Deepak Verma

Deepak Verma is a Partner at Innospark Ventures, a Boston-based, AI-only venture fund founded in 2018 by AI scientist and serial entrepreneur Dr. Venkat Srinivasan. Innospark backs early-stage companies where artificial intelligence is central to solving complex problems, investing its own capital and acting as an operational partner to founders. Verma has served as a Partner there since roughly 2019, sourcing and supporting investments across enterprise, life sciences, and education.

Uniquely among the firm's partners, Verma also runs a portfolio company from the inside: in April 2024 he became CEO of EnglishHelper, an Innospark-backed company that uses AI to help people build reading, comprehension, and English-language literacy — a mission he has championed publicly for India and other non-English markets. This dual investor-operator role gives him direct, day-to-day operating experience alongside his venture work.

His earlier career spans operating and social-impact leadership. He was Managing Director of Nv Vogt Singapore Pvt. Ltd., an Asia-focused solar power developer he co-founded with a German solar company; COO of Emergent Ventures India; and CEO of the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI), leading large-scale global health programs.

Academically, Verma is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and holds an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

• Invests exclusively in applied AI — companies where AI is the core of the business, not a feature — consistent with Innospark's AI-only mandate.
• Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A, with an average check around $2M and the ability to lead rounds.
• Sector concentration: enterprise software, healthcare/life sciences, biotech, and education.
• Describes himself as a "mission-driven" investor in applied AI, with a signature focus on AI-driven English-language learning for India and other emerging, non-English-speaking markets.
• Brings an operator's lens — as EnglishHelper's CEO he values founders who can execute and translate AI into real-world outcomes, mirroring Innospark's "builder's mindset" of being a rigorous, hands-on partner.