Progress hides at the edges.
Seeing the pattern of the next decade before the market names it.
London · 2026Digital Technology & Creative Leader · Entrepreneur
Curating collective intelligence and creativity
shaping what comes next.
Bringing the frontiers of technology, capital and culture into the same room — in service of human progress, innovation, connection and collective intelligence.
Now
- Renaissance Philanthropy
- Is This Seat Taken? — global cultural platform series for thought communities and creative intelligence
- Advising · Investing · Curating · Convening
Advising · Investing · Curating · ConveningLondon, UK
(01) About
The edge of institutions and insurgents — translating scientific ambition into culture, capital and community.
I believe human progress happens at the edges — where an obscure idea, an overlooked founder, or an unconventional bet on frontier science quietly becomes the thing that changes everything. My work is finding those edges and getting capital to them before anyone else sees the shape of what's coming.
Today I build time-bound, thesis-driven funds at the intersection of frontier science and breakthrough innovation at Renaissance Philanthropy — a career spanning academia, venture design and innovation, philanthropy, art and technology, always where capital formation meets human ambition.
Backing the next wave of human progress and frontiers of technology and culture.
Education
Oxford (DPhil) · Dartmouth (MA) · Wake Forest (BA)
Based
London
Languages
English · Gujarati · Hindi · French
Contact
(02) Origins
Landscapes that taught kindness, resilience, and systems thinking.
Raised in an immigrant household between the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia; formed by the Northern Himalayas, Paris, Oxford, London and New Delhi. Mentors emerging talent across global AI ecosystems, including at Alphabet, and curates the Is This Seat Taken? convening platform pop-up series. Long walks; chai with homemade masala.
(03) Principles
Five operating principles for finding what's next.
Capital is a design material.
Human capitalism: money's timelines, incentives and companions must serve dignity, craft and community.
Backing founders who treat people as ends, not inputs — long-term incentives, shared ownership, capital that compounds trust.
Collective intelligence outpaces the lone genius.
Breakthroughs are built together — my work is convening the rooms.
Trust compounds faster than capital.
Rooms work because people return. Reputation routes talent and conviction.
Taste is a form of due diligence.
Craft and taste are early signals of durable judgment — and durable value.
(04) Portfolio
Selected work at the edge of science, capital, culture & innovation.
(05) Advisory
Counsel at the edge of science, capital, culture & innovation.
Frontier research, turned into commercial reality.
AI Product Strategy
Generative AI products — from CTO strategy to operational integration.
Capital Formation
Funds, EIS vehicles and philanthropic capital for frontier science and deep tech.
Venture Design
First-of-a-kind technology, lab to market.
Value Creation
Ventures, funds and platforms designed to compound — commercially and culturally.
Community & Convening
Rooms that route talent and collective intelligence to what's next.
Selected partners & institutions
Soho House & Co, Google DeepMind, Google for Startups, Renaissance Philanthropy, Conduit Connect, Rainmaking, Innovate UK, Microsoft, Barclays, and select family offices and philanthropic funds.
(06) Media
Press, talks & features.
(07) ITST
Is This Seat Taken?
A global community of founders, creatives, philanthropists & entrepreneurs — connection for the minds shaping what's next.
Overview
Is This Seat Taken? is a global supper club co-founded by Janak Padhiar, Radhika Somaia and Aishwarya Bhadouria, created with Atola Papers. First partnership: Soho House London × 1497. Quarterly.
At its core: human connection and opportunity — a new class of founders, creatives and technologists generating collective intelligence around one of the most transformative moments of our time.
Format
Supper Club
Cadence
Quarterly
Chapters
London — Global
Access
By invitation
Follow on LinkedIn ↗Membership by application
(09) Contact
Open to fresh conversations.
Elsewhere
