SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2024 -- Celesta Capital, a leading global deep tech venture capital firm, today announced that technology investor and product leader Anand Chandrasekaran has joined the firm as Managing Partner. Chandrasekaran has more than 20 years of experience identifying transformative startups, as well as founding and scaling global companies. He previously served as a Partner at General Catalyst, as well as a product leader at Meta, Five9, Bharti Airtel, Snapdeal, and others.
Chandrasekaran most recently has served as President and co-founder at AI-native contact center startup Crescendo AI, which he helped to incubate and spin out of General Catalyst alongside co-founder Andy Lee. Crescendo recently announced $50M in financing and the acquisition of customer experience company PartnerHero. Chandrasekaran will continue at Crescendo as he transitions into his Managing Partner role at Celesta.
Chandrasekaran is also a seed investor in more than 80 companies, of which 7 are valued at over $1 billion. He has been recognized as India's top seed investor by HURUN India the past three years in a row. During his time as a Partner at General Catalyst, Chandrasekaran led investments in Loop Health, Eeki Foods, Orange Health, FarMart, Magma, Jeh Aerospace and others.
"Company creation and building has been my passion for the past two decades. It was clear from getting to know the Celesta team through their investment in Crescendo that they share this dedication," said Chandrasekaran. "I look forward to adding to the team's vision and further strengthening the firm's muscle as deep tech investors and company builders."
Chandrasekaran will bring his deep expertise in consumer and enterprise software to complement Celesta's strong track record in the hardware and semiconductor space, with a particular focus on opportunities within the AI tech stack.
"We are delighted to welcome Anand to Celesta Capital. What truly sets Anand apart is his rare combination of expertise as a technologist, operator, and investor," said Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta. "Anand has also been a recognized leader within the Silicon Valley – India tech corridor for decades, and his perspective aligns perfectly with our belief in the opportunity for this ecosystem to deliver the next generation of leading technology companies."
At Celesta, Chandrasekaran joins a seasoned global team of investment professionals, technologists, and operating executives led by Founding Managing Partners Nic Brathwaite, Michael Marks, and Viswanathan. Chandrasekaran's addition to Celesta follows the recent appointment of Nobel Laureate Biochemist Dr. Jim Rothman as a Senior Advisor, as well as Celesta Managing Partner Arun Kumar, former CEO of KPMG India and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets in the Obama Administration.
About Celesta Capital
Celesta Capital is a global deep tech venture capital firm. Led by technology industry veterans with decades of investment and operational experience, Celesta has a passion and proven track record for building and scaling global businesses. Founded in 2013, Celesta has a portfolio of more than 100 early-stage technology investments. Learn more at http://celesta.vc.
Media Contact:
Trevor DeWitt
trevor@celesta.vc
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