Ronald Crawford Conway (born March 9, 1951) is an American venture capitalist, super angel, and philanthropist. He is best known as co-founder of SV Angel, a venture capital fund that has backed numerous technology startups, including early investments in Google and PayPal. Conway has been a prominent figure in Silicon Valley for decades, recognized for his extensive angel investing and his involvement in political and philanthropic activities.
Conway grew up in San Francisco in an Irish Catholic family. He graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's degree in political science. His early career was in the technology industry, working in marketing positions at National Semiconductor Corporation from 1973 to 1979. He later served as president and CEO of Altos Computer Systems from 1988 to 1990, and as CEO of Personal Training Systems (PTS) from 1991 to 1995, which was acquired by SmartForce/SkillSoft.
Early Investing Career
Conway began angel investing in the mid-1990s, with early investments in companies such as Marimba Systems and Red Herring magazine. In 1997, he raised $4 million for his first venture capital fund, Adam Ventures. In December 1998, he founded Angel Investors LP, raising $30 million for its first fund within two months. By the end of 1999, Angel Investors closed on its second fund, raising $150 million. Angel Investors LP was an early investor in notable companies including Google, Ask Jeeves, Loudcloud, Napster, and PayPal. The 2006 Forbes "Midas list of top dealmakers" recognized Conway for his success with Angel Investors LP.
From 2006 through 2009, Conway was a special partner at Baseline Ventures. In 2009, he turned his personal investment vehicle, SV Angel, into a venture capital firm, raising $10 million from outside investors. SV Angel raised six funds through 2018. In 2018, Conway announced that SV Angel would retool its investing strategy, returning to a "back to basics" role as individual angels instead of raising a new fund. In March 2022, SV Angel raised $269 million for its first-ever growth equity fund, led by Ashvin Bachireddy, with Beth Turner leading the seed fund and Ron and Topher Conway overseeing both funds as Managing Co-directors.
Philanthropy and Civic Engagement
Conway is active in community and philanthropic activities. He serves as Vice Chairman of UCSF Medical Foundation in San Francisco and co-chair of the "Fight for Mike" Homer and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease initiative. He is on development committees for UCLA, St. Francis High School, Sacred Heart Schools, Packard Children's Hospital, Legacy Ventures, and Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, and serves on the Benefit Committee of the Tiger Woods Foundation.
In 2021, Conway joined The Giving Pledge, a campaign established by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage wealthy individuals to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. In 2022, he donated $2.5 million to Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutchers' 'Stand with Ukraine' GoFundMe and $25,000 to Ariana Grande's Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund.
Conway is on the advisory board of Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit founded by parents of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. He donated $1 million to fund the Firearms Challenge of the Smart Tech Challenges Foundation, a nonprofit he founded to promote firearms safety through technology and innovation.
Political Activities
Conway has been a significant political donor, particularly in San Francisco. He was the largest campaign contributor to Ed Lee in his successful 2011 mayoral campaign, raising $600,000 through independent expenditure committees. In 2012, he founded the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation (sf.citi), a 501(c) organization advocating for the technology community.
In April 2013, Conway was listed as a supporter of FWD.us, a lobbying group focused on immigration reform and education improvements. In 2014, he and Reid Hoffman donated $685,000 to David Chiu's Assembly campaign. Conway has been highly critical of President Donald Trump, spending more than $1 million and raising millions more to support Democratic efforts to win the U.S. House in 2018. He was an early supporter of Mayor London Breed, though his wife Gayle donated $200,500 to a PAC that attacked Breed's opponent Jane Kim.
Conway served as co-chair of the COVID-19 Technology Task Force, a technology industry coalition founded in March 2020. In August 2022, he contributed $50,000 to The Next 50, a liberal PAC. In the first quarter of 2024, Conway and his sons contributed half of the cash contributions to Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST). In 2024, he donated $250,000 to Clear Choice, a liberal PAC, and $500,000 to pro-cryptocurrency super PAC Fairshake, though he later left the group after its support for Bernie Moreno. In 2025, Conway resigned from the Salesforce Foundation board after CEO Marc Benioff urged Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco.
Personal Life
Conway resides in San Francisco with his wife and three children. In April 2026, he was diagnosed with a 'rare' cancer. His investment portfolio includes over 650 companies, spanning sectors from Artificial intelligence to Generative AI, reflecting his ongoing interest in emerging technologies such as Large language model and Machine learning startups.