Peeyush Ranjan
About Peeyush Ranjan
Peeyush Ranjan is based in Palo Alto, California. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Fermi AI, and Crunchbase also lists him as a Partner at Meraki Labs since April 2025. Fermi AI is an AI-first edtech company for high-school STEM. Tracxn lists it as founded in 2025 by Ranjan and Mukesh Bansal, and as headquartered in Singapore.
His earlier career was in large engineering organizations. Market data pages list him at Google from 2006 to 2015, then as CTO and head of engineering at Flipkart from 2015 to 2016. He later held a VP engineering role at Airbnb, where one conference bio says he was VP of Infrastructure, and then returned to Google. At Google, a conference bio says he led the Payments organization and the Next Billion Users initiative. It also says he led teams in Mobile, Enterprise and Search. In a LinkedIn post he describes his work on Google India engineering, the Moto G, Flipkart and Google Pay. A later LinkedIn headline of his reads VP, Google Assistant.
Crunchbase lists a B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur (1995), an MS in Computer Science from Purdue University (1996) and an MBA from the University of Washington (2006). He also holds board and advisory roles. MarketScreener lists him as an independent director at Airship AI Holdings since 2023 and at Capillary Technologies India since 2025. Skyflow announced him to its advisory board in 2026.
Crunchbase counts 5 personal investments, 5 portfolio companies, 0 lead investments and 1 exit, with no IPO exits. The Crunchbase investments are HackerRank (Series B), SpotDraft (seed), Koji (Series B), Nala (seed) and Hatica (seed). Crunchbase does not show a lead investor on any of them.
Other databases count differently. PitchBook classes him as an individual angel investor with 9 investments, 7 portfolio companies and 2 exits. It dates deals from 2015 (HackerRank) to February 2026 (Clearly AI). Tracxn counts 6 companies and dates the start of his startup investing to 2014. These totals differ because each database tracks different deals, so treat any single count as approximate. Round sizes and his own check amounts are not disclosed in the sources reviewed.
PitchBook lists two investments with AI in the company name: Ripik.AI, listed as an early-stage VC deal with no date, and Clearly AI, listed as a seed round on 10 February 2026. Neither appears in the Crunchbase count of 5.
His operating work is also in AI. Fermi AI is built around an adaptive tutor that gives step-by-step guidance instead of final answers. In the January 2026 launch release he said most AI tools focus on speed and answers. Fermi.ai reported a three-month pilot with 79 students before launch. He has also described leading large-scale platform and AI initiatives at Google and Airbnb, according to Skyflow's announcement of his advisory role.
The public record points to early-stage, mostly software investments. Tracxn lists his top sectors as Enterprise Applications and FinTech, plus seven others, across India, the United States and one further country. PitchBook's industry tags for his deals include business and productivity software, financial services, human capital services and education. NALA, which he backed in 2022, is based in Tanzania, so the portfolio is not limited to the US and India.
Round stages in the records range from seed to Series D, and he appears as one of many investors in the larger rounds. He has not published a check size, thesis or pitch preferences in any source reviewed, so none are stated here. Founders with a connection to payments, India or emerging markets, developer and enterprise software, or AI education have the closest match to his background and past deals. That is an inference from his record, not a stated preference.
- HackerRank: Series B per Crunchbase. PitchBook dates the deal to July 2015 and tags it as human capital services.
- SpotDraft: seed round per Crunchbase, dated February 2019 by PitchBook. It is tagged as business and productivity software.
- Koji: Series B per Crunchbase. Tracxn dates its $20M round to January 2022 and lists Koji as his portfolio exit.
- NALA: seed round dated 27 January 2022, a financial services company in Tanzania. Tracxn lists the round at $10M.
- Hatica: seed round listed on Crunchbase as his latest investment. The date is not shown.
- Clearly AI: seed round dated 10 February 2026 per PitchBook.
- Ripik.AI: early-stage VC deal per PitchBook, with no date.
- Cult.fit: Series D dated May 2019 per Tracxn, which lists it among his most notable investments.
- crunchbase.com/person/peeyush-ranjan
- pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/265663-45
- tracxn.com/d/people/peeyush-ranjan/__SBs94yrY41qzB3ZJQVzkJmYr_3EZnlMWr
- tracxn.com/d/companies/fermi/__123bHY0HSDQ3-RjcZiqcDZdOFyQdEc5D5PVvIRx
- finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-google-gm-vp-peeyush-120000170.html
- citybiz.co/article/817610/skyflow-appoints-pramod-raghavendran-peeyush
- conference-board.org/bio/pdfbio.cfm?bioid=7577
- in.marketscreener.com/insider/PEEYUSH-RANJAN-A1QAGA
Investing activity
Peeyush Ranjan has made 5 investments according to Crunchbase across 5 portfolio companies, and has seen 1 exit and founded 1 company.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Peeyush Ranjan
Who is Peeyush Ranjan?
He is CEO and Co-Founder of Fermi AI, based in Palo Alto, California. He previously held engineering leadership roles at Google, Airbnb and Flipkart, and he invests as an angel.
Does Peeyush Ranjan invest in AI startups?
PitchBook lists Clearly AI (seed, February 2026) and Ripik.AI among his investments. He also runs an AI edtech company, Fermi AI. His broader portfolio is mostly enterprise software and fintech.
What is Peeyush Ranjan's check size?
It is not public. No source reviewed states his check size, and the round sizes listed for his deals are the full rounds, not his share.
What stage does Peeyush Ranjan invest in?
His recorded deals run from seed to Series D, with several seed rounds such as SpotDraft, Nala and Hatica. He is not listed as lead investor on any Crunchbase deal.
What companies has Peeyush Ranjan backed?
Crunchbase lists HackerRank, SpotDraft, Koji, Nala and Hatica. PitchBook and Tracxn add companies such as Clearly AI, Ripik.AI, Cult.fit and Virgio.
How can founders contact Peeyush Ranjan?
The only public channel found is his LinkedIn profile, where he is based in Palo Alto. Warm introductions through shared contacts are likely to work best, and he has not said how he prefers to be pitched.
Is Peeyush Ranjan an angel investor?
Yes. Peeyush Ranjan invests personally as an angel and is CEO & Co-Founder at Fermi AI. Crunchbase counts 5 investments and 1 exit.
Where is Peeyush Ranjan based?
Peeyush Ranjan is based in Palo Alto, California, United States.
How can founders reach Peeyush Ranjan?
Founders on Lounge can see Peeyush Ranjan'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 Peeyush Ranjan to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.