Austin Walker

Austin Walker is a Senior Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund. Prior to this, they were the Executive Chairman at Innovein and President of the Associated Students of UCSF (ASUCSF).

Walker has been interested in startups and venture capital since they were a student at UC Berkeley. Austin co-founded their first startup, StartX, while still in school and went on to work with Y Combinator as a Startup School Advisor and Mentor to Founders. In 2016, they joined UCSF as President of the Associated Students of UCSF. During their time there, they worked to improve student, faculty, and staff collaboration by forming and facilitating committees that created a new set of bi-laws, constitution, and budget. This work culminated in a school-wide referendum which garnered enough student support that it passed with an 88% approval rate. As a result of their efforts, the Associated Students of UCSF became the Graduate and Professional Student Association, which now encompasses all UCSF students on campus.

In 2020, Walker left UCSF to join Pioneer Fund as a Senior Venture Partner. In this role, they are responsible for conducting investment diligence and working with portfolio companies.

Austin Walker has a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Y Combinator and a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from University of California, San Francisco. Austin also has a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biomedical/Medical Engineering from Northwestern University and a bachelors from Menlo School.

Some of their coworkers include Jaclyn Ling - Visiting Senior Venture Partner, Portfolio Founder, Zach Waterfield - Senior Venture Partner, and Whitney Gaynor - Senior Venture Partner, LPAC. Their manager is Jason Gray, Founder, Managing General Partner.