Fundraising Fox

Yashwanth Hemaraj

Investor

Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures · Co-Founder & Partner at Arka Venture Labs

San Francisco Bay Area

About

Yash Hemaraj is a Partner at BGV who has led or co-led investments and co-founded Arka Venture Labs, an accelerator helping India-based B2B companies scale globally. His investment focus includes intelligent automation, robotics, and customer-centric applications built on AI/ML, IoT, and computer vision. Before BGV he was one of the first engineers at SpiderCloud Wireless (acquired by Corning), where he worked on indoor wireless systems and holds 4 patents; he earned an MBA from Kellogg, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and a BE from NIT Karnataka.

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareIoTRobotics

Experience

  1. BGVGeneral Partnercurrent2023 — present
  2. BGVPartner2018 — 2023Palo Alto, CA
  3. BGVPrincipal2014 — 2018
  4. Arka Venture LabsFounding Partnercurrent2017 — presentMenlo Park, California, United States
  5. AiDashBoard Membercurrent2020 — present
  6. BoostUp.aiInvestorcurrent2020 — present
  7. FollozeBoard Membercurrent2019 — present
  8. EssenviaBoard Membercurrent2023 — presentLos Angeles Metropolitan Area
  9. Stack IdentityBoard Membercurrent2022 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
  10. Pyze Inc.Board Observercurrent2019 — present
  11. TagnosBoard Membercurrent2018 — presentIrvine, California
  12. BlendidBoard Observercurrent2017 — present
  13. Macrometa Corp.Board Member2017 — 2025Palo Alto, California
  14. Enterprise 4.0 Technology Acquisition CorpChief Acquisition Officer2021 — 2023
  15. TotangoBoard Member2020 — 2021
  16. TotangoBoard Observer2016 — 2020San Mateo, California
  17. 1871Mentor2014 — 2016Merchandise mart, Chicago
  18. Shasta VenturesIntern2014Menlo park
  19. SpiderCloud Wireless, IncProduct Manager2012 — 2013San Francisco Bay Area
  20. SpiderCloud Wireless, IncEngineer (Technical Lead)2008 — 2012San Jose, California
  21. United Way SIlicon ValleyBoard Member2011 — 2013San Jose, california
  22. Emerging Leaders United, United Way Silicon ValleyChair, Steering Committee2011 — 2013San Francisco Bay Area
  23. National Institute of Technology Karnataka Alumni NetworkPresident2011 — 2013San Francisco Bay Area
  24. Texas InstrumentsSoftware Design Engineer2007 — 2008Germantown, MD
  25. University of Maryland, College ParkResearch Assistant2005 — 2007Baltimore, Maryland Area
  26. QualcommEngineering Intern2006Bedminster, New Jersey

Skills & more

Coaching & MentoringInvestment ManagementBusiness-to-Business (B2B)9Financial Planning4Research and Development (R&D)3Investments5Cross-border Transactions2Market Analysis1Leadership Development2Marketing Strategy2Business Development1Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)2
+12 moreWirelessSystem ArchitectureDigital Signal ProcessorsStart-upsAlgorithmsEntrepreneurshipSoftware DevelopmentMobile DevicesEmbedded SystemsEmbedded SoftwareSaaSEnterprise Software

Languages Hindi

  • Fellow of Startup Leadership Program

From Yashwanth's professional profile.

Deals · 2

TotangoLed round

via Benhamou Global Ventures · filed Oct 2017

FollozeLed round

via Benhamou Global Ventures

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

Other disclosed investments

Led

6dbytesMacrometaTagnos

Investor

Blue CedarDrishtiKaptivoSpikes/Cyberinc

Per the firm's website.

Colleagues at Benhamou Global Ventures

Anik Bose
General Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures
Barak Ben-Avinoam
Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures
Bernard Barbier
French Advisory Board Member at Benhamou Global Ventures
Eitan Efron
Venture Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures
Ekaterina Evchenko
Principal at Benhamou Global Ventures
Emmanuel Benhamou
Head of Platform at Benhamou Global Ventures
Eric Benhamou
Venture Advisor at Think+ Ventures Management, Llc
Eric Buatois
General Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures

Network3

Andre Turenne
Partner at D.E. Shaw
B.V. Jagadeesh
Venture Partner at Inventus Capital Partners
Gary Little
Operating Partner at Canvas Ventures

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

Frequently asked questions

Who is Yashwanth Hemaraj?
Yash Hemaraj is a Partner at BGV who has led or co-led investments and co-founded Arka Venture Labs, an accelerator helping India-based B2B companies scale globally. His investment focus includes intelligent automation, robotics, and customer-centric applications built on AI/ML, IoT, and computer vision. Before BGV he was one of the first engineers at SpiderCloud Wireless (acquired by Corning), where he worked on indoor wireless systems and holds 4 patents; he earned an MBA from Kellogg, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and a BE from NIT Karnataka.
Where does Yashwanth Hemaraj work?
Yashwanth Hemaraj is Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures.
What does Yashwanth Hemaraj invest in?
Yashwanth Hemaraj invests in AI & Machine Learning, Enterprise Software, IoT, Robotics.
What companies has Yashwanth Hemaraj invested in?
Investments tracked here include 6dbytes, Folloze, Macrometa, Tagnos, Totango, Blue Cedar, Drishti, Kaptivo, Spikes/Cyberinc.
Where did Yashwanth Hemaraj go to school?
Yashwanth Hemaraj studied at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management (Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance); University of Maryland (Master of Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering); National Institute of Technology Karnataka (Bachelor of Engineering, Electronics and Computer Engineering).
Does Yashwanth Hemaraj lead rounds?
Yes — Yashwanth Hemaraj has led 5 tracked investments.

Same school

Also attended Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management577

Jenny LeeSenior Managing Partner at Granite AsiaKunal BahlCo-founder of Snapdeal; co-founder of Titan CapitalAndy FligelSenior Managing Director at Intel CapitalDavid Clark GuillermoInvestments at Impact America FundGiuseppe DonvitoPartner at P101 VenturesAntonio TurroniOperating Advisor at P101 Ventures

+ 571 more

Also attended University of Maryland215

Katrina PagliaChief Legal Officer at Pantera CapitalSujal PatelStrategic Director at Madrona Venture GroupDaniel DemmerInvestor at OpenView Venture PartnersDan RochkindCFO at Lerer HippeauAaron EpsteinGeneral Partner at Y CombinatorSamir KaulInvestor at Khosla Ventures

+ 209 more

Also attended National Institute of Technology Karnataka22

Anandhi GokhaleInvestment Director - Energy at Emerald Technology Ventures AgShraya SapruInvestment Analyst at TDK VenturesVivin HegdeFounding Partner, North America at Zacua VenturesHari GantiInvestor at Sand Hill AngelsYashwanth HemarajGeneral Partner at BGVRajeev MadhavanPartner and Co-Founder at Clear Ventures

+ 16 more

Also attended Startup Leadership Program2

Vijit SabnisInvestor at 1955 CapitalRoss CranwellFounder at Milk Video

Shared employers

Also worked at AiDash3

Yashwanth HemarajGeneral Partner at BGVDavid MountPartner at G2 Venture PartnersVarun JainGeneral Partner at SE Ventures

Also worked at BoostUp.ai4

Upal BasuPartner at NGP CapitalDave BoyceDirector at Mercato PartnersYashwanth HemarajGeneral Partner at BGVSuman TalukdarManaging Partner at AiSprouts VC

Also worked at Essenvia2

Kwame UlmerVenture Partner at Wavemaker Three-Sixty HealthYashwanth HemarajGeneral Partner at BGV

Also worked at 187114

Zimri RodriguezVenture Programs Coordinator at Keyhorse CapitalSara Crown StarVenture Partner at FemHealth VenturesScott HollowayInvestor at Starting LineAndy KofoidPresident, Databricks at Smith Point CapitalEJInvestor at Quorum Capital PartnersYashwanth HemarajGeneral Partner at BGV

+ 8 more