MENLO PARK, Calif., May 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading venture capital firm Menlo Ventures today announced that Silicon Valley veteran Aunkur Arya has joined the investment team as Venture Partner. As an investor at Menlo, Aunkur will draw on deep domain expertise to identify and grow the next breakout fintech companies.
Through leadership roles at Braintree, Paypal, and Google, Aunkur developed an understanding of fintech customers and the problems they face. As an executive at PayPal and Braintree, he led the company's growth and market launch of new products across both merchant and peer-to-peer payments, including PayPal One Touch, a reincarnation of Venmo's merchant checkout product. At Google, Aunkur worked on its early digital wallet products and came to Google via the acquisition of AdMob, where he was an early employee and led the buildout of its app developer business. Most recently, Aunkur was engaged with the startup world, advising on GTM strategy and making angel investments. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"Aunkur is a fintech veteran who earned his stripes at companies like Braintree, PayPal, and Google. He's been an early-stage builder and held leadership roles at large public companies. In the business of Venture Capital, that kind of expertise stands out," said Menlo Ventures' Partner Matt Murphy. "Menlo already has a strong track record in fintech, but with Aunkur on board, we significantly expand our capacity and expertise. Aunkur's perspective and approach will resonate with founders in the critical early stages when the right partner can make an impact."
"Nothing excites me more than realizing a founder is onto something big. I'm excited to begin a new chapter as a VC, partnering closely with scrappy startups to build breakthrough companies," said Aunkur, "and it's an honor to join the team at Menlo Ventures, a firm known for making early investments in real game-changers like Uber, Roku, and Siri. Menlo has an amazing track record, and their team is known for being whip-smart but low-ego. Like me, they thrive on working closely with entrepreneurs, providing support from every angle."
Menlo continues to build deep thematic and operational expertise around five areas of innovation: consumer technology, fintech, SaaS, infrastructure (including DevOps and Cybersecurity), digital health, and life sciences. In addition to Aunkur, the firm has hired several industry experts who leverage deep operating and domain experience to support these sectors. Last year, Menlo lured former Splunk CTO Tim Tully to the firm. He now applies his deep technical expertise to investments in next-gen cloud infrastructure, specifically AI/ML platforms, DevOps, and the new data stack. Product-led growth and monetization expert Naomi Ionita was recruited in 2018 to help SaaS entrepreneurs reach their full potential. And life sciences veteran Greg Yap joined in 2017 to create an entire practice around life sciences and digital health investments,
Menlo has a long history of identifying category winners early, including Benchling, Carta, Chime, Gilead, Poshmark, Roku, Rover, Siri (acquired by Apple), and Uber.
About Menlo Ventures
Menlo Ventures is a venture capital firm that strives to have a positive impact on everything we do. That's why we support businesses including Benchling, Chime, Carta, Poshmark, Rover, Roku, Uber, and Siri that are reimagining life and work for the better. Over 43 years, we've grown a portfolio that includes more than 70 public companies, over 100 mergers and acquisitions, and $5.5 billion under management. We invest at every stage and in every sector, with expertise in Consumer, Enterprise, and Healthcare. From developing market strategies to creating communities, we provide real impact where entrepreneurs need it most. When we're in, we're all in.
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