Capitalist (Ad)Ventures is a podcast hosted by early-stage investors Jonathan Hua and Akash Bhat that explores the diversity of backgrounds, thoughts and opinions in the venture capital and startup communities.
Ep 12: Aditya Nidmarti (Bessemer Venture Partners)
Aditya Nidmarti joined Bessemer in 2020 as an investor in the New York office. He spends his time focusing on financial technology, enterprise software, consumer internet companies.
Prior to Bessemer, Aditya worked in consulting at McKinsey & Company as well as in business strategy and sales operations at SpotHero, a parking technology and marketplace company.
Aditya graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in economics and two minors in business and entrepreneurship. He also is the founder of Rock Venture Capital, Northwestern’s undergraduate level venture capital organization. Outside of work, Aditya enjoys playing soccer and cricket, is a diehard Formula 1 fan, and has a keen interest in aviation. He plans on getting a pilot’s license in the future.
12/24/2021 • 45 minutes, 47 seconds
Ep 11: Kleida Martiro (Glasswing Ventures)
Kleida Martiro is a Senior Associate on the investment team at Glasswing Ventures. Kleida has 6 years of entrepreneurship, product management and data science experience. Previously, she served as Head of Data Science at SocialFlow, where she led the machine learning efforts for the software platform, including its AI-powered proprietary content classifier for automating editorial content categorization.
Prior to SocialFlow, Kleida was an analyst at Digitas, where she oversaw the utilization of new technology tools to enhance performance, including advanced analytics and the creation and implementation of digital content across social channels.
Kleida graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Economics and Mathematics and holds an MBA with honors from the Kellogg School of Management.
8/27/2021 • 36 minutes, 41 seconds
Ep 10: Angela Liu (Cherubic Ventures)
Angela is a Senior Associate at Cherubic Ventures, an early-stage VC fund with over 100+ portfolio companies in Greater China and the US. Some of the fund’s notable investments include Flexport, Calm, Hims and Pinkoi. She holds a M.S. and B.S. of Biochemical Science and Technology, both from National Taiwan University.
After graduating from school, Angela started her career with the CDIB Principal Investment Department, and was responsible for technology investments in both Taiwan and Greater China. In 2017, She joined Hoss Ventures, a Taipei-based venture capital office that focuses on early stage tech investments across the US and Taiwan. She started her journey at Cherubic Ventures in 2019, and focuses primarily on early-stage healthcare and technology investments globally.
7/20/2021 • 28 minutes, 24 seconds
Ep 9: Siya Purohit (Pathway Ventures)
Siya Raj Purohit is the co-founder & General Partner at Pathway Ventures. She was previously an early employee at Udacity and Springboard. Siya is the author of Engineering America, a book on the country's job-skills gap that she published during college. She is an alum of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University.
6/9/2021 • 39 minutes, 38 seconds
Ep 8: Susan Wang (Learn Capital)
Susan is a Principal at Learn Capital, an early stage EdTech VC fund based in the Bay Area, where she is responsible for sourcing, researching, evaluating, and supporting early stage companies changing the ways we learn and work.
Prior to joining Learn, Susan spent three years at the Strategy & Ventures group of Sesame Workshop, the media and education non-profit creator of Sesame Street. There, she worked on growth and strategic planning projects, and helped manage Sesame Ventures, the VC arm of the company that invests in mission-aligned early stage kids-oriented startups.
Susan began her career in investment banking at Credit Suisse after earning her BCOM and BA in Math at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. She has since worked in Toronto, Shanghai, New York City, and San Francisco.
In her spare time, Susan enjoys reading, learning, running, singing, and good journalism.
4/24/2021 • 36 minutes, 2 seconds
Ep 7: Emily Zhen (NEA)
Emily Zhen joined NEA in 2020 as an Associate on the Med Team working across the healthcare services, biopharma and medical device sectors. Prior to joining NEA, Emily was a member of the healthcare investment banking team at Goldman Sachs in New York City, where she worked on M&A and equity and debt financing transactions. She has also worked at the U.S. Department of Treasury, PwC, and several digital health startups.
Emily graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Vagelos Program in Life Sciences & Management, where she earned a B.S. in Finance from Wharton, a B.A. in Biology, and a certificate in healthcare policy as a Public Policy Research Scholar. During her time at Penn, Emily engaged in research on Castleman Disease with Dr. David Fajgenbaum, served as a project leader for 180 Degrees Consulting, and conducted due diligence on healthcare startups as part of the Wharton Impact Investing Partners health & wellness team.
4/14/2021 • 46 minutes, 10 seconds
Ep 6: Chia Jeng Yang (Saison Capital)
Chia Jeng Yang is the Principal at Saison Capital, a Pre-Seed to Series B fund. Saison Capital, the corporate venture arm of Credit Saison, invests in funds and startups globally in any vertical, with a specific interest in SEA + India, and as strategic investors for startups that could have a fintech element beside its core business. Credit Saison previously invested in Grab (helping to build Grab Financial), Matchmove and Shopback, and were fund investors into East Ventures, Beenext, Strive, etc, as well as run two large tech-driven NBFCs in India and Indonesia, using debt to unlock a startup’s financing power. He is passionate about the intersection of venture capital, technology, and public policy. When he's not investing, he's into mountain climbing and music.
4/5/2021 • 35 minutes
Ep 5: Kookai Chaimahawong (Pangaea Ventures)
Blending a formal background in marketing, strategic partnerships, and social impact expertise, Kookai brings her experience in using impact evaluation, numbers and stories to help organizations capture untapped growth opportunities. Prior to joining Pangaea Ventures, Kookai launched an award-winning startup in Thailand and was a partnership consultant at the United Nations Development Program.
Kookai is an active speaker, mentor, and contributor to the startup communities globally. She holds an MBA from the University of British Columbia in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a Bachelor of Arts from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
When not investing, you’d find her scuba diving in the tropical oceans or hiking in the great outdoors - conquering the next mountain summit.
3/26/2021 • 45 minutes, 12 seconds
Ep 4: Kate Brodock (W Fund)
Kate is CEO of Women 2.0 and Founding Partner of W Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in women- and diverse-led tech startups.
She’s lived in the tech startup world for over 15 years, and has played an active leadership role in the women in tech ecosystem for over a decade, having led a global, 60+ chapter organization focused on women in technology and entrepreneurship as its President for several years.
She’s also an EIR at LaunchNY, and a long-time mentor for Techstars. She was recently CMO of untapt, an AI-driven tech talent marketplace based in NYC and has held the role of Adjunct Professor in PR and Marketing at at Syracuse University.
Driving diversity, equity and inclusion action and awareness has been absolutely central to her work, and she additionally enjoys putting her experience in the tech industry to work advising and mentoring startups.
She holds BAs in Political Science and African American History from the University of Rochester, an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University and an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
3/19/2021 • 50 minutes, 4 seconds
Ep 3: Phoebe Wang (Shell Ventures)
Phoebe Wang is a Principal at Shell Ventures. She leads investments in both early-stage and late-stage startups who are working on technologies to accelerate the energy transition, such as CCUS (carbon capture, utilisation and storage), AI/ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning), battery storage technologies, hydrogen fuel cell and mobility. She is also passionate about improving diversity and inclusion within Shell Ventures and have been part of a task force to help advance their journey.
3/11/2021 • 41 minutes, 50 seconds
Ep 2: Richard 'Rickie' Koo (DNX Venture Partners)
Rickie focuses on DNX’s investments in marketplaces, marketing, fintech, retail, and supply chain companies and across all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, due diligence, transaction execution, and portfolio company support. To date, Rickie co-led the fund’s investment in Zūm (child mobility platform, US), JoyMode (lifestyle, US), and TrendExpress (digital marketing platform, Japan).
Before joining DNX, Rickie worked as a Consultant at Deloitte in NYC, advising Fortune 100 companies from across a broad range of sectors including financial services, technology, supply chain, telecommunications, and media. Rickie holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. In his free time, you can find Rickie ring announcing (amateur) boxing matches, playing drums with his jazz band, and rooting for the San Antonio Spurs.
3/3/2021 • 50 minutes, 4 seconds
Ep 1: Greg Bennett (Kapor Capital)
Greg joined Kapor Capital in 2019 and focuses on Agtech, Energy, and Infrastructure investments. Prior to joining Kapor Capital, Greg was a consultant for several funds, foundations, corporations, and family offices. Greg was also previously on the investment team at Village Capital, an early-stage venture fund and accelerator, and was focused on finding, training, and investing in founders working to solve big global problems.
Greg began his investment career at Unitus Capital, an investment bank based in Bangalore, India. Before moving into the investment field, Greg worked as a product manager for FINCA International, a global micro-finance bank, and as a grant-writer and researcher at the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies in Amman, Jordan. He also was a SAT/ACT tutor for students in the United States and Jordan. Greg received his B.A. in International Political Economy the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Outside of work, Greg enjoys boxing, playing soccer, building things out of wood, and hiking the trails of northern California.
2/24/2021 • 1 hour, 1 minute, 50 seconds
Ep 0: Trailer
Capitalist (Ad)Ventures is a podcast co-hosted by VCs Jonathan Hua and Akash Bhat exploring the diversity of backgrounds, thoughts and opinions in the venture capital and startup communities.