Kanishk Mehta

Kanishk is an Associate Vice President at Elevation Capital, where he focuses on early-stage investments in Enterprise AI across the stack, from AI infrastructure, developer tools and data infrastructure to applied, vertical AI, and AI-native services. Before joining Elevation, he invested in AI companies at Susquehanna VC (SIG) and Pravega Ventures. He also co-founded Desflow Technologies, a microfluidics startup and has garnered 100+ citations on his publications. Kanishk holds a dual degree (B.Tech and M.Tech) in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras, with a specialisation in product design.

I’m an engineer at heart. I believe in going deep with founders on the technology in reference to the customer’s problem with a differentiated insight.

"The early days of a company are the most formative, and what gets decided then tends to last. Being a founder’s partner from day one, with a front-row view of those decisions, is a privilege. It’s also a phase with no set processes, where a lot has to be figured out through sheer hustle, and I like being all in on that with the founders. Most of all, it’s a stage when a founder’s distinct worldview has the most room to play out, and they can steer the company towards what makes them one of one."