I back early-stage founders building deep technical advantages in AI systems and hardtech. Across 15+ direct investments, the active portfolio tracks at a ~5x multiple. I write first checks at pre-seed and seed, often via SAFE notes, and work closely with teams across the Y Combinator ecosystem.

125x Top Paper Return (Jasper AI)
$1.5B+ Unicorn Milestone
15+ Direct Investments
~5x Active Portfolio Multiple
J

Jasper AI

First Check (SAFE)
Unicorn ($1.5B+)

Enterprise generative AI platform for marketing, content creation, and team workflows. Outlier investment returning 125x on paper.

Generative AI Enterprise 125x Return
S

Squad

Seed
Acquired by Twitter

Mobile-first screen sharing and synchronous social interaction platform. Acquired by Twitter in December 2020, delivering a 2x cash exit.

Social Mobile 2x Cash Return
S

StratumAI

Seed (YC W20)
Series A (6x Markup)

AI-driven subsurface mapping and predictive modeling for mineral extraction, reducing exploration waste and finding copper and critical metals.

Hardtech YC W20 6x Markup
H
Active

Natural language processing platform analyzing financial filings and SEC documents to detect governance risks and fraud (formerly Bedrock AI).

FinTech AI Enterprise
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Plura

Seed (YC W20)
Active

Social commerce and recommendation infrastructure built for creator-driven brands, streamlining consumer purchase paths.

Commerce YC W20
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Active

Computer vision and machine learning engine delivering personalized beauty and cosmetic diagnostics to retail shoppers.

Computer Vision Consumer AI

What I Look For & Founder Pitch

Investment Focus

  • Core Sectors: Applied foundation models, frontier audio/multimodal AI, and hardtech with clear physical moats.
  • Stage: Pre-seed and seed checks. First institutional or angel checks via standard SAFE notes.
  • Founder Profile: Relentless technical builders with unique domain insight, fast shipping cadences, and strong distribution instincts.
  • Decision Speed: Rapid decisions. Zero committees, zero multi-week stalling.

How I Help Founders

  • Technical Architecture: Direct reviews of model training pipelines, audio-visual signal architectures, and evaluation setups.
  • Talent & Introductions: Warm connections to research scientists, engineering leaders, and tier-1 seed funds.
  • Customer Validation: Introductions to early enterprise design partners and technical buyers.

Are you building in AI or hardtech? Send a short email with your one-liner, demo or prototype link, and pitch deck.

Pitch Vivek (Direct Email)

Track records and updates also listed on Crunchbase and LinkedIn.