Ashish Kakran Joins SIERRA Ventures as Partner
We’re thrilled to welcome Ashish Kakran to Sierra Ventures as a Partner.
Ashish brings a strong mix of technical depth, investing experience, and go-to-market instincts to our team. He will focus on early-stage investments in AI infrastructure, cloud-native systems, and cybersecurity—areas where we are seeing rapid change and long-term opportunities.
In prior investing roles, Ashish was an early backer of several breakout companies, including Cohere, Harness, Isovalent (acquired by Cisco), Opaque, and Exaforce. He’s known for working closely with technical founders from the start, helping them refine their product strategy, build world-class teams, and scale their distribution.
“Ashish combines deep technical fluency with a clear vision for where enterprise infrastructure is heading,” said Mark Fernandes, Managing Partner at Sierra Ventures. “He sees around corners in fast-moving categories like AI and security, and founders value his ability to connect product ambition with market reality early in the build.”
Before transitioning to venture capital, Ashish graduated from IIT with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. He spent over a decade building early-stage infrastructure startups, working across engineering, product management, and company building. He led technical teams, shaped product roadmaps, and supported go-to-market efforts from the ground up. As a product manager at AppNeta (acquired by Broadcom), he saw firsthand the realities of startup execution and the nuances of strategic exits. This experience led him to get his MBA from Kellogg School of Management.
Today, Ashish mentors entrepreneurs through programs at UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and IIT, and helps lead investor communities, such as the Bay Area Kellogg VCs.
“I’ve always valued a combination of warmth and competence, and that’s exactly what I found at Sierra," said Ashish. "The team moves fast, supports founders deeply through its CXO Advisory Board and EPL Council, and has a decades-long track record of success. It’s the right platform for this pivotal moment, as the generative AI stack is being rebuilt from the ground up and poised to transform every industry. I’m excited to partner with bold founders building the next wave of category-defining companies.”
Ashish’s addition reflects our continued commitment to supporting founders in building foundational technologies that power the future of work.