  46. ^ "Screentime: The Venture Investor Who Runs Through Antarctica in Silence". The Information. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
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