A.J. (Ajay) Agarwal & Kenneth Caplan

Ajay Agarwal is a Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, where he has been since 2003, leading the firm's Bay Area offices. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds a patent for the "Method and Apparatus of Configuration Solutions." Before joining BCV, Ajay was a consultant at McKinsey & Company in their Los Angeles office.

Prior to his venture capital career, Ajay served as Head of Sales and Marketing at Trilogy, an early-stage enterprise software company, where he helped grow annual revenues from $1 million to $300 million. This operational experience as a company-builder deeply informs his approach to investing: he gravitates toward founders building category-defining companies and is known for backing startups at very early stages, often when they have only rudimentary prototypes.

Ajay has been recognized on the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Venture Capital Investors in 2012 and 2013, notably debuting as one of 38 new entrants at rank #96 in 2012. His investing track record includes multiple high-profile exits, including the landmark sale of Kiva Systems to Amazon for $775 million.

Ajay's investment thesis centers on early-stage application software companies that have the potential to define or redefine categories. His primary thematic areas include:

• Front-office applications and the revolution of sales & marketing functions -- backing companies that modernize the sales and marketing technology stack (e.g., Clari, Gainsight, Reprise).
• Digital commerce enablement -- investing in platforms that power modern commerce and logistics (e.g., Bloomreach, ShipBob, Kiva Systems).
• Bottom-up and developer-led software -- supporting product-led growth companies where adoption is driven by end users (e.g., Clockwise, SendGrid).
• Supply chain and industrial automation -- capitalizing on technology-driven transformation of logistics and manufacturing (e.g., FourKites, Vention).
• Intersection of application software and fintech -- vertical SaaS platforms with embedded financial services (e.g., Airbase, Argyle, Homebase).
• Big data and machine learning -- transforming business applications through AI-driven intelligence.

Kenneth A. Caplan is the Global Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone, one of the world's largest alternative asset management firms. He was promoted to this newly created Co-CIO role in August 2024, after serving as Global Co-Head of Real Estate. In his current capacity, he works in conjunction with business unit CIOs and Group Heads to provide firm-level investment oversight, primarily across Real Estate and Credit & Insurance (BXCI).

Since joining Blackstone in 1997, Caplan has been involved in over $100 billion of real estate acquisitions and initiatives across the United States, Europe, and Asia. His deal sheet includes some of Blackstone's most iconic transactions, including Equity Office Properties, Hilton Hotels, Logicor, and the GE Real Estate portfolio. Prior to Blackstone, he worked at Lazard Freres & Co. in the real estate investment banking group.

Caplan received an AB in Economics from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was named a John Harvard Scholar. Outside of Blackstone, he serves on the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep, a New York-based nonprofit leadership development organization. He is also known to make personal angel investments at the seed stage.

At the institutional level, Caplan's investment perspective is shaped by Blackstone's data-driven, macro-aware approach to real estate and credit markets. Key themes include:

• Supply-constrained real estate -- Blackstone sees a dramatic decline in new supply across virtually every real estate sector globally (down 60%+ across major U.S. sectors), which they believe will drive stronger rent growth.
• Debt capital cycle awareness -- Monitoring the overall cost of debt capital, which has declined approximately 40% from its 2023 peak, creating favorable conditions for real estate investment.
• International expansion -- Actively pursuing opportunities in markets like Israel, where Blackstone opened an office and invested in Priority Software post-October 7, 2023. Caplan has stated: "There's a real opportunity to invest here. Israel is incredibly resilient."
• Angel investing -- On a personal basis, Caplan makes seed-stage angel investments, though the specifics of his personal portfolio are not publicly detailed.