Where does Samir Kaul work?

Samir Kaul is Managing Director at Khosla Ventures and Board director at Mariana Minerals and Board director at Traba and Board director at Ukko.

What check size does Samir Kaul write?

Samir Kaul typically writes checks of $500K – $50M.

What companies has Samir Kaul invested in?

Investments tracked here include Connie Health, Granular, Guardant Health, Hook, Impossible Foods, Iora Health, Mainspring, Mirvie, NanoH2O, Nutanix, OpenAI, Oscar Health, and 14 more.

Where did Samir Kaul go to school?

Samir Kaul studied at Harvard Business School (Master of Business Administration - MBA); University of Maryland (Master of Science - MS, Biochemistry); University of Michigan (Bachelor's degree, Biology).

Does Samir Kaul lead rounds?

Yes — Samir Kaul has led 23 tracked investments.

Samir Kaul

InvestorFounder

Managing Director at Khosla Ventures · Board director at Mariana Minerals · Board director at Traba · Board director at Ukko

Menlo Park, California

Writes $500K – $50M checks · typically $25M

About

Samir Kaul led an early, outsized bet called the first and largest check into OpenAI and applies genomics experience from Craig Venter’s Institute to evaluating biotech, health and deep-tech.

Likely emails· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published

s•••@khoslaventures.comreveal100% confident
s•••@khoslaventures.comreveal90% confident
s•••@khoslaventures.comreveal80% confident
s•••@khoslaventures.comreveal70% confident

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningBiotechCleantechClimate TechDeep TechEnterprise SoftwareHealthtech

Beyond investing

Founded: He co-founded Helicos BioSciences with Stanford's Stan Lapidus and Steve Quake, a company developing single-molecule sequencing instruments. He was the founding CEO of Codon Devices, raising its Series A financing and building its technical and advisory teams.
Education: Studied at University of Michigan Studied at Harvard Business School (MBA)
Boards: He is a board member and chair of the Development Committee of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. He joined the Board of Directors of The Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2025. He was a longtime member of the Nominating and Leadership Committees of the Tipping Point Community, a nonprofit focused on poverty alleviation in the Bay Area. He served on the board of trustees for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. He serves on the Dean's Cabinet of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Charities: He is a founding donor to the Elevate Campaign for the Yellowstone Club Community Foundation. He endowed the directorship of the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering at the University of Michigan. He established a Professorship of Biomedical Innovation and Translation between Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School.
Communities: He remains deeply involved with his alma maters, the University of Michigan and Harvard University. He has expressed deep loyalty to the University of Michigan, from celebrating football championships to funding a new AI institute at the school.
Hobbies: He is dedicated to health optimization and sleep fitness, frequently posting his own recovery statistics from devices like Whoop and Eight Sleep.
More: He led the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative at Craig Venter's Institute for Genomic Research and published seven peer-reviewed papers in genomics, including a landmark Nature paper on the first complete genome of a flowering plant (Arabidopsis thaliana, 2000). He has backed repeat founder Gilad Almogy across four different companies.

From Samir's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at Mariana Minerals

Intro paths

→

In turn, Samir can intro founders to Mariana Minerals's investors below.

Mariana Minerals's investors · 8

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2025 BEVBoston Breakthrough Energy VenturesBoston · $500K – $50M checks Earthshot VenturesSydney · $100K – $5M checks GreycroftNew York · $100K – $5M checks Inception Studio CapitalSilicon Valley · $100K – $1.5M checks Index VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks · since 2025 Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks

Co-founders at Mariana Minerals

Turner CaldwellExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Juan Lozano Van De VenExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Schuyler (Baker) TilneyExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Board director at Traba

Intro paths

→

In turn, Samir can intro founders to Traba's investors below.

Traba's investors · 6

Abstract VenturesSan Francisco · $250K – $750K checks · since 2022 Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks · since 2022 Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks · since 2022 On DeckSan Francisco Ravelin CapitalSausalito · since 2022 Village GlobalCovina · $100K – $500K checks · since 2022

Co-founders at Traba

Mike ShebatCofounder

Michael ShebatExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Akshay BuddigaExecutive Officer, Director

Board director at Ukko

Intro paths

→

In turn, Samir can intro founders to Ukko's investors below.

Ukko's investors · 7

Fall Line CapitalSan Francisco · since 2017 Israel Biotech FundRehovot · since 2017 Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks · since 2017 Leaps by BayerLeverkusen · since 2017 PeakBridge VCUtrecht · since 2017 Sanara CapitalRa'anana · since 2017 Western Technology InvestmentPortola Valley · $250K – $30M checks · since 2017

Co-founders at Ukko

Anat BinurExecutive Officer, Director

Yanay OfranDirector

Experience

Khosla VenturesFounding General Partnercurrent2006 — present
ReevoBoard Membercurrent2024 — present
PrimerInvestorcurrent2021 — present
Fortera CorporationBoard Membercurrent2019 — present
RightwayBoard Membercurrent2021 — present
TrabaBoard Membercurrent2022 — present
HeadspaceBoard Membercurrent2023 — present
Varda Space IndustriesBoard Membercurrent2021 — present
FulfilBoard Membercurrent2020 — present
StatespaceBoard Membercurrent2020 — present
Scipher MedicineBoard Membercurrent2018 — present
RaxiumInvestorcurrent2017 — present
MirvieBoard Membercurrent2018 — present
Eligo BioscienceInvestorcurrent2017 — present
UkkoBoard Membercurrent2017 — present
Siolta TherapeuticsBoard Membercurrent2017 — present
Mojo Vision Inc.Investorcurrent2017 — present
CodaInvestorcurrent2015 — present
CadreInvestorcurrent2015 — present
Iora HealthInvestorcurrent2015 — present
Guardant HealthBoard Membercurrent2014 — present
Oscar HealthInvestorcurrent2013 — present
Impossible FoodsBoard Membercurrent2013 — present
QuantumScapeInvestorcurrent2010 — present
Mainspring EnergyBoard Membercurrent2010 — present
Flagship VenturesPartner2002 — 2006Cambridge, MA

Education

Harvard Business SchoolMaster of Business Administration - MBA2000 — 2002
University of MarylandMaster of Science - MS, Biochemistry1995 — 1997
University of MichiganBachelor's degree, Biology1991 — 1995

Skills & more

Strategy2Management1Private Equity12Venture Capital20Corporate Development3Entrepreneurship3Cleantech7Start-ups14Mergers1Angel InvestingInvestmentsStrategic Partnerships

+3 more

Business StrategyExecutive ManagementMergers & Acquisitions

Languages English · French · Hindi

From Samir's professional profile.

Deals · 5

TrabaLed round

via Khosla Ventures · filed Jun 2022

Impossible FoodsLed round

via Khosla Ventures · filed Mar 2020

HookLed round

via Khosla Ventures · filed Aug 2017

Guardant HealthLed round

via Khosla Ventures · filed Dec 2014

NutanixLed round

via Khosla Ventures

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Other disclosed investments

Led

Connie HealthGranularIora HealthMainspringMirvieNanoH2OOpenAI Oscar HealthPrimerQuantumScapeRaxiumReevoRhodaRightway HealthSLDSplit PayUltima GenomicsVarda Space Industries

Investor

EpitomeLS9Morphotek

Sources: the firm's website · curated public sources.

Colleagues at Khosla Ventures

Adina Tecklu

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Adrian Radu

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Alex Morgan

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Alice Brooks

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Amy Kalokerinos

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Anne Foor

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Austin Hay

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Avisha Mehra Naganath

Investor at Khosla Ventures

Network2

Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Chairman and General Partner at Waverley Capital

Eric Brook

Advisor at Ayuh Ventures

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

Frequently asked questions

Who is Samir Kaul?: Samir Kaul led an early, outsized bet called the first and largest check into OpenAI and applies genomics experience from Craig Venter’s Institute to evaluating biotech, health and deep-tech.
Where does Samir Kaul work?: Samir Kaul is Managing Director at Khosla Ventures and Board director at Mariana Minerals and Board director at Traba and Board director at Ukko.
What does Samir Kaul invest in?: Samir Kaul invests in AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Cleantech, Climate Tech, Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, Healthtech.
What check size does Samir Kaul write?: Samir Kaul typically writes checks of $500K – $50M.
What companies has Samir Kaul invested in?: Investments tracked here include Connie Health, Granular, Guardant Health, Hook, Impossible Foods, Iora Health, Mainspring, Mirvie, NanoH2O, Nutanix, OpenAI, Oscar Health, and 14 more.
Where did Samir Kaul go to school?: Samir Kaul studied at Harvard Business School (Master of Business Administration - MBA); University of Maryland (Master of Science - MS, Biochemistry); University of Michigan (Bachelor's degree, Biology).
Does Samir Kaul lead rounds?: Yes — Samir Kaul has led 23 tracked investments.