MK

Manu Kumar

Chief Firestarter at K9Ventures • Co

Palo Alto, California

Overview 

Manu Kumar is the Chief Firestarter at K9Ventures and a Co-founder at Carta, with notable investments in companies like Lyft, Twilio, and Auth0. He is recognized as a prolific investor in early-stage startups and a key figure in the pre-seed funding landscape, leveraging his expertise in venture capital, entrepreneurship, and product innovation to guide and support emerging businesses.

Work Experience 

  • Investor and Board Member

    2020 - Current

  • Investor

    2020

OtterTune is an automated perfector of databases.

Raised $14,500,000.00 from Intel Capital, Koa Labs, Race Capital and Accel.

  • Investor and Board Member

    2020

Agenda Hero offers an AI-powered platform to convert text and images into calendar events, simplifying scheduling.

  • Founder & Chief Firestarter

    2009

    K9 Ventures is a “frighteningly early" stage Pre-Seed venture fund that provides funding and support for concept-stage and seed-stage technology companies. The fund is focused on startups in the San Francisco Bay Area with technical founders, a core technology product, a clear path to revenue, capital efficiency, and where K9 can add value.

K9 Ventures is a technology-focused micro VC fund based in Palo Alto, California.

  • Co-Founder and CEO

    2018

HiHello is a software company that builds next generation professional network that allows people to optimize their business relationships.

Raised $10,000,000.00 from Manu Kumar, August Capital, Foundry Group and Lux Capital.

  • Co-founder, Investor & Board Observer

    2012

Carta is a global ownership management platform that helps companies, investors, and employees manage equity and ownership.

Raised $1,157,600,000.00 from 8090 Partners, Unanimous Capital, Sand Hill Angels, Vetamer, GS Growth, Step Ahead Capital, Massive, Silver Lake, Moonshots Capital and Launchbay Capital.

  • Investor and Board Member

    2019

Divebell is a data discovery and privacy platform that allows companies to take command of their compliance, customer data, and privacy.

  • Investor & Board Member

    2019

Daughters of Rosie helps growing companies attract, hire, and retain diverse teams.

  • Investor & Board Member

    2019

Invisible AI develops a visual intelligence platform to improve quality, productivity, and safety in manufacturing industries.

Raised $21,600,000.00 from 8VC, Vest Coast Capital, FM Capital, K9 Ventures, Sierra Ventures and Van Tuyl Companies.

  • Investor & Board Member

    2017

Forethought is a generative AI suite for customer support automation.

Raised $92,000,000.00 from Gwyneth Paltrow, Jason Boehmig, Cleo Capital, Steadfast Financial, K9 Ventures, Frontline Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Collaborative Fund, Christopher Manning and Ashton Kutcher.

Articles About Manu

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