Alok Nandan is the Founding General Partner and Managing Partner at First Rays Venture Partners. See contact routes.
Alok Nandan is the Founding General Partner and Managing Partner at First Rays Venture Partners, where he backs technical founders building AI infrastructure, data systems, and enterprise software transformation. Before co-founding the firm, he was a Partner at Emergent Ventures and began his career at Microsoft Azure, participating in two exits including YuMe’s IPO and Tempo.AI’s acquisition by Salesforce. His investment thesis targets “picks and shovels” for AI, focusing on infrastructure tools, API tools, cybersecurity, data, cloud migration, and privacy, with an emphasis on technologies that enable faster and cheaper AI development. The firm typically makes about 20 investments with a $1 million check size and reserves similar amounts for Series A follow-ons, acting as a lead investor in early-stage deals. Notable portfolio companies include Acceldata.io, Arcion.io, Observe.ai from his prior role, and current investments such as FunnelStory.ai, Blotout.io, and Wiremock. Nandan holds a PhD in Computer Science from UCLA and a B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur, and he has publicly articulated his AI infrastructure thesis in forums like the 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Inve
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