Top 50 Rising Stars 2021 continued (in alphabetical order by CVC unit): Gayathri Radhakrishnan, director of venture capital, Micron Ventures
Gayathri “G” Radhakrishnan is the director of venture capital at Micron Ventures, corporate venturing arm of US-headquartered data storage system producer Micron Technology, where she oversees the $100m AI Fund.
Radhakrishnan joined the unit in June 2019 where she backs and partners startups that are developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
She said: “In this role, I am focused on investing in innovative startups that are applying AI to fundamentally change the verticals they play in. We invest in manufacturing, mobility, healthcare and agriculture and also core technologies – systems, software and hardware that enable and accelerate the adoption of AI. I have made six investments since I joined across the areas specified.
“My exposure to venture comes from my time as an associate at [VC firm] Earlybird Venture Capital, over a decade ago, in Germany – where I was focused on early-stage investments across Western Europe.
Radhakrishnan was interested in the opportunity to join Micron in this specific role because of her diverse professional background. “As someone with two decades of experience in the industry but predominantly on the software side, I strongly believe that understanding of the hardware ecosystem is critical.
“What better place than Micron, one of the top three memory vendors in the world? As AI begins to take root as an important technology driver for this decade and as Moore’s law comes to an end, memory will have a big role to play in the compute architecture.”
Radhakrishnan has made five investments this year from February to September, which she believes have the potential to significantly impact the sectors that they play in. These startups include connected vehicle technology developer Nexar, manufacturing analytics technology developer Drishti Technologies and crop analysis technology developer Taranis.
