Moritz Baier-Lentz

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.{{Cite web |title=30 Under 30 2016: Finance |url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2016/finance/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=Forbes |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Das sind die Nachwuchs-Talente der Finanzbranche |url=https://www.capital.de/geld-versicherungen/das-sind-die-neuen-entscheider-der-finanzbranche |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=capital.de |date=20 February 2018 |language=de}} In 2017, he joined the German-American Atlantik-Brücke{{Cite web |title=Atlantik-Brücke Jahresbericht 2017/18|url=https://www.atlantik-bruecke.org/wp-content/uploads/ATB_Gesamt_Final_web-1.pdf |access-date=2023-06-05 |language=en}} and in 2023, he was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum{{Cite web |title=New Class |url=https://www.younggloballeaders.org/new-class/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=The Forum of Young Global Leaders |language=en}} and invited to participate as a delegate in the 54th and 55th Annual Meeting in Davos.{{Cite web |title=World Economic Forum Annual Meeting |url=https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2024/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |website=World Economic Forum |language=en}} Baier-Lentz holds an MBA and M.A. from Stanford University, and graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.{{Cite web |title=Past Award & Certificate Recipients |url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/news-history/commencement/certificate-award-recipients/past-recipients |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=Stanford Graduate School of Business |language=en}}

Baier-Lentz grew up as a first-generation high school graduate in rural Germany{{Cite web |title=Lightspeed's new head of gaming wants to rethink investments in the vertical {{!}} PitchBook |url=https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/lightspeed-gaming-vc-investment-web3 |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=pitchbook.com |date=20 January 2023 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Renbarger |first=Madeline |title=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 |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-lightspeed-newest-vc-partner-became-top-gaming-investor-2023-1 |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} He used a combination of proceeds from virtual goods sales{{Cite web |title=What play-to-earn games mean for the economy - and metaverse |url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/what-play-to-earn-games-mean-for-the-economy-and-metaverse/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=World Economic Forum |date=22 November 2021 |language=en}} and German national academic merit scholarships from Studienstiftung and DAAD to help finance his undergraduate and graduate studies.{{Cite web |title=Einer, der auszog |url=https://asv.faz.net/einer-der-auszog/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=asv.faz.net}}

After starting his career as a data scientist at IBM, Baier-Lentz joined Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, and founded and led the firm's global gaming practice.{{Cite web |last=Morrell |first=Alex |title=RISING STARS: Meet 16 investment bankers age 35 and under doing huge deals |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-rising-stars-of-wall-street-17-hottest-investment-bankers-35-2017-9 |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} 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.

Baier-Lentz went on to become a partner and management team member at BITKRAFT Ventures,{{Cite web |last=Shieber |first=Jonathan |date=2020-02-21 |title=Gaming-focused investment firm Bitkraft closes in on at least $140 million for its second fund |url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/20/gaming-focused-investment-firm-bitkraft-closes-in-on-at-least-140-million-for-its-second-fund/ |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} 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 before joining Lightspeed.

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).{{Cite web |title=Lightspeed Gaming & Interactive Media |url=https://gaming.lsvp.com/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en-US}}

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| footer = Baier-Lentz hosting the 5th Annual CEO Forum at GDC in 2025, including CEOs of Blizzard, Discord, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft Xbox, Riot Games, Roblox, Take-Two, Unity, and Zynga.}}

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."

Attendees of the 2024 and 2025 conferences have included:

• David Baszucki (founder and CEO of Roblox),
• Sarah Bond (president of Xbox),
• Matthew Bromberg (CEO of Unity),
• Jason Citron (founder and CEO of Discord),
• Adam D'Angelo (founder and CEO of Quora, former CTO of Facebook, and board member of OpenAI),
• Walter Driver (founder and Co-CEO of Scopely),
• Frank Gibeau (CEO of Zynga),
• Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene (former creative director at PUBG Corporation and creator of the battle royale genre),
• 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),
• Dylan Jadeja (CEO of Riot Games),
• Andrej Karpathy (co-founder of OpenAI),
• Geoff Keighley (founder and host of The Game Awards),
• Laura Miele (president of Electronic Arts),
• Michael Morhaime (founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment),
• Michał Nowakowski (Co-CEO of CD Projekt),
• Sean Parker (founder and former CEO of Napster and former president of Facebook),
• Mark Pincus (founder and former CEO of Zynga),
• Haruki Satomi (CEO of Sega),
• Phil Spencer (CEO of Microsoft Gaming),
• Tim Sweeney (founder and CEO of Epic Games), and
• Strauss Zelnick (CEO of Take-Two Interactive, owner of Rockstar Games).{{Cite web |date=2024-03-27 |title=CEO Forum at GDC 2024 — Difficult Conversations, Reasons for Optimism |url=https://lsvp.com/stories/gaming-ceo-forum-at-gdc-2024-goldman-sachs-lightspeed/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2024-03-27 |title=CEO Forum 2025 — Co-Elevation Through Introspection|url=https://lsvp.com/stories/ceo-forum-at-gdc-2025/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en-US}}

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 (former CEO of Match Group), and Danny Lange (SVP of Artificial Intelligence at Google).{{Cite web |title=Lightspeed Advisory Council |url=https://lsvp.com/advisory-council/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en-US}}

In partnership with Nasdaq, GamesBeat, and executive judges from the gaming and media industry,{{Cite web |date=2024-06-12 |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |title=Game Changers top game startup list returns with Lightspeed, GamesBeat and Nasdaq |url=https://venturebeat.com/games/game-changers-top-game-startup-list-returns-with-lightspeed-gamesbeat-and-nasdaq/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}} Baier-Lentz founded Game Changers, a yearly initiative to highlight 25 startups across gaming, interactive media, and artificial intelligence.{{Cite web |title=Meet the Game Changers 2025 |url=https://lsvp.com/gamechangers2025 |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Lightspeed Venture Partners |language=en-US}}

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. {{Cite web |title=Moritz Baier-Lentz - Agenda Contributor |url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/moritz-baier-lentz/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=World Economic Forum |language=en}}

After originally making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Finance category 2016,{{Cite web |title=Forbes Profile: Moritz Baier-Lentz |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/moritz-baier/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Forbes |language=en}} Baier-Lentz served as a judge for the Games category in 2024.{{Cite web |title=Forbes 30 Under 30 North America 2024: Games — Leading a technological and artistic revolution |url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2024/games |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

File:Moritz baier-lentz world economic forum davos.jpg of the World Economic Forum.]]

Baier-Lentz has been featured as a speaker at the World Economic Forum, Goldman Sachs,{{Cite web |title=Goldman Sachs {{!}} Podcast: 'Exchanges at Goldman Sachs' - Episode 92: eSports: The New Global Pastime |url=https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/podcasts/episodes/05-07-2018-ryan-nolan.html |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=Goldman Sachs |language=en-US}} Stanford University,{{Cite web |title=FAME Conference 2022: The Metaverse {{!}} FAME Conference 2022 |url=https://fameconference.sites.stanford.edu/events/conference-symposium/fame-conference-2022-metaverse |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=fameconference.sites.stanford.edu |date=20 April 2022 |language=en}} Harvard University,{{Cite web |title=Side Program – 2019 German American Conference at Harvard |url=https://2019.germanamericanconference.org/side-program/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |language=en-US}} Massachusetts Institute of Technology,{{Cite web |title=Guests - MIT Gaming Industry Club {{!}} MIT Sloan School of Management |url=https://sloangroups.mit.edu/sgic/guests/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=sloangroups.mit.edu}} Axios,{{Cite web |title=Media dealmakers chat AI as a business accelerator {{!}} Axios |url=https://www.axios.com/pro/media-deals/2023/05/11/media-roundtable-axios-bfd-sf/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=axios.com|date=11 May 2023 }} South by Southwest,{{Cite web |title=Reality Check: Are VR and AR Ready for Prime Time? |url=https://schedule.sxsw.com/2023/events/PP125279 |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=SXSW 2023 Schedule |language=en}} Slush,{{Cite web |title=Slush Nov 30 - Dec 1, Helsinki: Moritz Baier-Lentz, Partner & Head of Gaming at Lightspeed Venture Partners |url=https://slush.org/speakers/moritz-baier-lentzparner-head-of-gaming/|access-date=2023-11-08 |website=Slush 2023 Speakers |language=en}} Nvidia GTC, and the Game Developers Conference.{{Cite web |title=GDC 2023 SESSION VIEWER |date=5 October 2024 |url=https://schedule.gdconf.com/speaker/baier-lentz-moritz/67482}}

File:Moritz baier-lentz alissa baier-lentz world economic forum davos.png in 2024.]]

Baier-Lentz is an Ironman and ultramarathon runner, including the 251-kilometer long, self-sufficient Marathon des Sables{{Cite news |last=Longman |first=Jeré |date=2019-04-25 |title=An Amputee's Toughest Challenge Yet: Her 140-Mile Run in the Desert |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/25/sports/amy-palmiero-winters-marathon-des-sables.html |access-date=2023-06-02 |issn=0362-4331}} and the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons on 7 continents within 7 days).{{Cite web |title=World Marathon Challenge 2023 Competitors & Results|url=https://www.worldmarathonchallenge.com/years/2023 |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=World Marathon Challenge |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Screentime: The Venture Investor Who Runs Through Antarctica in Silence |url=https://www.theinformation.com/articles/screentime-the-venture-investor-who-runs-through-antarctica-in-silence |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=The Information}}

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Category:American venture capitalists

Category:American people of German descent

Category:1986 births

Category:Living people

Category:Goldman Sachs people