Carya Venture Partners
Carya Venture Partners operates as an investment firm.
ActiveVenture Capital
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Financial History
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Leadership Team
Key people at Carya Venture Partners.
Carya Venture Partners operates as an investment firm.
Key people at Carya Venture Partners.
Key people at Carya Venture Partners.
# Carya Venture Partners: Founder-Centric Capital for Enterprise AI
Carya Venture Partners operates as a founder-obsessed venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto that specializes in early-stage B2B SaaS and enterprise AI companies[3]. The firm's core mission centers on being the investors founders would want to have—partners who navigate the startup journey with empathy and active, hands-on support rather than passive capital deployment[2].
The firm's investment philosophy prioritizes bold, sound investments in transformational businesses, with particular expertise in evaluating technology through real-world applications[1]. Carya targets companies at the prototype and early revenue stages, typically deploying check sizes between $100,000 and $5 million[4]. The firm maintains a distinctive focus on AI teams looking to deploy at scale, leveraging deep networks in business process outsourcing (BPO) and customer experience (CX) to help portfolio companies build enterprise-ready go-to-market motions[1]. This sector focus reflects a deliberate bet on the convergence of AI capabilities with established enterprise infrastructure—a particularly timely positioning as organizations race to operationalize AI at scale.
Carya emerged from the lived experience of its founding team, who recognized a gap in how venture capital partners with founders. The firm was founded by Andrés Pérez Soderi, a co-founder of Sanas, a 100+ person Speech AI company he started while studying at Stanford University[2]. Andrés brought direct experience raising over $60 million in venture capital and building enterprise AI businesses from inception, giving him intimate knowledge of founder pain points and the 0-to-1 stage journey[2].
The founding team expanded to include Sharath, who joined as co-founder and brought complementary expertise from his role as Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of ObserveAI, where he orchestrated hypergrowth from inception to unicorn status in under five years[2]. Sharath's track record includes raising over $500 million in venture capital and scaling ObserveAI to over $15 million in annual recurring revenue and 300+ employees while establishing market leadership in contact center AI[2]. This combination of founders who had successfully navigated the venture journey themselves became the philosophical bedrock for Carya's approach.
The firm launched its first fund in October 2023, with a second fund opening in June 2024, signaling early validation of its model[3]. The timing reflected growing institutional recognition that enterprise AI adoption required not just capital, but operational expertise and access to design partners and enterprise networks.
Every member of Carya's team brings founder or operator credentials rather than traditional venture backgrounds[1]. This isn't marketing positioning—it's structural. The firm explicitly states that "everyone at Carya are founders and operators at heart," which translates into portfolio support that goes far beyond capital deployment[1]. This founder-first lens means the firm understands the messy reality of building companies, including pivots, near-death experiences, and troubled times, and commits to "unwavering and patient support" through these phases[1].
Carya's competitive advantage extends into go-to-market execution. Andy Lee, who served as Founder and CEO of Alorica (a market-leading BPO with over 100,000 employees across 16 countries serving 250+ enterprise customers), joined as Venture Partner to specialize in advancing portfolio companies' GTM efforts, providing access to design partners, and offering executive coaching[1][2]. This isn't theoretical enterprise expertise—it's built on managing relationships with hundreds of enterprise customers at scale.
The firm supplements its core team with specialized operating partners. Sai Supriya Sharath, an Operating Partner, brings over 15 years of experience building and leading global sales and marketing teams focused on mid-market and enterprise segments, with prior experience at companies like Practo, Akamai, and IBM[2]. This depth of operating support differentiates Carya from capital-only investors.
Ryan Snow, the firm's Chief Financial Officer, brings seasoned fund management experience from roles at Original Capital, Carta, and Index Ventures, where he led fund administration and investor relations[1]. He was one of the first employees at eShares (which became Carta), building out their fund practices arm[1]. This operational rigor in fund management ensures LPs receive professional-grade service while the firm maintains institutional credibility.
Carya's positioning reflects a fundamental shift in how venture capital is evolving in the AI era. The firm is riding the wave of enterprise AI adoption, where the bottleneck is no longer technological innovation but rather operationalization at scale—taking AI capabilities and embedding them into real business processes with measurable ROI.
The timing is particularly acute. As enterprises move beyond AI pilots to production deployments, they require vendors who understand both cutting-edge AI and the operational realities of large organizations. Carya's deep BPO and CX networks position it uniquely to serve this intersection. The firm isn't just funding AI researchers; it's funding founders who can navigate the complex sales cycles, implementation challenges, and change management required to deploy AI in contact centers, customer service operations, and other high-volume enterprise functions.
Furthermore, Carya's emphasis on patient capital and founder empathy pushes back against the venture industry's tendency toward rapid scaling and exit optimization. In an era where many AI startups face pressure to grow unsustainably or pivot toward hype, Carya's willingness to support companies through troubled times and near-death experiences creates a counterbalance. This approach may prove particularly valuable as the AI market matures and separates genuine enterprise value creation from speculative hype.
The firm also influences the broader ecosystem by modeling what founder-led venture capital can look like—demonstrating that deep operational expertise, enterprise networks, and founder empathy can coexist with rigorous fund management and institutional credibility.
Carya is well-positioned to become a meaningful player in enterprise AI venture capital, particularly in the contact center and customer experience automation segments where its network advantages are most pronounced. The firm's second fund opening in June 2024 suggests early success with its first fund, validating its thesis that founders value operational support and enterprise access alongside capital.
Looking ahead, several trends will shape Carya's trajectory. First, as enterprise AI adoption accelerates, the competitive advantage of having deep operational networks and GTM expertise will only increase—capital alone will become increasingly commoditized. Second, the consolidation of AI capabilities into industry-specific solutions (rather than horizontal platforms) will reward investors with vertical expertise, and Carya's focus on BPO and CX gives it a meaningful vertical wedge.
The firm's influence on the broader ecosystem may also grow as other venture firms recognize that founder-led teams with operating experience can outperform traditional venture partners. If Carya's model proves durable and generates strong returns, it could catalyze a broader shift toward more founder-centric venture capital.
The central question for Carya's future is whether its founder-first philosophy and patient capital approach can scale without losing the intimacy and hands-on support that define its current positioning. If the firm can maintain its operational depth while growing its fund size and portfolio, it could establish itself as the preferred partner for founders building transformational enterprise AI businesses.
