Lena Yewon Kang is an investor focused on early-stage artificial intelligence and robotics companies through Virtuals Protocol. Her work centers on identifying and supporting emerging technology ventures. ^[1]

Education

Kang attended Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, from 2016 to 2024. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in IT Engineering. ^[3]​

Career

Kang began her career in academic research as a research intern at the Intelligent Vision Processing Lab at Sookmyung Women’s University from 2021 to 2022. During this time, she focused on deep learning applications, contributing to projects such as industrial defect detection systems and human pose estimation models. Her research work earned her a best paper award at a domestic conference in 2021.

In 2022, Kang transitioned from academia into the startup and blockchain industry. According to her personal reflections, this period marked a significant shift in her career, moving from AI research to the blockchain sector and from a developer focus to non-developer roles in community management, marketing, and business development. She held short-term positions in growth and community management at Symbiote AI and in business development and marketing at TRACER. Later that year, she participated in Protocol Camp, a Web3 builder program in Seoul, where she served as a product owner and led her team to a first-place finish.

In 2023, she took on the role of sponsorship lead for Ethcon Korea, where she was responsible for managing partnerships for the Ethereum-focused developer conference. Following this, from October 2023 to April 2024, Kang worked in marketing and partner relations for the Astar Foundation. In this role, she supported the Astar Network's market entry and expansion efforts in South Korea, managing initiatives related to exchange listings, strategic partnerships, and community development.

Kang joined Startale Labs as a business development manager in April 2024, a position she held until March 2025. Her work there involved contributing to ecosystem growth by onboarding infrastructure partners and decentralized applications (dApps) and supporting the expansion of various blockchain networks. On her personal blog, she described the first half of 2024 as a professionally and personally challenging period that prompted a re-evaluation of her priorities.

In 2025, Kang joined Virtuals Ventures as a core contributor before transitioning into her role as an investor with Virtuals Protocol. In her current position, she applies her background in technology and business to invest in and support early-stage ventures in artificial intelligence and robotics. Virtuals Protocol aims to build a hybrid economy where humans and autonomous AI agents can coordinate and transact, with a focus on growing the economic output generated by these agents. ^{[4] [5]}