John Wei
John Wei is a venture investment director at Applied Ventures. He focuses on a range of deep tech areas and industry verticals, including advanced materials, semiconductor manufacturing and industrial & enterprise software. He also manages Applied Ventures’ investment activities in the Greater China region.
Prior to joining Applied, John was a key member of the SABIC Ventures investment team, where he led multiple investments in advanced materials, energy, sustainability, manufacturing and agriculture space in North America, Europe and Greater China.
Earlier in his career, John held various commercial and technical roles at The Linde Group and General Electric with experiences mostly in the petrochemical, power generation, alternative energy and oil & gas industries.
John has a Bachelor degree from Tsinghua University and a PhD from Rutgers University, both in Chemical Engineering. While at Rutgers, he also earned a Master's degree in Computer Science. In addition, John holds an MBA degree from UCLA with a focus in Finance and Entrepreneurship.
Gayathri Radhakrishnan
Gayathri is currently Partner at Hitachi Ventures. Prior to that, she was with Micron Ventures, actively investing in startups that apply AI to solve critical problems in the areas of Manufacturing, Healthcare and Automotive. She brings over 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience across product management, product marketing, corporate strategy, M&A and venture investments in large Fortune 500 companies such as Dell and Corning and in startups. She has also worked as an early stage investor at Earlybird Venture Capital, a premier European venture capital fund based in Germany. She has a Masters in EE from The Ohio State University and MBA from INSEAD in France. She is also a Kauffman Fellow - Class 16.
Divya Raghavan
Divya Raghavan is a venture investor and technology enthusiast with a diverse background in product management, software engineering, and venture capital. She currently serves as a Principal of the US investment team at NGP Capital, where her primary focus revolves around software, data, and edge infrastructure. Her expertise lies in identifying and nurturing cutting-edge startups poised to revolutionize these sectors. Divya brings solid technical acumen to venture investing.
Prior to her role at NGP Capital, Divya was a leader in software engineering at Citrix and led product management teams at SugarCRM. In her journey towards venture investing, Divya gained invaluable experience at VC firms, including Costanoa Ventures and Samsung NEXT Ventures, where she further deepened her understanding of the startup ecosystem.
Within NGP Capital, Divya has led investments in notable companies such as Coda, Immuta, ArmorCode and Nova Labs. Her keen eye for innovation and a strong track record of successful investments have made her a trusted voice in the venture capital landscape. Beyond her professional endeavors, Divya is also an avid angel investor, continuously contributing to early product ideation and GTM, always ready to wear her product hat.
Divya received an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Gamiel Gran
Gamiel has a unique passion for helping drive corporate innovation and grow Mayfield’s early-stage portfolio. He runs the business development function for Mayfield and focuses specifically on accelerating product-market fit and early customer adoption for Mayfield’s investments. Gamiel has supported hundreds of CXOs who look for advice and best practices in corporate innovation, and has built a playbook known as the 3 “I”s of Corporate Innovation – Ideation, Incubation and Investment.
Gamiel’s role in supporting Mayfield’s founders in their journey from inception to iconic is captured in the Founders Masterclass that he frequently presents, which supports key themes of how best to fund-raise capital, realize “violent” product-market fit, and the three stages of early go-to-market traction.
He and his team have built a global network of CXOs, called the Mayfield Innovation Network, made up of CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and business leaders from across all industries, who need access to new ideas to compete in their own markets. This is a highly engaged global network whose members join CXO Insight forums, CXO of the Future Podcasts, and provide their annual priorities in formal reports.
Gamiel brings more than 25 years of operational and venture capital experience to the Mayfield team. He previously served as Chief Strategy Officer for SOASTA (acquired by Akamai) and was responsible for ongoing operational improvements in sales, marketing, channels, plus strategic partnerships, corporate development, and investment support. Gamiel was also a partner at Sierra Ventures, responsible for leading the Sierra CIO Summit attended by over 150 Global CIOs for eight years. He has also held executive leadership roles at IBM, Oracle, BEA (acquired by Oracle), Appcelerator (acquired by Axway), and Cassatt (acquired by CA).
Gamiel is a California native, father of three, and husband of more than 30 years. He loves to give back as a volunteer to his community and to local universities. He frequently supports students and founders who want to turn ideas into businesses.
Laura Swan
Laura is in charge of portfolio company management at SCV. Laura is a Managing Partner with Silicon Catalyst and the Vice President of Operations for Silicon Catalyst Angels as well as an investor with Sand Hill Angels and a founding partner of The Batchery, a tech incubator in Berkeley California.Laura earned her Master Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming (Go Pokes!).