Smriti Jayaraman Kekre
Principal at Corazon Capital
Chicago, Illinois
Overview
Work Experience
Board Observer
2024 - Current
Lifeforce operates as a clinically intergrated health optimization platform.
Raised $12,000,000.00 from Seaside Ventures, Tony Robbins, Serena Williams, Peterson Ventures, M13, Rosecliff Ventures, Ridgeline Ventures, Peter Diamandis and Scottie Upshall.
Principal
2022
Board Member
2023
Tandem is a consumer fintech platform for couples.
Raised $3,700,000.00 from Corazon Capital, Michigan Rise, Groove Capital, Reseda Group, Everywhere Ventures, The Josephine Collective, Groove Capital and Goodwater Capital.
Board Observer
2022
Nara Organics manufactures organic infant formula delivered directly to the consumers.
Raised $25,388,987.00 from Platinum Mile Ventures, Crown Predator Holdings, AlleyCorp, Corazon Capital, Torch Capital and Company Ventures.
Board Observer
2022
Songfinch is the leading music creator platform enabling anyone to create one-of-a-kind, custom songs.
Raised $31,299,588.00 from Valor Siren Ventures.
Innovation Advisory Committee
2023
Member
2021
Board Member
2019 - 2021
Zippin is the next generation of checkout-free technology enabling retailers to quickly deploy frictionless shopping in their stores.
Raised $44,000,000.00 from SAP.iO, Pear VC, OurCrowd, Evolv Ventures and Maven Ventures.
Founding Principal
2019 - 2021
Evolv Ventures is a $100M venture fund backed by KraftHeinz Corporation to invest in early stage technology companies disrupting the food and retail industry. We focus on Seed through Series B investments across Food Tech, Health and Wellness, Supply Chain AI and Automation, the Future of Retail/Marketing, Climate and Sustainability, and Emerging Consumer Products and Services. Our hands on, founder-first approach coupled with unparalleled industry access and expertise help to catalyze businesses tackling some of the world's fastest changing trends. Select investments include Fabric (eComm microfulfillment), Zippin (autonomous checkout), New Culture (lab cultured cheese), Kingdom Supercultures (food culture biotech), Outrider AI (autonomous trucking), Joywell Foods (sweet protein fermentation platform), Parsable (connected worker platform) and more
Vice President
2017 - 2019
Guild Capital is an early-stage consumer internet focused venture capital firm. With operations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, we typically back founders as their first institutional investor and aim to become trusted partners to our portfolio management teams during early planning and growth. We partner with our dedicated platform teams to actively support founders in developing high-growth strategies, implementing a robust metrics-focused infrastructure, architecting high-performance teams, and raising smart capital for future growth. Select investments and partnerships include Ruggable (D2C homegoods), , Voyage Mobile (SMS marketing), Dr. Squatch (D2C men's personal care), Petal Card (alternative credit), Spot & Tango (Health-focused pet food), The Catch Co (D2C outdoor goods), Home Chef (mealkits, sold to Kroger), MessageControl (email security, sold to Mimecast), Nio (Autonomous electric vehicle tech)
Guild Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the US and India.
Education
Semester Abroad, Madrid, Spain
2006 - 2006