Rajeev Mantri is the founder and managing director of India-focused venture capital firm Navam Capital. Prior to founding Navam, Rajeev worked as a venture capital investor at New York-based Lux Capital, focusing on investments in deep technology ventures.
Rajeev is widely published columnist on technology, investing, venture capital and entrepreneurship in India and has written for Mint, Swarajya, India Today, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times International Weekly, The Times of India, The Indian Express, MIT Technology Review, BioSpectrum and other leading publications. In 2010, Rajeev co-founded biotech startup Vyome Therapeutics and served as Vyome's president from 2010-2014. Rajeev has been an invited speaker and panelist at leading universities, think tanks and industry fora on finance, political economy, investment and entrepreneurship. In 2018, Rajeev was nominated Raisina Young Fellow by the Observer Research Foundation, India's leading public policy think tank. In 2019, Rajeev completed the Chevening Fellowship in Financial Services at King's College London. In 2020, Rajeev authored (with Harsh Madhusudan) A New Idea Of India - Individual Rights In A Civilisational State, a best-selling and widely acclaimed book on the history and future of modern India.
Rajeev graduated with a BS in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University and earned his MBA from Columbia University, specializing in private equity and value investing.