Rishabh Surendran Top-Executive
I am based in New York working in early-stage venture capital, primarily focused on deep tech, dual-use, AI and health tech. I recently graduated with an MBA from Cornell Tech, NYC and was fortunate to receive the Entrepreneur of the Year award, Dean's List Merit Recognition (top 10%) and be the College Flag Bearer during the Graduation Ceremony at Cornell University, Ithaca.
Before moving to New York, I worked with the Government of India from 2021 to 2024. I led technical due-diligence and pilot studies, executed field trials, and, developed conducive policies for deep tech startups and R&D agencies. These early-stage technologies focused on improving state capabilities in National Security, Disaster Response, Law Enforcement and Climate Resilience. I worked out of the New Delhi Office with frequent field visits across the cold deserts of Ladakh, mountain valleys of Kashmir and subtropical forests of Meghalaya.
From 2019 to 2021, I was an engineer with Goldman Sachs, where I helped build Marcus, a digital consumer bank and the Automation Centre of Excellence.
In my free time, I cycle long distances, play the piano and consume non-fictional content. I'm always up for a discussion on frontier and emerging tech (of course AI), climate and energy systems, geopolitics and aerospace. I'm also a big military history aficionado.
Reach out if you'd like to chat about something common, collaborate or discuss hiring! If we don't know each other, please include a note when you request to connect.
Industry:
Financial Services
Headquarters:
London Area, United Kingdom
Title:
Venture Partner (Deep Tech)
Company:
Gaingels
Company Industry:
Financial Services
Company Website:
gaingels.com
Company Linkedin:
linkedin.com/company/gaingels
Company Size:
11-50
Current Job Duration:
7 mos
Country:
United Kingdom
Languages:
English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil
Work Experience:
Title: Gaingels
Company: Gaingels
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gaingels/
Industry: Financial Services
Company Size: 11-50
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 01-2026
Ends At: Present
Description: Scouting and investing in the best early-stage deep tech founders in the world (mainly US, UK, EU, Canada). Meeting 30+ founders, converting to 2+ investments per month.
Focus: defense/dual-use, aerospace, AI/robotics, energy, biotech, quantum, materials. Drop me a note at rishabh@gaingels.com, Scouted the best deep tech founders, directly working with Paul (GP and co-founder of Gaingels), converted 3 investments in 3 months for the firm (~$1M).
Title: Ecosystem Builder
Company: Limineer
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/limineer/
Industry: Program Development
Company Size: 1-10
Location: Greater London
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 06-2026
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: AI Fellow
Company: Rock Health
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rock-health/
Industry: Hospital & Health Care
Company Size: 11-50
Location: New York, NY
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 09-2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Core Team
Company: Health In Climate
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/health-in-climate/
Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management
Company Size: 1-10
Location: New York, United States
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 06-2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: MBA Associate
Company: Draper Associates
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/draper-associates/
Industry: Venture Capital & Private Equity
Company Size: 11-50
Location: New York, United States
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 06-2025
Ends At: 08-2025
Description: None
Title: Cornell Tech
Company: None
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/school/cornell-tech/
Industry: None
Company Size: None
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 09-2024
Ends At: 05-2025
Description: Responsible for building cross-border alumni relations and community engagement within Roosevelt Island in New York City., Assisting General (Ret.) George Casey Jr. with "Leadership in a VUCA World" at Cornell Tech.
Professor Casey is retired four-star general who previously served as the Chief of Staff of the US Army and the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq.
Title: Invest India
Company: Invest India
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/invest-india/
Industry: Government Relations
Company Size: 51-200
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 04-2023
Ends At: 04-2024
Description: One of five individuals selected by the Office to work on India's first ever Deep Tech Startup Policy.
Consulted with numerous deep tech startup founding teams, VCs and angel investors, incubators and accelerators, regulatory authorities, academic and independent researchers and industry players to elicit challenges and potential solutions to boost the Indian deep tech ecosystem.
The policy draft underwent a 45-day public input window followed by multiple reviews by Secretaries of different Ministries and Departments (incl. Space, Defence, Nuclear, Biotech, Electronics etc).
Currently, the policy is under Cabinet review., Scouted, analysed, field-tested and deployed indigenous innovations for swift disaster response, effective counter-infiltration, enhanced border security and climate resilience in the Indian Himalayan Region, working with indigenous deep tech startups, public-funded R&D bodies and academic institutions.
Conducted numerous user research visits, field trials and advisory efforts across the strategic, operational and tactical tiers of the Indian Defence, Police, Disaster Response and Special Forces.
I also worked on ad-hoc projects with State Government of Meghalaya and Uttarakhand, UT administration of Ladakh on climate tech, energy and sustainability innovation and development.
Title: Innovation Specialist (AGNIi Mission)
Company: Office Of The Principal Scientific Adviser To The Government Of India
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prinsciadvoff/
Industry: Government Administration
Company Size: 201-500
Location: Delhi, India
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 09-2021
Ends At: 04-2024
Description: None
Title: Goldman Sachs
Company: Goldman Sachs
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/goldman-sachs/
Industry: Financial Services
Company Size: 10001+
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 08-2020
Ends At: 09-2021
Description: Remote work during Covid pushed me to explore the unknown and become a developer. Joined the Data Engineering team at Marcus, Goldman's newly-built digital consumer bank.
I learnt how to work with big data, everything from pipelines, data modelling, ETL and integration testing., Moved to full-time post internship, did a short training at NYC.
Worked in a horizontal team as the firm's automation ninjas reducing hours and increasing employee efficiency in operational processes that systems can do faster with greater accuracy., Digital Transformation, Operations Division
Title: Executive Board Member
Company: Robotics And Circuits Student Team
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robotics-and-circuits/
Industry: Research
Company Size: 11-50
Location: Karnataka, India
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 10-2017
Ends At: 10-2018
Description: None
Education:
School: Cornell University
Degree: null, null
Activities: None
School: Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
Degree: Master of Business Administration - MBA, - Recipient of the Dean's List
- College Flag Bearer at the Graduation Ceremony
Activities: None
School: Cornell Tech
Degree: Master of Business Administration - MBA, External Relations Chair for the Student Government; Campus Strategist for Perplexity; Co-founder of the Energy and Clean Tech Club
Activities: None
School: Terra.do
Degree: Fellow: Learning for Action, Climate Change
Activities: None
School: The Takshashila Institution
Degree: Graduate Certificate of Public Policy, Defence & Foreign Affairs
Activities: None
School: Manipal Institute of Technology
Degree: Bachelor of Technology, Team Lead for Workshops in the Annual Cultural and Technical Fest; Member of the Robotics Club and the Literary, Debate and Quiz Club
Activities: None
School: Kendriya Vidyalaya
Degree: High School, Dept. of Science and Technology Fellowship at NITK Surathkal (Grade 12)
Regional Level in Table Tennis, Quizzing
Activities: None
Headline:
Investing in frontier tech | AI builder