Fundraising Fox

Ram Shanmugam

Investor

Investor at Blockchain Founders Fund

United States

Writes $100K – $5M checks · typically $1.5M

About

Ram Shanmugam is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and exited two venture-backed companies and currently serves as an investor and board member at CoreThink AI. His background includes product and technology leadership roles in machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and cloud computing. He has been recognized with the TiE 50 Award and has published research in IEEE journals.

Experience

  1. CoreThink AIInvestor / Board Membercurrent2025 — present
  2. ArmorIQInvestor / Board Membercurrent2025 — present
  3. Unconventional AIInvestorcurrent2026 — present
  4. PerplexityInvestorcurrent2023 — present
  5. KrutrimVP Product / Strategy2024 — 2025India
  6. Sauce LabsFounder and CEO, AutonomIQ (acquired by Sauce Labs)2017 — 2023San Francisco Bay Area
  7. appOrbit (acquired by Cohesity)Founder and CEO, appOrbit (acquired by Cohesity)2015 — 2017San Francisco Bay Area
  8. ActifioVP Cloud Products & Engineering (acquired by Google)2013 — 2015
  9. SunGard Availability ServicesSr Director/GM, Cloud Products and Engineeering2011 — 2013San Francisco Bay Area
  10. Cisco SystemsSr Director, Product Management & Engineering2010 — 2011San Jose, CA
  11. Hewlett Packard EnterpriseIndividual Eng Contributor to Director, Product Management2005 — 2010San Francisco Bay Area

Education

  1. Anna University, ChennaiBTech
  2. Georgia Institute of TechnologyMS, PhD (dropped out after course work)
  3. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearch Affiliate - Computer Science, Center for Policy and Technology
  4. University of California, BerkeleyResearch Fellow, EECS/ HaaS

Skills & more

Leadership1Management2Strategy2Start-ups34SaaS34Strategic Partnerships42Cloud Computing69Enterprise Software83Business Strategy7Product Management84Entrepreneurship6Business Development18
+7 moreManagement ConsultingProgram ManagementMobile DevicesIntegrationProduct MarketingCross-functional Team LeadershipSoftware as a Service (SaaS)

From Ram's professional profile.

Colleagues at Blockchain Founders Fund

Aly Madhavji
Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund
Francesco Galati
Associate at Blockchain Founders Fund
Joel Ochoa
Associate at Blockchain Founders Fund
Mansoor Madhavji
Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund
Matt Cross
Associate at Blockchain Founders Fund
Rudy Lim
Venture Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund
Safwan Zaheer
Investor at Blockchain Founders Fund
Tobias Bauer
Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund

Network2

Aly Madhavji
Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund
Francesco Galati
Associate at Blockchain Founders Fund

Investors connected to Ram in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Ram Shanmugam work?
Ram Shanmugam is Investor at Blockchain Founders Fund.
What check size does Ram Shanmugam write?
Ram Shanmugam typically writes checks of $100K – $5M.

Founder mafias

Massachusetts Institute of Technology mafia525

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Elad GilPhDFounded Brain Co.Hemant TanejaM.Eng.Founded CommureNat FriedmanBachelor of ScienceFounded XamarinMatt HuangB.S.Founded HotspotsDelian AsparouhovDropoutFounded Nightingale +1Noubar AfeyanPhDFounded ProFound Therapeutics +12

+ 518 more

University of California, Berkeley mafia520

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

David FriedbergBAFounded Climate +2Andrew NgDoctor of Philosophy - PhDFounded Factored +2Mike SigalBAFounded Fanvestor +2Ivan ZhouMolecular BiologyFounded Decagon +2Sean GroveFounded Linzumi +2Harish AgarwalMaster of Science - MSFounded Nori +2

+ 513 more

Georgia Institute of Technology mafia179

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Aamir PoonawallaMastersFounded Understudy Labs +1Jonathan FriedmanBachelor of Science (B.Sc.)Founded Assembly +1Eric WangMaster of Science - MSFounded Natural +1Royce ArockiasamyBachelor of Science - BSFounded Pleom +1Prama YudhistiraBachelor of Science - BSFounded Parameter +1Ethan ByrdB.S.C.S.Founded Actual +1

+ 172 more

Perplexity mafia14

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Pieter AbbeelDirectorFounded Gradescope +1Taz PatelHead of Advertising and ShoppingFounded Captiv8Andy KonwinskiCo-founderFounded DatabricksVenugopal SathyanarayanaPerplexity AI Business FellowFounded CV SystemsAnn BordetskyInvestorFounded FactoryRosie PhillipsComms OpsFounded Founders Forum

+ 7 more

Unconventional AI mafia4

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Konstantine BuhlerInstigator @ Formation and SeedFounded Listen LabsGuru ChahalInvestorFounded Avi NetworksNaveen Rao[un]CEOFounded Mosaic ML

Same school

Also attended Georgia Institute of Technology329

Brando De CourtenData Engineer at P101 VenturesWouter Van de PutteInvestment Director at Capricorn Venture PartnersWill McGinnisEntrepreneur and data science executive working at the intersection of AI/ML, technology, and business strategyJaya GuptaInvestor at Foundation CapitalJames WangGeneral Partner at Creative VenturesRaymond WangInvestor at Notable Capital

+ 323 more

Also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology1,281

Fred WilsonCo-founder & Partner at Union Square VenturesElad GilSolo general partner investing through Gil CapitalAileen LeeFounder & Managing Partner of Cowboy VenturesHemant TanejaCEO & Managing Director of General CatalystNat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGBrad FeldCo-founder of Foundry and Techstars

+ 1,275 more

Also attended University of California, Berkeley1,341

Byron DeeterPartner at Bessemer Venture PartnersTrevor OelschigInvestment Team at General CatalystBrendan Bulik-SullivanInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Glen AndersonPartner at Monta Vista CapitalAnthony LinHead of Intel Capital, Corporate Vice President at Intel CapitalScott ShawChief of Staff at Intel Capital

+ 1,335 more

Shared employers

Also worked at Unconventional AI7

Viviana FagaGeneral Partner at Felicis VenturesMarcie VuPartner at GreycroftKonstantine BuhlerInvestor at Sequoia CapitalGuru ChahalPartner at Lightspeed Venture PartnersCalvin ChinManaging Partner at E14 FundNaveen RaoCraft Advisory Board at Craft Ventures

+ 1 more

Also worked at SunGard Availability Services4

Jonathan MorrisBoard of Directors at Hilbert GroupDarren AbrahamsonPartner at Bain Capital VentureVin LingathotiPartner at Cambridge Innovation CapitalSunil MadhuInvestor at Connectivity Ventures

Also worked at Cisco Systems329

Peter FentonGeneral Partner at BenchmarkCyan BanisterCo-founder & General Partner at Long Journey VenturesMike VolpiInvestor at Index VenturesAdamAdvisor at Clear VenturesHowardAdvisor at Clear VenturesWendy XiaoPartner at Northzone

+ 323 more

Also worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise262

Ben HorowitzCo-founder & General Partner at Andreessen HorowitzBill GurleyGeneral Partner Emeritus at Benchmark; author of Above the Crowd; BG2 co-hostSteve JurvetsonCo-founder of Future VenturesAna AndreescuInvestor at Index VenturesMike VolpiInvestor at Index VenturesZhenyu TangInvestment Director at Intel Capital

+ 256 more