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Varun Gupta

Varun Gupta

Partner·Caffeinated Capital

New York, NY

Bio

Professional summary

Varun Gupta is a partner at Caffeinated Capital. The official team page says he joined the firm in 2020 and is a generalist investor who sourced companies such as Saronic and Twenty. Before investing, he worked as a data scientist and machine learning engineer at Affirm before its IPO, where he led development of credit underwriting systems. His prior experience also includes Expanse, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks, and Wealthfront. The source states he studied applied math, computer science, and AI at Stanford University, serves on the boards of Federato, Amca, and Luzern, and lives in New York.

Investment focus

Stage, sector, and overall fit

Stage

early-stageseedSeries A

Sector

generalistmachine learningfintechdefenseenterprise

Thesis

generalist investingmachine learning and data-informed businesseslong-term early-stage founder partnerships

Notable companies

Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed

SaronicTwentyAffirmExpanseWealthfrontFederatoAmcaLuzern

How to approach

Framing and angles for outreach

Pitch framing

Relevant for founders with technical, ML, fintech, defense, or enterprise angles who can benefit from a former operator and ML engineer's perspective.

Personalization hooks

  1. 1Mention his background building credit underwriting systems at Affirm if pitching fintech, risk, or ML infrastructure.
  2. 2Reference Saronic or Twenty only if the pitch has a credible defense, operations, or enterprise software angle.

Recent signals

What the partner has said or done recently

  • Caffeinated's 2026 press page includes recent Saronic and Amca activity, both relevant to companies listed on Gupta's official profile.

Background

Career, education, and skills

Career history

  • Caffeinated CapitalGeneral Partner2020 – Present
  • AmcaChairmanPresent
  • AffirmData Scientist / ML Engineer2020
  • Expanse (acq. by Palo Alto Networks)Engineer
  • WealthfrontAnalyst

Education

  • Stanford UniversityApplied Math, Computer Science, AI

Skills

Data scienceMachine learningFintech investingDefense techAI investing

Other partners at Caffeinated Capital

2 more profiles

Matthew Volosin

Matthew Volosin

Partner

Caffeinated Capital

Partner at Caffeinated overseeing the firm’s non-investment functions.

ComplianceFinanceFund administrationLegalLP relationsOperations
Raymond Tonsing

Raymond Tonsing

Partner

Caffeinated Capital

Raymond Tonsing founded Caffeinated in 2008 and is a partner known for backing companies from seed through IPO or acquisition.

Enterprise SaaS, FinTech, Defense, AIGeneralist across sectorsSeed-to-growth investments