Karthik Balakrishnan

Founder of Actual

Co-Founder and President
2018 - Current
Climate change is the defining challenge of our time: a once-in-a-generation test that is rapidly reshaping the world around us. At ACTUAL we are building an Impact Platform to accelerate the world’s response by making green infrastructure faster to plan, less expensive to build, and easier to optimize. Think of ACTUAL as a scaled up take on the “Sim” planning games you may have played growing up. Our software enables domain experts and communities to plan sustainable infrastructure projects with snap-together ease and to rapidly assess their environmental and social impacts. Drawing on inspirations as varied as urban planning, game engine design, journalistic data visualization, and scientific computing, we are reimagining how the cities and communities of tomorrow will take shape.

Venture Partner
2018
Pioneer Fund combines capital, expertise, connections, and support from 200+ Y Combinator alumni who have all invested in Pioneer Fund. We are founders first and know how painful a drawn out process is for founders. We endeavor to make decisions within 48 hours after meeting with founders. We invest in YC companies, YC alumni, and non-YC companies. For YC companies we can invest before, during, or after a batch. See current portfolio at https://www.pioneerfund.vc/portfolio

Angel Investor and Startup Advisor
2017
Angel investor and advisor to startups across several industries including clean transportation, mobile payments, fintech, self-driving automobiles, aviation and aerospace, manufacturing and supply chain, and smart homes.

Head of Project, Altiscope
2016 - 2018
Founded Altiscope (now known as Airbus UTM) to build the future of air traffic control for drones, air taxis, helicopters, and piloted aircraft. As the executive in charge of this project, I recruited a team of experts across a diverse set of fields including public policy, government affairs, engineering, aviation and aerospace, and product. We worked closely with governments, operators, manufacturers, and other stakeholders around the world including in the US, EU, Asia Pacific, and Oceania to drive regulations and system requirements. We also deployed solutions, including becoming an FAA authorized LAANC provider, capable of giving UAS operators approvals to fly commercial missions in controlled airspace. Interested in learning more? Check out www.airbusutm.com I transitioned Altiscope out of Airbus' Silicon Valley incubator (A^3) into the newly formed Airbus Urban Air Mobility group. The group is now known as Airbus UTM.

CTO and Co-Founder
2012 - 2016
Acquired by Fitbit and became the foundation for Fitbit Pay. Part of the Y Combinator W13 batch. Coin is a universal smart payment device that stores multiple credit, debit, and gift cards. A FinTech startup, we hit our $50,000 crowdfunding campaign goal in 37 minutes and shipped ~200K units.

Ph.D. Candidate
2009 - 2016
Designed a UV-LED based charge control system, with applications in precision formation flying of spacecraft and detection of gravitational waves. Launched the UV-LED system on a satellite aboard a Dnepr rocket on June 19, 2014. COSPAR ID 2014-033G On leave Spring 2013 through Spring 2016, then returned to finish. I was personally funded by the NDSEG (National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate) Fellowship, sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and administered by the American Society for Engineering Education.