Heidi Messer

Active Investor

Co-Founder & Chairperson

Palo Alto, California

Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairperson is an active investor based in Palo Alto, California. This profile covers what Heidi Messer backs, at which stage, and how founders can reach out in 2026.

Ms. Heidi Messer is a Co-Founder & serves as Chairperson at Collective[i]. Ms. Heidi Messer serves as Co-Founder & Chairman at Cross Commerce Media. She served as an Advisor at AVP (Paris). She serves as Board Member at Union Square Hospitality Group. She served as Member of Advisory Board at NBCUniversal. She is also an Angel Investor. She served as Board Member at Partnership for New York City. She co-founded and served as the Co-Founder, President & Chief Operating Officer of Rakuten Marketing. Heidi has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the digital economy since the commercialization of the Internet, and in 1996, with Stephen, she co-founded LinkShare Corporation, a host to one of the world's largest online affiliate networks, linking advertisers with publishers. With Heidi as president and COO, LinkShare was for two consecutive years recognized by Deloitte & Touche as the fastest-growing technology company in the New York Region. Heidi and Stephen managed LinkShare until its 2005 sale to Rakuten (4755:JASDAQ) for $425 million. Heidi is the co-founder and CEO of World Evolved, a platform for global investment and expansion, and a founding member of the Zokei Network, an invitation-only global network of exceptional artists, technologists, scientists and business leaders who convene for inspiration in private salons around the world. Heidi is a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship, digital marketing, technology and the future of the Internet and has been cited by The New York Times, The Nikkei and Women's Wear Daily, among other publications and media outlets. She's also received several honors, among them her inclusion on the Goldman Sachs 2012 list of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. Heidi is chairman of the board of Cross Commerce Media, which operates as Collective[i]. She's also an active angel investor in a number of startups, including Spire, LifeBooker and DODOcase. She serves on the Brown University Women's Leadership Council, the Physics and Astronomy Advisory Council at Johns Hopkins University and advisory boards of the Brown University Entrepreneurship Program, Dell Computers, NBC Universal and American Express Open. Heidi received a B.A. from Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, as well as a J.D. from Harvard Law School, from which she graduated cum laude.

Investor type: Angel
Stages: Early Stage Venture
Location: Palo Alto, California
Typical check: $500K
Past investments: 1

Notable investments

Spire Global (Other Commercial Services)

How to reach Heidi Messer

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