Sara Deshpande

Sara Deshpande is a General Partner at Maven Ventures, a seed stage venture firm investing in tech companies addressing emerging consumer behavior and trends. Maven identifies and backs bold founders with a vision worth fighting for then helps founders unlock their potential to change the world, leading to iconic brands like Zoom and Cruise. Sara invests in emerging consumer trends including digital health and personalized medicine, consumer applications of AI, consumer climate, family tech, and other high-growth consumer software. Sara was the first employee at Maven and has built her career investing in early stage, ambitious founders. Over the last decade since joining Maven nearly at inception, she has worked alongside Maven founder, Jim Scheinman, to grow AUM from $5M to nearly $200M, returning multiple funds, and advancing from a Senior Associate to a General Partner. Early in her VC career at Maven, Sara’s contributions were highlighted by sourcing deals such as Embark (EMBK) and May Mobility (Series D). She has gone on to spearhead Maven’s theses in focus areas like Digital Health and Alternative Protein, leading the firm’s investments in Hello Heart, Carrot Fertility, Wildtype, and more. Sara has worked with startups around the globe for over 15 years, including at The Idea Village in New Orleans where she ran an early stage tech incubator in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There, Sara developed a love for helping founders articulate and achieve a bold vision against all odds. For five years, Sara has been a Lecturer in Management at the Stanford GSB where she teaches a popular MBA elective course on startups. Earlier in her career, Sara was a management consultant in the Healthcare Strategy practice at Deloitte. Sara holds a BS in Finance from Xavier University in her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio and an MBA from Stanford.