Viraj Phanse Top-Executive
I am currently a venture capital investor investing in cross-border, pre-seed/seed, enterprise AI companies in the US-India corridor.
Entrepreneur: Prior to that, I was the CEO and co-founder at Dataflos fka Blockfenders that found its exit by joining Lirik Inc. We were a venture backed, cross border AI and data startup with offices in Palo Alto, United States and Pune, India.
Operator: Prior to that, I was in product management roles at AWS, INSZoom and Oracle respectively. Prior to that, I led global strategic partnerships at Aerospike and worked as a digital transformation, product strategy and biz dev leader at Persistent Systems.
VC:
I was a Venture Partner at U First Capital and a Fellow and Selection Committee Member at Berkeley Angel Network.
Education:
I have done my MBA from UC Berkeley, MS in Computer Science from UCLA, and B.Eng from Pune University.
Industry:
Venture Capital & Private Equity
Headquarters:
San Francisco Bay Area
Title:
Partner
Company:
Arka Venture Labs
Company Industry:
Venture Capital & Private Equity
Company Website:
arka.vc
Company Linkedin:
linkedin.com/company/arka-venture-labs
Company Size:
11-50
Current Job Duration:
1 yr 6 mos
Country:
United States
Work Experience:
Title: Partner
Company: Arka Venture Labs
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arka-venture-labs/
Industry: Venture Capital & Private Equity
Company Size: 11-50
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 07-2024
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: None
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digitalapi/
Industry: None
Company Size: None
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2026
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Airanaculus
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/airanaculus/
Industry: Wireless
Company Size: 11-50
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2026
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Agntid.Ai
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agntid-ai/
Industry: Internet
Company Size: 1-10
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2026
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Charter Member
Company: Tie Silicon Valley
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiesv/
Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management
Company Size: 1-10
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Pitcrew
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pitcrewinc/
Industry: Internet
Company Size: 1-10
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: None
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/catalyxspace/
Industry: None
Company Size: None
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Exlens.Ai
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exlens-ai/
Industry: Consumer Goods
Company Size: 1-10
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Bruviti Ai
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bruviti/
Industry: Computer Software
Company Size: 51-200
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Title: Investor
Company: Bqp
Company URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bqp-sim/
Industry: Computer Software
Company Size: 11-50
Location: None
Country: None
Employment Type: None
Start At: 2025
Ends At: Present
Description: None
Education:
School: University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Degree: Master of Business Administration - MBA, null
Activities: None
School: University of California, Los Angeles
Degree: Master of Science (MS), Computer Science
Activities: None
School: Maharashtra Institute of Technology
Degree: Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), Information Technology
Activities: None
School: San Jose State University
Degree: null, Business Administration and Management, General
Activities: None
School: University of Pune
Degree: Bachelor of Engineering (BE), Information Technology
Activities: None
Headline:
VC, Investor | Ex Operator (Product/GTM) - AWS, Oracle, Aerospike, Persistent | Ex co-founder/CEO | 1x exit | UC Berkeley MBA, UCLA MS in CS | viraj@arka.vc