Krishna Ramachandran, principal at LG Technology Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2025.
Krishna Ramachandran took a “scenic” route into corporate venturing, training as an engineer and then working in consulting roles for McKinsey, Accenture and IDEO.
He joined LG Technology Ventures, the CVC arm of the Korean conglomerate LG, in 2022 to become a “more well-rounded leader” and “explore a part of innovation that I have not explored yet.”
The team invests between $1m and $10m globally in a range of sectors including energy, AI, healthcare and mobility.
He enjoys working with founders, helping them with all aspects of the startup journey, including sales strategy and organisational structures. He also strives to connect founders with people in his network to help them source new clients, as well as with hiring.
“It is really difficult for early-stage companies to find ‘rockstar’ talent. As investors, not only in the corporate venture world but in general, it is important for us to leverage our networks to help find the best people for those specific roles,” he says.
The technologies he focuses on include AI-driven companies that have applications for industries such as healthcare, law, accounting and supply chain. He is particularly interested in technologies that reduce the cost of treating chronic diseases, as well as tech that speeds up drug discovery and the drug approval process.
“If you prioritise founders and are in service of them, the returns on capital will come.”
Ramachandran has closed several deals recently including Poolside, a developer of advanced AI tools for software coding; Aetion, a provider of analytics software for the healthcare sector; and Venti, a maker of autonomous vehicles for logistics companies.
The secret to doing corporate venture well is being focused on helping founders, he says. “That tends to be the difference between the top 5% versus everyone else – the ability to be laser focused on founders and portfolio companies. If you prioritise them and are in service of them, the returns on capital will come.”
See the full list of Rising Stars 2025 here.
