Kiran Darisi
About Kiran Darisi
Kiran Darisi is Co-Founder and CTO of Atomicwork, an enterprise IT and operations software company. Crunchbase lists his location as Hyderabad, Telangana, India. His LinkedIn profile lists Singapore, and TechCrunch describes Atomicwork as based in San Francisco and Singapore.
He began his career as a software engineer at Zoho in 2006. Crunchbase lists him there as a Software Engineer and then a Senior Software Engineer until 2010. A profile of him says he worked on Zoho's NetFlow Analyzer. ZoomInfo also lists a short stint as a senior software engineer at Accenture Technology Solutions in 2010. He studied at Sri Venkateswara University.
In 2011 he joined the founding team of Freshworks, then known as Freshdesk. A Neon Fund podcast episode (September 2025) says he stayed about twelve years, until the company went public on Nasdaq. Public profiles describe his work as reliability, infrastructure and platform engineering. Crunchbase lists his Freshworks title as VP of Engineering. Tracxn lists him as a co-founder. He also founded SaaS@Scale, a tech initiative, according to his eChai Ventures speaker bio.
In September 2022 he co-founded Atomicwork with Vijay Rayapati and Parsuram Vijayasankar. TechCrunch reported that the three had known each other for about ten years. Atomicwork launched from stealth in September 2023 with $11 million in seed funding led by Blume Ventures and Matrix Partners India. In January 2025 it raised a $25 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures and Z47, with Battery Ventures, Blume Ventures and Peak XV Partners participating.
Crunchbase describes Kiran as an active angel investor and technical mentor to multiple startups. It says he participates in several VC funds, including AWS Super Angels, Iseed.vc, Together.fund and Upekkha. His eChai Ventures bio describes him as a limited partner serving on the boards of several venture firms, including Together, iseed.vc, FirstCheque, 100x.vc and UP funds.
The public data on his deal count is inconsistent. Crunchbase counts 4 investments in 4 portfolio companies, with no lead investments. CB Insights shows 2 investments. Tracxn shows 5 portfolio companies in one profile and 1 in another. Founders should treat any single count as approximate.
The dated deals found in public sources are an angel round in Varaha Studio in July 2019 and the Testsigma seed round in February 2022. He is also listed as an investor in Marut Drones, without a date in the sources reviewed. No individual check sizes are public.
No public source identifies specific AI startups that Kiran has backed as an angel. His clearest AI work is operating work at Atomicwork. The company describes its product as an agentic service management platform that combines an enterprise knowledge graph with AI agents to take routine work off IT teams.
He has also talked publicly about AI in enterprise software. He appeared on a Neon Fund podcast episode on B2B SaaS in the AI era. He has also shared Atomicwork's State of AI in IT report and its write-up on building its production AI assistant, Atom. Founders building AI products for IT, operations or enterprise workflows would be speaking to someone who builds in that area.
Crunchbase says his investment focus follows his operating experience in enterprise software. It names solutions that help organizations streamline technology operations and speed up digital transformation. Tracxn lists investments in India and the United States across enterprise applications, consumer and other sectors. A Hyderabad angel directory lists his interests as technology and retail.
He has not published a stage preference or check size. His known deals include a seed round (Testsigma) and an angel round (Varaha Studio). His fund commitments are mostly to early-stage and India-focused programs. No public statement from him sets out an investment thesis or what he looks for in a pitch.
His background suggests he is best placed to help founders with SaaS architecture, reliability and scaling engineering teams. He is also a repeat founder who has built a company that sells to enterprise buyers.
- Testsigma: seed round announced February 2022. CB Insights lists the round at $4.6M, with Accel and Boldcap Ventures among the co-investors.
- Varaha Studio: angel round in July 2019 according to Tracxn. The round amount is not his own check.
- Marut Drones: listed by Tracxn and a Hyderabad angel directory as an investment. The date and terms are not public.
- Atomicwork: not an angel investment. He co-founded it in 2022, and it has raised an $11M seed round and a $25M Series A.
- crunchbase.com/person/kiran-darisi
- cbinsights.com/investor/kiran-darisi
- tracxn.com/d/people/kiran-darisi/__xsDgKbICgw-VtLPabLZSQ7Nm7ZtF9sG3zPJ
- tracxn.com/d/people/kiran-darisi/__vAuCLNcM-IrFgmQVmiP7lUC3Ytqg5rkaIDu
- echai.ventures/speakers/kiran-darisi
- techcrunch.com/2023/09/04/atomicwork
- neon.fund/podcasts/if-big-ai-goes-everywhere-whats-left-for-b2b-saas-2
- linkedin.com/in/kirandarisi
Investing activity
Kiran Darisi has made 4 investments according to Crunchbase across 4 portfolio companies, and has seen 1 exit and founded 1 company.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Kiran Darisi
Who is Kiran Darisi?
Kiran Darisi is Co-Founder and CTO of Atomicwork. He was previously part of the founding team at Freshworks and an engineer at Zoho. He also invests as an angel.
What is Kiran Darisi's angel check size?
His check size is not public. Public databases show round totals for some deals, but those are not his individual checks.
What does Kiran Darisi invest in?
Crunchbase says his focus follows his enterprise software experience, especially tools that help organizations run and modernize IT operations. Tracxn also lists investments in India and the United States.
Which startups has Kiran Darisi invested in?
Public sources list Testsigma (seed, February 2022), Varaha Studio (angel, July 2019) and Marut Drones. Crunchbase counts 4 investments in total, but not all are named in the sources reviewed.
Which funds is Kiran Darisi involved with?
Crunchbase lists AWS Super Angels, Iseed.vc, Together.fund and Upekkha. His eChai Ventures bio also mentions FirstCheque and 100x.vc.
Is Kiran Darisi a good angel for an enterprise AI startup?
He is building an enterprise AI product at Atomicwork and helped scale Freshworks' infrastructure. That experience is relevant to enterprise SaaS and AI founders. He has not published AI-specific investments or a thesis.
Is Kiran Darisi an angel investor?
Yes. Kiran Darisi invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 4 investments and 1 exit.
Where is Kiran Darisi based?
Kiran Darisi is based in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
How can founders reach Kiran Darisi?
Founders on Lounge can see Kiran Darisi's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Kiran Darisi to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.