Linda Du

Du later recalled that a colder funding environment prompted her and Andrew WangAndrew WangAndrew Wang is a fintech entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of Valon. Trained in computer science at Harvard, he worked at Goldman Sachs and Soros Fund Management before starting Valon in 2019 to build mortgage-servicing software.Open the full entry to prioritize profitability and operating efficiency at Valon.⁠[1]

Du was included in Forbes’ 2023 Consumer Technology 30 Under 30 list and publicly thanked her team for its support.⁠[2]

In an interview published by Fintech Leaders, Du recalled spending about three hours processing the first loan with Wang, mapping its data fields, and subsequently handling thousands of loans herself.⁠[1]

Du and Wang described operators bringing unusual cases to engineers, who changed workflows or data structures before returning them for testing. They said this iterative process continued as Valon supplied software to other servicers.⁠[3]

After Carrington announced plans to acquire Valon Mortgage alongside a technology agreement, Du explained that the team had operated a servicer to demonstrate its software in practice and was now focusing on becoming a technology company. At the time of the report, completion was still expected in the third quarter.⁠[4]

Du joined Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum for the first episode of Unblocked to discuss regulation, operations and automation in mortgage servicing, including financial AI’s dependence on validated data.⁠[5]

Du and Wang joined Angela StrangeAngela StrangeAngela Strange is a Canadian venture capitalist and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), focused on AI applications, fintech and insurance. She proposed that “every company will be a fintech company.” Before joining a16z, she was a Google product manager who launched Chrome for Android and iOS.Open the full entry on the a16z Podcast to describe becoming a regulated mortgage servicer, translating operating rules into code and then offering software to the industry. The episode also addressed AI applications, voice interfaces and organizational change.⁠[6]

Du studied computer science and statistics at Harvard University and worked at Two Sigma and Samlyn Capital.⁠[7]

She and Wang knew each other in college. In an interview, Du recalled an internship at Google and work at Goldman Sachs.⁠[1]

Valon’s current website lists Du as president, COO and co-founder. Her public professional profile lists New York as her location.⁠[8][9]

Valon: Official website: https://www.valon.ai/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

Linda Du: LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xlindadu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]