About
Raman Varma is a computer science graduate from UC Berkeley with machine learning experience at Sky Computing, BAIR labs, Square, and Coursera, plus prior software engineering roles at Illumio. He is now co-founder and CEO of Kestrel AI, which develops AI agents for platform engineering teams.
Founder at Kestrel AIYC F25
Intro paths
YC
Raman went through Y Combinator (Fall 2025) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.
GP
Their group partner at YC was Pete Koomen, General Partner at Y Combinator — the partner who ran Kestrel AI's batch and knows the company first-hand. YC profile ↗
→
In turn, Raman can intro founders to Kestrel AI's investors below.
Kestrel AI's investors · 1
Experience
- Kestrel AI (YC F25)Co-founder & CEOcurrent2025 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
- Foundation CapitalBuild Accelerator Foundercurrent2025 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
- IllumioSoftware Engineer II2025Sunnyvale, California, United States
- IllumioSoftware Engineer2024Sunnyvale, California, United States
- Berkeley RISE LabMachine Learning Researcher2024Berkeley, California, United States
- CourseraMachine Learning Engineer2023San Francisco Bay Area
- IllumioSoftware Engineer2023Sunnyvale, California, United States
- SquareMachine Learning Engineer2023San Francisco Bay Area
- Computer Science MentorsSenior Mentor (CS 61A)2022 — 2023Berkeley, California, United States
- Computer Science MentorsAssociate Mentor (CS 61A)2022Berkeley, California, United States
- Computer Science MentorsJunior Mentor (CS 61A)2021Berkeley, California, United States
- UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS)Course Staff (CS 61A)2022 — 2023Berkeley, California, United States
- UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS)Academic Intern (CS 61A)2022Berkeley, California, United States
- UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS)Security Researcher2022Berkeley, California, United States
- UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science, and SocietyCourse Staff (Data 8)2022Berkeley, California, United States
Skills & more
Go1C++1Kubernetes1IstioCiliumKafka StreamsApache IcebergJavaApache CassandraNeo4jPythonPyTorch
+12 more
Apache KafkaDistributed SystemsgRPCScalaDeep LearningNLPLLMsVector DatabasesSQLRedisParallel ProgrammingContainer OrchestrationLanguages English · Russian
From Raman's professional profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Raman Varma?
- Raman Varma is a computer science graduate from UC Berkeley with machine learning experience at Sky Computing, BAIR labs, Square, and Coursera, plus prior software engineering roles at Illumio. He is now co-founder and CEO of Kestrel AI, which develops AI agents for platform engineering teams.
- Where does Raman Varma work?
- Raman Varma is Founder of Kestrel AI.
- What companies did Raman Varma found?
- Raman Varma founded Kestrel AI.
- Where did Raman Varma go to school?
- Raman Varma studied at University of California, Berkeley (Bachelor's degree, Computer Science & Data Science).
Founder mafias
Y Combinator mafia8,773
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Sam AltmanPresidentFounded Tools for Humanity +3Jessica LivingstonCo-founderFounded Y CombinatorAlexis OhanianYC Summer 2005Founded RedditFred EhrsamYC Summer 2012Founded Nudge +1Matt HuangYC Winter 2011Founded HotspotsTrae StephensYC Winter 2022Founded Pursuit +1
+ 8,766 more
University of California, Berkeley mafia538
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Steve WozniakBSFounded AppleTony XuB.S.Founded DoorDashAravind SrinivasDoctor of Philosophy - PhDFounded PerplexityAli GhodsiPost-docFounded DatabricksRyan PetersenBAFounded FlexportDavid FriedbergBAFounded Climate +2
+ 531 more
Coursera mafia22
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Andrew NgCo-Founder and ChairmanFounded Factored +1Victor NogueraMachine LearningFounded Labsense +1Sourabh BajajStaff Software EngineerFounded UplimitRostow RavananOnline courseFounded AlfahiveSteven SyverudProduct Manager; Business Development ManagerFounded SycamoreParthi LoganathanSoftware Engineering InternFounded Letterdrop
+ 15 more
Foundation Capital mafia13
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Leo LuPartnerFounded BrewitKelly GraziadeiEntrepreneur In ResidenceFounded Perplexity FundAngus DavisGeneral PartnerFounded UpserveSteven WaterhouseEIRFounded Orchid LabsDavid RabieYoung Entrepreneur ProgramFounded TovalaEvis DrenovaMBA AssociateFounded Neosync
+ 6 more
Same school
Also attended University of California, Berkeley1,452
Byron DeeterPartner at Bessemer Venture PartnersSteve WozniakCo-founder of AppleTony XuCo-founder & CEO of DoorDashAravind SrinivasCo-founder & CEO of Perplexity AIAli GhodsiCo-founder & CEO of DatabricksRyan PetersenFounder & CEO of Flexport
+ 1,446 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Berkeley RISE Lab19
Assaf ArakiInvestment Director at Intel CapitalSriharsha GuduguntlaHyperbound at Roble VenturesYersultan SaparInvestor at FEBE VenturesMatt TurkScout at Deep ChecksKoki MashitaScout at HOF CapitalDhruv MangtaniFounder at Notebook Labs
+ 13 more
Also worked at Coursera27
Pierre-Eric LeiboviciInvestor at DaphniJessica NealOperating Partner at TCVJulia StiglitzPreviously Partner, GSV Ventures at GSV VenturesSourabh BajajEngineering Advisor at Modern TechnicalRob HutterFounder, Managing Partner at Learn CapitalAndrew NgManaging General Partner at AI Fund
+ 21 more
Also worked at Computer Science Mentors5
Also worked at UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS)32
Yersultan SaparInvestor at FEBE VenturesYuka IkarashiInvestor at E14 FundTommy HangInvestor at ArchetypeWeikeng ChenResearch Partner at L2 Iterative Ventures (L2IV)Arvind VivekanandanScout at LvlUp VenturesKevin BunarjoFounder at Joon Health
+ 26 more