Rafat Ali

Rafat Ali is an investor at his family office, Rafat Ali Investments, based in New York City. He previously founded the digital media business PaidContent.org, which he sold to Guardian Media Group in 2008, and launched the travel intelligence platform Skift in 2012. Under his leadership, Skift raised over $75 million in funding and reached a valuation exceeding $200 million in 2021, building on his earlier career as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. Through his family office, Ali has built a portfolio of more than 20 early-stage investments, backing prominent technology companies such as Airtable, Modern Treasury, and the corporate travel platform TripActions. He recently launched a podcast featuring industry leaders like Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, maintaining his primary focus on seed and pre-seed investments across the travel technology, mobility, media, and consumer internet sectors.