RG

Rayfe Gaspar-asaoka

Partner at Canaan

United States

Overview 

Rayfe Gaspar-Asaoka is a Partner at Canaan, with a focus on investing in Seed and Series A stages within sectors like Local Services, IoT, and AI. With a Master of Science from Stanford University, he has made significant investments in companies like Apex.AI and Edge Impulse, showcasing his expertise in identifying and supporting innovative startups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Work Experience 

  • Partner

    2020 - Current

    Canaan is an early stage venture capital firm with $7B+ under management and currently investing out of Fund 13. We lead investments in Seed / Series A / Series B investments in technology and healthcare.

  • Principal

    2018 - 2020

  • Investment Professional

    2015 - 2018

Canaan is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionaries with transformative ideas.

  • Board Member

    2022

    https://tropicapp.io/

Tropic is a software platform that offers full-service procurement solutions for tech-forward companies.

Raised $67,100,000.00 from Insight Partners.

  • Board Observer

    2021

    https://www.keplercommunications.com/

  • Board Member

    2021

    https://www.edgeimpulse.com/

Edge Impulse is the platform for developing intelligent devices using embedded machine learning.

Raised $54,400,000.00 from Momenta, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Fika Ventures, Canaan Partners, Acrew Capital and Coatue.

  • Board Member

    2019

    https://fireflies.ai/

Fireflies.ai offers an AI Meeting assistant that records, transcribes, and makes searchable meeting notes.

Raised $19,000,000.00 from Khosla Ventures and Canaan Partners.

  • Board Member

    2018

    https://www.apex.ai/

Apex.AI specializes in software systems for robotic and autonomous vehicles.

Raised $71,969,973.00 from Daimler Truck.

  • Board Member

    2020 - 2024

READY Robotics seeks to empower manufacturers to be more competitive through industrial robots.

Raised $41,500,000.00 from Rockwell Automation.

  • Class 25

    2020 - 2022

    https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/

Co-investment VC firm supporting the mission of the Kauffman Fellows

  • Mentor

    2018 - 2020

    https://www.creativedestructionlab.com/

  • Course Advisor

    2014 - 2016

    Course Advisor for the Stanford Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate - a joint initiative through the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and the Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) department.

  • Graduate Research Assistant

    2012 - 2014

    Graduate Research with Dr. Mark Horowitz on VLSI mixed-signal biocircuit design. Focused emphasis on creating Lab-on-Chip (LOC) circuits for improved performance with genetic chemistry and engineering. Designed a mixed-signal chip that interfaces with microfluidic channels and JTAG.

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