Vijen Patel

Vijen Patel is the Managing Partner at The 81 Collection, an early-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California. Before establishing his current venture fund, he served as a venture partner at NFX and an investor at 500 Global, following early product management experience in the broader consumer technology sector. The Stanford University graduate has built a portfolio of over 20 companies at The 81 Collection and previously backed notable unicorn startups including Rappi and Airtable. In late 2024, he expanded his advisory roles within the broader venture ecosystem, and he recently led a $3.5 million seed round for an artificial intelligence logistics startup in March 2025. Patel currently focuses his investment strategy on seed and Series A funding for emerging technology companies across the enterprise software, artificial intelligence, and financial technology sectors.