Kareem Amin
About Kareem Amin
Kareem Amin is the co-founder and CEO of Clay, an AI go-to-market platform based in New York. Press profiles say he was born in Egypt, raised in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and moved to Canada, where he studied engineering at McGill University.
Before Clay he was a program manager at Microsoft. He then co-founded Frame, an e-commerce tablet app that Sailthru acquired in 2012. After that he was VP of Product at The Wall Street Journal.
He co-founded Clay in 2017 with Nicolae Rusan, and Varun Anand joined as a third co-founder in 2021. Clay began as a tool to make programming accessible to more people and later focused on go-to-market teams. In 2026 it raised a $115M Series D led by Wellington Management at a $7.1B valuation. It had earlier raised a $100M Series C led by CapitalG at a $3.1B valuation.
Crunchbase lists three personal investments for Amin, including a Series A in 1001 AI and the Strix seed round. He is also named as an angel in the announcement of Baba's seed round of more than $6.5M, led by General Catalyst. The sources do not give years for the 1001 AI or Baba investments, and he has not published a check size or portfolio thesis that we could find.
The AI round on the Lounge deals desk is the Strix seed of $6.7M, announced in June 2026. Strix is an open-source AI security platform that uses autonomous agents to continuously pentest applications, APIs and codebases. Other investors in the round include Heavybit, a16z Scout Fund, Vercel, Activant Capital and 1984 Ventures. Crunchbase also lists his investment in the 1001 AI Series A.
The few public data points are AI and software companies at seed and Series A. No public statement from Amin on stage, sectors, geography or check size was found. His public interviews are mostly about running Clay, so founders should not assume a stated angel thesis.
- Strix: open-source AI security platform that uses autonomous agents to pentest code, APIs and cloud infrastructure; $6.7M seed, June 2026.
- 1001 AI: listed on Crunchbase as a Series A investment; year not public.
- Baba: named as an angel in its seed round of more than $6.5M led by General Catalyst; year not stated.
- crunchbase.com/person/kareem-amin
- crunchbase.com/organization/strix-7055
- vcbacked.co/company/strix
- pitchbook.com/profiles/company/1380944-44
- callbaba.com/blog/baba-raises-seed-round-from-general-catalyst
- review.firstround.com/podcast/clays-path-to-product-market-fit-buildin
- fwdstart.me/p/egypt-born-kareem-amin-s-clay-raises-115m-series-d-at-7-
- fwdstart.me/p/egypt-born-founder-clay-jumps-to-3-1b-valuation-with-100
Investing activity
Kareem Amin appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $7M. The most recent is Strix (Seed, $6.7M, Jun 2026).
Kareem Amin most often invests alongside Heavybit, Daniel Liem, Maza Ventures and Ivan Burazin, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Kareem Amin
Who is Kareem Amin?
Kareem Amin is the co-founder and CEO of Clay, an AI go-to-market platform in New York. He previously co-founded Frame and was VP of Product at The Wall Street Journal.
Has Kareem Amin invested in AI startups?
Yes. Crunchbase lists him as an investor in the Strix seed round ($6.7M, June 2026), an open-source AI security startup, and in the 1001 AI Series A.
What is Kareem Amin's angel check size?
No check size is public. We found no statement from him or any portfolio announcement that gives one.
What stage does Kareem Amin invest in?
The rounds we found are seed (Strix, Baba) and Series A (1001 AI). He has not published a stage preference.
How can founders reach Kareem Amin?
He is on X at @kareemamin and on LinkedIn. His X bio points to Clay, where he is CEO, and no personal investing site was found.
Is Kareem Amin an angel investor?
Yes. Kareem Amin invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Kareem Amin invested in?
Kareem Amin's AI investments include Strix. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Kareem Amin invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Kareem Amin has invested at Seed, with a median round of $7M.
Who does Kareem Amin co-invest with?
Kareem Amin's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Heavybit (1 deal), Daniel Liem (1 deal), Maza Ventures (1 deal), Ivan Burazin (1 deal) and Preston-Werner Ventures (1 deal).