Shervin Pishevar is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and industry pioneer whose career has helped shape eleven groundbreaking sectors, including Hyperloop transportation, ride-sharing, the on-demand and sharing economies, cloud computing, cloud kitchens, social networking, social gaming, quantum computing and AI, and the emerging field of network-state “new cities.” In December of 2025, Shervin was named Chairman of DARPA’s Investment Group, where he will be guiding investments within the space, AI, quantum computing, drone, fusion and biotechnology sectors, among others. Widely recognized as one of the most visionary investors of his generation, Pishevar has founded, led, or championed companies that have redefined global markets and accelerated technological progress.

Since 2011, Pishevar’s early investments have generated over $7 billion in value, with more than $3 billion distributed in profits, producing an exceptional 88% IRR. He has been named to the Forbes Midas List four consecutive years and appeared on the magazine’s cover—recognition of a career that includes 93+ exits over nearly three decades in technology and venture capital.

As the early lead investor and board member of Uber, Pishevar played a transformative role in scaling the company globally. He helped catalyze Uber China through strategic introductions, personally invested $100 million across its formation and merger with Didi, and was instrumental in establishing ride-sharing as a worldwide industry.

As co-founder and first Executive Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, Pishevar helped introduce the world to a new era of high-speed transportation, shepherding both global brand development and foundational engineering progress toward the world’s first functional Hyperloop system.

During his tenure as Managing Director at Menlo Ventures, Pishevar built the firm’s consumer practice and led early investments in category-defining companies such as Uber, Warby Parker, Machine Zone, Tumblr, Poshmark, Betterment, and Dropcam (acquired by Google). He also launched and led the Menlo Talent Fund, completing more than 35 seed investments including Parse (acquired by Facebook) and Scan (acquired by Snap).

As an angel investor, Pishevar has backed over 200 companies, including early stakes in Facebook, Hims, Casper, and seed investments in Postmates, Dollar Shave Club, TaskRabbit, Cherry, Rapportive, Aardvark, Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, Mercury Bank, and frontier deep-tech companies such as Varda Space, Gameto, and defense-tech innovator Gambit AI.

He has a well-documented reputation for identifying exceptional talent early—hiring and mentoring future founders of Squarespace, Instacart, Webs.com, Quizlet, and TrueBill, seeding their companies, and in many cases providing them their first workspace. This rare ability to cultivate generational entrepreneurs is a defining hallmark of his leadership.

Through Edison Fund, Edison Labs, and Sofreh Capital, Pishevar has helped create new models for venture capital, venture studios, and innovation ecosystems. At Sherpa Capital, which he co-founded, he deployed $650 million across three funds, raised $500 million in co-investments, and pioneered modern SPV structures that generated over $2 billion in additional profits for investors.

His investment portfolio spans many of the most iconic companies of the last two decades, including Airbnb, Robinhood, SpaceX, Slack, IonQ, DraftKings, Ipsy, Astra Space, Opendoor, Rent the Runway, Quip, OpenGov, and Curology.

Pishevar also founded Silicon Foundry, a corporate innovation advisory and incubator whose founding members included Salesforce, eBay, Comcast/DreamWorks, and Condé Nast. From Silicon Foundry, he ideated and incubated companies such as Do.com (acquired by Amazon) and Brandless, and he ultimately scaled the platform into a global innovation hub later acquired by Kearney.

In 2022, Pishevar took quantum-computing pioneer D-Wave (QBTS) public through his SPAC, DPCM Capital, raising $300 million alongside leaders such as Eric Schmidt, Peter Diamandis, and Emil Michael—establishing one of the first major public-market quantum computing companies.

Through the Pishevar Institute, his family foundation, he supports education, scientific innovation, and human rights initiatives around the world. He endowed a professorship at Howard University, backed organizations such as Build.org and the Malala Fund, and was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Fulbright Board, recognizing his commitment to expanding global opportunity.

Before entering entrepreneurship, Pishevar was a researcher at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where his scientific work contributed to patents for malaria treatments and publications in JAMA and Neuroscience Letters. 

With a career defined by creating new industries and accelerating technological frontiers, Shervin Pishevar continues to shape the future through Sofreh Capital—building, funding, and stewarding companies that will define the next generation of human progress. For Pishevar, innovation is not a slogan but a guiding philosophy: a belief that bold ideas, empowered founders, and principled technology can expand opportunity and improve lives around the world.

⁠15+ years of experience in financial markets across the US, Europe and Asia. He joined Sofreh in 2026

•⁠ ⁠⁠Led Private Investments at previous funds leading investments in SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Revolut, Monzo, Neo4j, Bolt and thatgamecompany.

•⁠ ⁠Former Global Head of Technology at TAP Advisors and the Head of Internet and Digital Media Investment Banking

for EMEA and APAC at JP Morgan. Focused on Digital Media, Gaming, AI, B2B SaaS and data infrastructure

throughout his banking and investment career having advised on +100B in transactions globally

•⁠ ⁠Spent 8 years as a US Naval Officer with deployments in the Middle East and Asia

Afshin Pishevar is the CEO & Founder of Umojify. Previously he was the Chief Legal Officer of Hyperloop Technologies . The Hyperloop One concept, introduced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a form of high-speed ground transportation that would shuttle people and goods at unprecedented speeds of 760 miles per hour.

Noor Pahlavi is a Partner at Sofreh Capital. In this role, she is actively involved in sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, conducting due diligence, supporting portfolio companies, and contributing to the firm’s capital formation efforts. She works closely with founders to refine positioning, navigate growth inflection points, and build the strategic and operational foundations required for long-term success.

Prior to Sofreh, Noor built her career at financial communications and strategic advisory firms, where she worked alongside management teams and investors across both public and private markets. Her experience focused on preparing companies for critical moments—capital raises, transactions, and high-stakes communications—giving her a practical understanding of how businesses are evaluated, financed, and positioned for growth. This background directly informs her approach at Sofreh, where she brings both an investor’s lens and an operator’s sensitivity to the challenges founders face.

In parallel with her work in finance, Noor is an active voice on issues including human rights, education, environmental sustainability, and civic engagement. Her investment perspective reflects a long-term view on value creation, with a focus on businesses that are both commercially strong and positioned to contribute meaningfully to broader societal progress.

Noor holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Cyrus Pishevar is a Partner at Sofreh Capital. He began his career at the firm in 2018 as an Associate, later serving as Principal before being promoted to Partner in 2024. In his current role, he focuses on sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities, supporting portfolio companies, and contributing to the firm’s broader investment strateg.

In parallel with his work at Sofreh, Cyrus is the Founder and CEO of Persopolis, a real estate development company based in Miami focused on residential projects. His experience as an operator gives him a practical understanding of execution, capital deployment, and the challenges of building and scaling businesses—perspective he brings into his work with founders and portfolio companies.

Cyrus is also active in early-stage investing, having participated in seed investments across a range of consumer and technology companies. He studied business at Pepperdine University.

Darya Pishevar is a Partner at Sofreh Capital, where she specializes in leading investment sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio support, focusing on early-stage technology and consumer companies. With a unique combination of operational experience as a founder and CEO and her venture investing acumen, Darya excels at identifying high-growth opportunities and empowering founders to scale their businesses effectively.

Before joining Sofreh Capital, Darya founded and served as CEO of Darya Hope Beauty, a science-led skincare brand. In this role, she oversaw product development, regulatory compliance, retail partnerships, and digital marketing, enriching her hands-on approach to enhancing portfolio company strategies at Sofreh Capital.

Darya is also an active speaker at industry conferences and holds advisory positions within the beauty, consumer, and sustainability sectors, maintaining a robust network across product, retail, and investment communities.

Her educational background encompasses cross-disciplinary studies in entrepreneurship, product development, and business management. Passionate about sustainability and science-backed products, Darya's investment philosophy aligns with Sofreh Capital's mission to empower businesses that create a meaningful impact in their industries.

Kurt Bromund is a security and operations professional with over 20 years of experience leading executive protection, risk management, and complex operational programs across government and private sectors. He specializes in integrating security strategy into high-performance environments, supporting executive leadership through risk-informed decision-making and operational planning.

He serves as Director of Operations & Logistics for Sofreh Capital, where he leads security strategy and operational planning in support of a private family office engaged in investment and entrepreneurial ventures. In this role, he directs protective operations, global travel security, vendor coordination, and risk mitigation efforts across corporate and high-visibility environments, while supporting executive decision-making through risk analysis, protective intelligence, and due diligence.

His background includes service as a Special Agent with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, where he led global executive protection operations in support of senior Department of Defense leadership. In addition to his government service, he has led executive protection and security operations in corporate and high-profile environments, directing integrated security programs and operational strategy to support executive decision-making and mitigate risk across complex environments.