Jalak Jobanputra

Jalak Jobanputra is Founding Partner of Future\Perfect Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund focused on decentralized technology with a focus on blockchain tech and cryptoassets. FPV was the first venture fund worldwide formed with a thesis on decentralization. FPV’s portfolio includes Abra, Blockstream, Bitpesa, The Graph, Everledger and Blockchain. In 2017, she was cited as a “Top 5 Investor Powering the Blockchain Boom” and Crunchbase noted FPV as one of the top VC funds in blockchain “before it was cool.” In May 2018, Jobanputra was awarded Microsoft’s VC Trailblazer Award for “her early and bold” investments in the sector. She has also been awarded Institutional Investor’s Most Powerful Fintech Dealmakers for the past three years. Since founding the firm in 2014, she has spoken on blockchain technology, IoT, and artificial intelligence at many global conferences, including the Milken Global Institute, Dutch Development Bank/FMO Annual Meeting, and The Economist Buttonwood Gathering. Prior exits include Ariba (SAP), Yodlee (IPO), TXVia (Google), Viaore (IBM), and Schoolnet (Pearson). Previously, Jobanputra was the Director of Emerging Market Mobile Investments at Omidyar Network, a fund launched by Pierre Omidyar, co-founder of eBay. From 1999-2003, she worked at Intel Capital in Silicon Valley investing in enterprise software. She subsequently was a Principal at New Venture Partners and the NYC Investment Fund, where she formed one of NYC’s first seed funds and helped establish the Fintech Innovation Lab in 2010. She started her career as a media/tech/telecom investment banker in NYC and London. Jobanputra is also active in supporting education reform and social entrepreneurship. She served as a Trustee of Achievement First Bushwick Charter Schools (Brooklyn). She is on the Board of Directors for the Center for an Urban Future, Advisory Board of L’Oreal’s Women in Digital Initiative, Advisory Council for Tech:NYC, and former Access to Capital Committee member of the US Secretary of State Clinton Women’s Leadership Council. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S. in Economics (concentration in Finance) from The Wharton School and a B.A. in Communications from the Annenberg School. She received her MBA from Kellogg. She writes frequently on her blog at The Barefoot VC and can be found on twitter @jalak.