NTTVC Research
Firm Overview
NTTVC is an independent venture capital firm formed in partnership with NTT, one of the world's largest technology companies (Fortune 100, $109B annual revenue). Founded by serial entrepreneur and investor Vab Goel in 2019, with its $500M flagship fund publicly announced in October 2020, NTTVC is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA (Silicon Valley). The firm distinguishes itself by offering portfolio companies not just capital, but privileged access to NTT's global ecosystem — 80 countries, 120,000 enterprise customers (50% outside Japan), 80 million mobile subscribers, and a $22B+ systems integration business.
Investment Thesis
NTTVC backs founders with the vision and energy to build transformative technology companies. Their core thesis is that the most impactful companies are built at the intersection of technical innovation and global enterprise distribution. The firm focuses on three primary verticals: enterprise technology, digital health, and AI/ML-powered innovations. They position their partnership with NTT as a unique structural advantage — portfolio companies gain access to a global channel that drives $5B+ annually in technology company revenue, a 310,000-person enterprise customer base, and NTT's deep systems integration capabilities.
Core investment philosophy principles:
- "In challenge, we find opportunity" — counter-cyclical conviction investing
- "When we invest, it's together" — long-term partnership orientation
- "Change doesn't happen overnight" — patient, multi-stage commitment
- Do it all with integrity — founders-first approach rooted in trust
Stage Focus
NTTVC invests across all stages from Seed through Series B, with the strongest conviction at Seed and Series A:
- Seed: Leads or co-leads rounds for companies with early product and clear market insight
- Series A: Leads or co-leads for companies with product-market fit
- Series B: Participates as existing investor with follow-on capital
- Has made late-stage investments (e.g., Volocopter Series D in 2021) when strategic fit is strong
Check Size
NTTVC does not publicly disclose check sizes. Based on portfolio analysis:
- Seed rounds: Estimated $3M–$8M lead positions
- Series A: Estimated $5M–$15M in co-lead positions
- Reserves: Maintains reserves for portfolio follow-ons across all stages
The firm led Isotopes AI's $20M seed (September 2025) and co-led Neysa's $30M Series A (October 2024) — indicating meaningful lead positions.
Recent Activity (2024–2025)
NTTVC has remained active as of late 2025, with demonstrated deployment from their fund:
- September 2025: Led Isotopes AI's $20M seed round. Isotopes is an AI agent company (founded by former Scale AI CTO Arun Murthy) solving enterprise data fragmentation challenges.
- August 2025: Participated in Seemplicity's $50M Series B for AI-driven exposure management — NTTVC was a Series A lead investor.
- October 2024: Co-led Neysa's $30M Series A (with Z47 and Nexus Venture Partners) for India's first GPU AI cloud platform.
- June 2024: Portfolio exit — Shoreline (automated cloud remediation) acquired by NVIDIA for approximately $100M. NTTVC was an original investor from NTTVC's inception.
- August 2025: Portfolio exit — Pramana (digital pathology) acquired by Evident Scientific. Pramana was a spin-out from nference (another NTTVC portfolio company).
Fund status: Actively deploying from the $500M Fund I.
Portfolio Highlights
NTTVC has invested in 17 companies across enterprise tech, healthcare/digital health, security, and AI infrastructure:
Enterprise & AI Infrastructure:
- Celona (celona.io) — Private 5G enterprise solutions; partnered with NTT for deployment
- Tetrate (tetrate.io) — Enterprise service mesh bridging traditional and cloud-native workloads; launched AI Agent Router Service in 2025
- Shoreline (shoreline.io) — DevOps automated remediation; acquired by NVIDIA ~$100M (June 2024)
- Isotopes AI (isotopes.ai) — AI agent for enterprise data fragmentation; led $20M seed (Sept 2025)
- Alby — AI platform for ecommerce companies
- Kibsi (kibsi.com) — Low-code computer vision platform
- Neysa (neysa.ai) — GPU AI cloud platform for GenAI enterprise adoption (India)
Digital Health:
- Eko Health (ekohealth.com) — AI-powered cardiac and respiratory disease detection with SENSORA platform; secured CMS OPPS national payment coverage
- nference (nference.com) — Biomedical knowledge synthesis platform
- Pair Team (pairteam.com) — Next-generation primary care platform serving as digital front door for health practices
- Pramana (pramana.ai) — Digital pathology; acquired by Evident Scientific (August 2025)
- Anumana (anumana.com) — AI-driven health tech for early disease detection using deep learning
- Vimana — Healthcare (stealth)
Security:
- Seemplicity (seemplicity.ai) — AI-driven exposure management and security orchestration; raised $50M Series B (Aug 2025)
- Spyderbat (spyderbat.com) — Cloud native runtime security and intrusion prevention
Other:
- Volocopter (volocopter.com) — Urban air mobility (Series D investment, March 2021)
- UDP Labs — Early portfolio company (original 2020 portfolio)
Notable exits: Shoreline → NVIDIA (~$100M), Pramana → Evident Scientific
Team
Vab Goel, Founding Partner ([email protected]) Serial entrepreneur with 20+ years in technology and venture capital. Founded Virtela (world's first leading overlay network company, acquired by NTT), held senior engineering roles at Sprint and Qwest/CenturyLink. Spent 19 years as partner at Norwest Venture Partners making early-stage investments across the US, Israel, and Asia. His portfolio exits include companies acquired by Google, Oracle, RedHat, Verizon, Juniper, and Logitech. BS in Electrical Engineering, George Mason University.
Fay Hazaveh Costa, Partner ([email protected]) Entrepreneurial investor who helped launch Hewlett Packard Enterprise's venture group. Previously at Norwest Venture Partners. Led investments in Hexadite (acq. by Microsoft), Shape Security (acq. by F5), Adallom (acq. by Microsoft), ThoughtSpot, and Mesosphere. Bachelor's in music with minor in business, Indiana University.
Vishnavi Paruchuri, Investor ([email protected]) Focuses on enterprise, digital health, and fintech. Prior roles at Touchdown Ventures, VU Venture Partners, Ford Motor Company. BA from UC Berkeley; MA in Financial Economics, Oxford.
Jessica Mullins Camburn, CFO Handles financial operations for the fund.
Lindsay Aspegren, Special Partner Strategic role within the NTTVC network.
Advisors:
- Abhijit Dubey — Global CEO, NTT Ltd
- Eric S. Yuan — Founder & CEO, Zoom
- Keerti Melkote — Founder & Ex President, Aruba Networks
- Rami Rahim — CEO, Juniper Networks
Geographic Focus
Primarily US (Silicon Valley/Bay Area), with global reach through NTT's network in 80 countries. Has invested in India (Neysa) and Israel (Seemplicity) in addition to US-based companies.
Decision Process
Partnership-driven. Vab Goel leads as Founding Partner with Fay Hazaveh Costa as Partner. Both appear to co-invest and shape the firm's strategy. For early-stage deals, Vab Goel is often the lead partner.
Founder Preferences
NTTVC backs founders with deep domain expertise who can benefit from NTT's enterprise ecosystem as a go-to-market accelerant. Particularly strong fit for:
- Enterprise/B2B tech companies needing global distribution
- Healthcare tech companies with clinical workflow applications
- AI/ML companies building products for large enterprises
- Founders who have previously built and scaled companies (serial entrepreneurs preferred)
The firm explicitly values "clarity of vision and purpose" and founders who challenge convention.