Inside an Emerging Venture Fund: Deep Tech, AI & Community-Driven Investing

​What does it take to build a venture fund in today’s market, particularly in sectors as fast-moving and noisy as AI and deep tech?

​Join us for a candid conversation with the founder of Project Ventures, Shahryar Barati, an emerging manager investing in deep tech and AI opportunities connected to the Imperial ecosystem. We’ll discuss the journey from thesis to launch, how real opportunities are identified amid AI hype, and the challenges of building differentiated access to exceptional founders.

​The conversation will also explore a broader question: how can venture investing become more accessible?

​From fund structure to investor participation and community-building, we’ll examine what a more inclusive and engaged model of venture capital could look like.

Shahryar Barati is the Founder and Managing Partner of Project Ventures, an early-stage VC backing deep tech and AI start-ups from the Imperial ecosystem. A start-up operator and investor, he previously co-founded an early-stage start-up and helped launch one of the UK’s first automated VC funds. A triple Imperial alumnus, he focuses on founders applying frontier science to real-world challenges.