Paraj Mathur is a seed investor at Panoramic Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on B2B software, fintech, and healthcare IT. Prior to joining the fund, Paraj was a digital media and entertainment investor at Candela Partners, a pre-seed fund in SF, and Ulysses, an early stage fund in Boston, and holds a bachelor's degree from Franklin & Marshall College. At Ulysses, Paraj helped Major League Rugby launch a first-of-its-kind celebrity athlete esports league which had over 1.4M live viewers.
Outside of work, Paraj loves video games, chess, psych thrillers (books and movies) and basketball (#Lakeshow)
EVCA: How do you stay connected with and cultivate relationships with co-investors over time?
Paraj: My favorite aspect of my time in VC so far has been the deep relationships I have been able to build with like-minded investors. Recurring video/phone calls, zoom lunch dates in the pandemic, and even spontaneous trips to conferences have helped me build and nurture these relationships on a deeper, personal/social level. Spending time with these super smart folks and learning about their interests and passions, and understanding their perspectives has helped me learn about a variety of different industries, and made me a much better investor.
EVCA: What is an emerging technology trend that you think will significantly impact the world in the next decade?
Paraj: As a former pro gamer, I am obsessed with the concept of the metaverse -- enabling humans to create shared digital experiences, completely synchronously, transcending physical barriers/distances. Picks and shovels that enable this digital manifestation of being -- what started with a pseudonymous AIM username, can now be a fully 3d photorealistic avatar in a world complete with a fully functioning massively multiplayer economy. As the metaverse expands, the line between the physical and digital worlds will begin to blur, and will hugely impact our culture, and how we work, play, and shop, and socialize.
Lauren is a principal on the investment team at Pantera Capital, a crypto-focused investment firm with over $5.5B in AUM, where she focuses on early stage investments. She’s also a co-founder of TLC Collective, a generalist investment collective comprised of two other investors who work at well-known venture funds and also come from engineering backgrounds. Prior to joining Pantera Capital, Lauren worked in trading at Bank of America and before that was a software developer at a trading and investment platform. She holds a degree in computer science from Columbia University.
EVCA: How do you stay connected with and cultivate relationships with co-investors over time?
Lauren: I think each relationship requires a different method of contact. For example, some people I’ve co-invested with I end up chatting with all the time about both work and life. For some it might be a monthly catch up call and for others it’s a telegram group where we casually ping each other about deals we’re seeing. I also love reaching out to people I don’t know who I might have co-invested with as well—it’s always fun to compare theses!
EVCA: What is an emerging technology trend that you think will significantly impact the world in the next decade?
Lauren: Crypto, of course!!
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