Rupa Ganatra Popat

Please note: These bios are autogenerated and designed to function like a wikipedia page NOT a sales page. If something is factually incorrect we are happy to update or take down.

Rupa Ganatra Popat is founder and Managing Partner of Araya Ventures, a London-based venture firm that invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups across health, fintech, future-of-work and commerce, with a deliberate focus on backing diverse founders.

She started her career in capital markets at RBC, where she spent close to a decade and rose to head of Middle East derivative sales. She left in 2014 to found FUTR Group, a global platform pairing brands with startups in retail and consumer innovation, and sold a majority stake to Pico Group in 2019. Araya Ventures launched in 2022 as a solo-GP fund, and has since closed a $26m debut fund and a $30m global follow-on, with anchor commitments from British Business Investments.

Rupa is also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures and runs the ĀVA Investment Academy, a community and course aimed at increasing the number of UK women angel investors. She was a UKBAA Angel Investor of the Year finalist in 2023 and 2024.