How many investments has SHAKTI made?

SHAKTI has 36 tracked investments.

What stage does SHAKTI invest at?

SHAKTI invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.

What is SHAKTI's typical check size?

SHAKTI typically writes checks of $250K – $2M.

What sectors does SHAKTI focus on?

SHAKTI focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Deep Tech, SaaS.

Where is SHAKTI located?

SHAKTI is headquartered in San Francisco, US.

Does SHAKTI lead rounds?

Yes, SHAKTI leads investment rounds.

Who does SHAKTI co-invest with?

SHAKTI most often shares deals with Canaan Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greycroft, among 111 tracked co-investors.

SHAKTI

Venture capital

San Francisco · Pre-Seed–Series A · 9 people tracked

Also known as SHAKTI CAPITAL, LLC · Shakti Venture Capital

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Investment thesis

SHAKTI invests at the earliest stages—pre-revenue, pre-product, sometimes pre-incorporation—writing initial checks of $250K to $2M with $1-2M in follow-ons. The firm will lead, co-lead, or follow, with no fixed ownership target, aiming for 10-100x returns. Companies must be US-incorporated but can operate globally. Beyond capital, SHAKTI positions itself as a hands-on partner from zero to IPO, helping founders recruit world-class teams, land customers among consumers, SMBs and Fortune 100s, and raise subsequent rounds. Its Titan Network gives portfolio companies access to over 50 operators who are current and former founders and executives of public tech companies. The firm emphasizes founders reimagining how the world works, including physical and digital AI.

Invests inAI & Machine Learning Deep Tech SaaSGlobalSan FranciscoUnited States

Source: firm website, verified Aug 18, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Series A

Check

$250K – $2M

San Francisco, CA, US

Leads rounds

Leads

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2019

Private fund assets

$71.9M

VC funds

Tracked investments

Team · 9 people

from the firm's website

Keval Desai· Founder & Partner· San Franciscoin 𝕏

Keval Desai is Founder and Partner at SHAKTI, with three decades of experience in Silicon Valley as an engineer, entrepreneur, product leader, and investor. He co-founded the online payments company Achex, later joined Google before its IPO to lead monetization products including AdWords, Access, and Google TV, and spent a decade as a GP at Interwest before starting SHAKTI. He holds an M.S. in computer science, a B.E. in electrical engineering, and an MBA, and has taught VC/PE at Berkeley Haas.

Liz Harrow· Partner· New Yorkin

Liz Harrow is a Partner at SHAKTI, based in New York. She previously spent more than ten years at Morgan Stanley in equity research and venture capital roles, most recently as Vice President of the firm's startup accelerator program focused on supporting diverse founders. She holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a B.A. from Colgate University.

Sydney Landau· Partner· New Yorkin

Sydney Landau is a Partner at SHAKTI, based in New York, having joined the firm full-time after interning there during college. Earlier in her career she interned in Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management division and completed the Tuck School of Business mini MBA program. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from Colby College, where she captained the Women's Varsity Tennis team.

Bryan Power· Venture Partner· Bay Area (Oakland)in

Bryan Power is a Venture Partner at SHAKTI with over 20 years of experience in human resources and talent acquisition, supporting founders on hiring, team scaling, and company culture. He previously led the global People Team at Yahoo covering more than 10,000 employees across 30 offices, held a similar role at Square during its growth from 350 to 1,600 employees ahead of its 2015 IPO, and spent eight years at Google. He advises several technology companies in San Francisco.

Jesse Haines· Venture Partner· New Yorkin

Jesse Haines is a Venture Partner at SHAKTI who supports founders with go-to-market strategy and storytelling, drawing on more than 20 years in marketing. She spent 17 years at Google leading marketing for emerging products such as Mobile Ads, YouTube Ads, Hardware, and Google TV Ads, and founded Grow with Google, a workforce development program that trained over 10 million Americans in digital skills. Earlier roles included positions at Tommy Hilfiger, Bain & Company, and Outward Bound, and she holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. from Brown University.

Adriel Saporta· Venture Fellow· Brooklyn, New York, United Statesin 𝕏

Kavita Kochar· Venture Fellow· Chicagoin

Kavita Kochar is a Fellow at SHAKTI and a Director of Product at Fetch, a consumer rewards mobile company. She has more than 15 years of product experience at venture-backed technology companies including Google and Groupon, with prior work covering ads, search, eCommerce, and merchant sales tooling. She earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

Natasha Prasad· Venture Fellow· San Franciscoin

Natasha Prasad is a Venture Partner at SHAKTI who has spent nearly two decades building tech companies across the U.S. and Australia. She previously held product leadership roles at Paperless Post and Atlassian, co-founded the fitness tech startup FitSessions (acquired by ClassPass), led ClassPass's expansion into Australasia as Country Manager, and served as an executive at digital health companies Cleo Labs and Sword Health. Earlier she was an investor with Goldman Sachs's Private Equity Group in London and New York, and she currently serves as COO of TURN, a reuse platform for businesses. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from Delhi University.

Salahuddin Choudhary· Venture Fellow· Bay Areain 𝕏

Salahuddin Choudhary is a Fellow at SHAKTI and a Product Lead at Google working on Generative AI experiences for Android. He previously led Health Research and Experience teams at Google and DeepMind, focusing on applying AI to healthcare, and earlier worked on consumer mobile products at Facebook and Google Maps and Local Search, as well as founding a mobile app startup. He holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

What they invest in

from 13 of 36 portfolio companies

AI & Machine Learning ×6SaaS ×5Circular Economy ×3Consumer ×3EdTech ×3Data & Infrastructure ×2Direct to Consumer ×2E-commerce ×2

HQs:United States×7South Africa×2

Investments · 36 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2021 · 2 2015 · 13 dated

Backblazebackblaze.comNASDAQ: BLZE

Scalable low-cost cloud backup and storage services.

TheRealRealNASDAQ: REAL

San Francisco, US

Julie Wainwright(Executive Officer, Director)Matt Gustke(Executive Officer)Henry V. Barry(Executive Officer)Henry V Barry(Executive Officer)

BoardMathias Schilling(Director)inCynthia Ringo(Director)

248

Builds digital teammates for revenue teams to automate time-consuming tasks.

Aidaptive

AI/ML infrastructure company building an accessible end-to-end ML platform.

AlphaXivalphaxiv.org

alphaXiv is a platform that connects academic papers, researchers, and organizations, providing AI-grounded answers based on underlying research work.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechMedia & Entertainment

Athenascope

Machine learning platform for capturing highlights from online video games.

Bolt

Payment platform providing one-click checkout.

Camblycambly.comin 𝕏

Cambly connects language learners with tutors for online English instruction.

EdTechFuture of WorkSan Francisco, US

Sameer Shariff(Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer)Kevin Law(Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer / learning leader)

Canvacanva.com

Design platform; Blackbird invested when it was just an idea and in every round since.

Surry Hills, Nsw

Melanie Perkins(Executive Officer, Director)Clifford Obrecht(Executive Officer, Director)Melanie Joy Perkins(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Clifford James Obrecht(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)

Clove

Global recipe and cooking platform aiming to simplify cooking.

Criya

SaaS platform for creators to showcase their services online.

Cuyanacuyana.com

Cuyana is a direct-to-consumer luxury leather goods and accessories brand that designs customizable bags and accessories made from sustainable materials.

Circular EconomyConsumerDirect to Consumer

Shilpa Shah(Founder)in

Felt

SaaS product making online maps faster, better and more collaborative.

Gen.Ggeng.gg𝕏

Gen.G is a professional esports organization that manages competitive teams across multiple games including League of Legends, Valorant, and PUBG, as well as motorsports racing.

Creator EconomyEdTechGamingLos Angeles, US

Gimbal Space

Provides reliable, cost-effective satellite products for the modern space market.

Glacierendwaste.ioin 𝕏

Glacier develops AI-powered robotic systems for material recovery facilities (MRFs) to improve recycling sorting and material quality.

AI & Machine LearningCircular EconomyRobotics

Rebecca Hu-Thrams(Founder)Areeb Malik(Founder)

Infilla

Software for municipal planning and building departments to expedite permitting.

Kinetic Automation

Network of automated service centers for the next generation of mobility (EVs, AVs).

Musubi

Adaptive AI content moderation solutions for Trust & Safety teams.

NameCoachname-coach.comin 𝕏Jun 2015

Namecoach offers audio name-pronunciation recordings that embed online so people can learn how to correctly say each other's names, and supports gender pronoun communication.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSPalo Alto, US

Praveen Ramesh Shanbhag(Executive Officer, Director)

NextWork

Platform for learning and showcasing skills.

Pipedrivepipedrive.comin 𝕏

Pipedrive is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses to manage sales pipelines, track leads, and automate sales processes.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales TechNew York, US

Urmas Purde(Founder)in

Queenlyqueenly.comin 𝕏Jul 2021Defunct

Queenly is an online marketplace where users can buy and rent formal wear across iOS, Android, and web platforms.

ConsumerDirect to ConsumerE-commerceMarketplacesSan Francisco, US

Trisha Bantigue(Founder)inKathy Zhou-Patel(Founder)inMengzhou Zhou(Director)

Snack

Video-driven dating app designed for Gen Z.

Sparrow

Platform that automates the search for the best student loans.

Stable

Provides a business address and lets companies manage physical mail online.

Stitchstitch.moneyin 𝕏

Stitch provides payment infrastructure enabling businesses to accept, send and manage online and in-person payments while offering consumers in South Africa financial management tools.

FintechSaaSSouth Africa, ZA

Kiaan Pillay(Founder)inMohamed Oueida(Founder & CEO)

Studio Jadu

AI-native animation studio built for creators.

Swiftlygoswift.lyin 𝕏

Swiftly is a transit reliability platform for public transportation agencies, aimed at making public transit a faster and more attractive alternative to private vehicles.

Data & InfrastructureGovTechLogistics & Supply ChainMobility & TransportationSaaS

Tangram Vision

Software infrastructure for developers to access vision/perception sensors.

The Lobby

Influencer marketing platform for brands to scale influencer marketing.

The Real Real x-tech-roboticstherealreal.com

The RealReal is an online marketplace for authenticated luxury consignment, allowing consumers to buy and sell pre-owned designer clothing, accessories, jewelry, watches, and home goods.

Circular EconomyConsumerE-commerceMarketplacesSan Francisco, US

TRACE

Building agentic recommerce with a presale marketplace for resale/rental demand.

Vunglevungle.comin 𝕏

Liftoff is a mobile marketing platform offering performance marketing, monetization, and creative solutions powered by Cortex, an AI-enabled growth platform that helps app developers acquire users, maximize revenue, and optimize growth through data-driven advertising and analytics.

AdTechAI & Machine LearningSaaS

Zain Jaffer(CoFounder)

XVERSO

Marketplace for artists and art enthusiasts to transact in art.

Zindizindi.africainOct 2021

Zindi is a professional network and AI challenge platform where data scientists and AI builders compete on practical machine learning challenges developed with businesses, NGOs, and governments.

AI & Machine LearningB2B MarketplacesData & InfrastructureEdTechFuture of WorkImpact & Social GoodEbene, ZA

Ekow Duker(Executive Officer, Director)Celina Lee(Executive Officer, Director)Karim Beguir(Director)

BoardDan Zigmond(Director)in

Exits · 2

IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolio

BackblazeNASDAQ: BLZETheRealRealNASDAQ: REAL

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Caliber Mining’s ₹450 crore IPO opens today; raises ₹135 crore from anchor investors ahead of issue

Vungle · fortuneindia.com · Jul 17, 2026

Stitch Fix stock rises on new AI styling feature launch By Investing.com

Stitch · investing.com · Jun 24, 2026

Does Cuyana Last? My 3 Year Review Of Their Tote Bag - The Good Trade

Cuyana · thegoodtrade.com · Jun 17, 2026

Glacier raises $16M in funding to advance AI-enabled sorting tech at MRFs | Waste Dive

Glacier · wastedive.com · Apr 30, 2025

Frequently asked questions

How many investments has SHAKTI made?: SHAKTI has 36 tracked investments.
What stage does SHAKTI invest at?: SHAKTI invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
What is SHAKTI's typical check size?: SHAKTI typically writes checks of $250K – $2M.
What sectors does SHAKTI focus on?: SHAKTI focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Deep Tech, SaaS.
Where is SHAKTI located?: SHAKTI is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
Does SHAKTI lead rounds?: Yes, SHAKTI leads investment rounds.
Who does SHAKTI co-invest with?: SHAKTI most often shares deals with Canaan Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greycroft, among 111 tracked co-investors.

Media · Podcasts & interviews

from their channel

Building and scaling day one teams with Bryan Power (Frmr Head of People, Nextdoor & Square)

SHAKTI VC

Founder Interview with TRACE - The First Pre-Sale Marketplace

SHAKTI VC

Why Venture? - Mike Steib

SHAKTI VC

Making the Right Bets with Mike Steib, 4X CEO, Author, Shakti Titan

SHAKTI VC

Is the AI Spending Boom Actually Working? Brian Nowak Makes the Case.

SHAKTI VC

Keval Desai on AI, Space and what's next

SHAKTI VC

Images

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