Karan Mehta
Investor at NY Ventures
New York, New York
Overview
Work Experience
Early Stage Investor
2023 - Current
$175M public venture fund investing in founders serving the public interest. Checks from $500k-$3M.
Investor
2024
- tech-enabled SE firm (seed) - public safety platform for schools (pre-seed) - battery infra network (pre-seed) - ground water mgmt for farmers (seed) - AI for disability benefits (A)
Investor
2024
Helping people access and manage government benefits. Pre-seed w/ Matrix.
Investor
2024
AI drone defense. Seed w/ a16z.
ZeroMark is a defense product company building technology to ensure safety and precision when using kinetic and non lethal weapons.
Raised $7,000,000.00 from Balaji Srinivasan, Ludlow Ventures, Anorak Ventures, Austin Ogilvie, Soona Amhaz, New York Ventures, Ground Up Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Investor
2024
Recycling nuclear waste. Pre-seed.
Investor
2024
The future of wig manufacturing. Seed w/ Humba.
Early Stage Investor
2018 - 2023
Octopus Ventures is a London and New York based venture capital firm, focused on backing unusually talented entrepreneurs. We can invest from $1m-$25m in a first round of funding and will look to follow in subsequent rounds. Companies: HURR (Observer), Correcto (Observer), Wondering (Observer), Haiper (Observer), Katalyst Fitness (Observer), Orbex, ThoughtRiver, Depop
Scout
2017 - 2018
VentureProject connects extraordinary founders with forward-thinking VC's and corporates in the F-1000. karan@ventureproject.co ventureproject.co
Director
2014 - 2017
MK is a fine jewelry manufacturing and distribution company serving major retailers and independents throughout the US. Led the company's digital transformation, managed product development, built sales team and launched several brands.
Associate Director, Strategy & Business Operations
2013 - 2014
Creative Director
2014 - 2016
KIN was an e-commerce jewelry brand based in NYC. We made interconnected rings that could be stacked on one finger or spread across several. Company acquired in 2016.