Manan Mehta

Manan is a founding partner of Unshackled Ventures. Since starting Unshackled in 2014, Manan has invested in ~50 companies, ranging from plant-based proteins to cell towers in space. His diverse background in engineering, investment banking, and marketing has allowed him to understand countless industries and business models, with a keen interest in go-to-market strategy and brand development. Prior to Unshackled Ventures, Manan ran marketing for ed-tech startup Kno that raised over $90M of funding from top VCs including a16z, First Round Capital, and Floodgate. The company was acquired by Intel in 2013. Before Kno, Manan was an investment banker at the Royal Bank of Canada, with his most notable deal being the $1.9B acquisition of Skype led by Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz in 2009 — later sold to Microsoft for $8.5B. Manan received his B.S. in Material Science and Engineering and B.A. in Economics from UCLA in 2007. He also studied Entrepreneurship and Marketing at the London School of Economics. Beyond academics at UCLA, Manan was also the captain and lead of a national championship-winning dance team. Manan has been invited by the White House and the U.S. State Department to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. As a first-generation American born and raised in Silicon Valley, Manan’s life is inextricably linked to immigrants. He is a firm believer that immigrants are the heartbeat of American entrepreneurship and is excited about unleashing entrepreneurs to innovate and create opportunities for themselves and society.