Faraj Aalaei

Faraj Aalaei is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and investor with more than 40 years in communications, networking, and semiconductor technology. Candou Ventures lists him as a Founding General Partner, and its bio says he has raised several hundred million dollars for semiconductor companies, executed multiple M&A deals, and taken two startups, Centillium Communications and Aquantia, through IPOs as CEO.

Before Candou, Aalaei co-founded and led Centillium Communications, a broadband-access semiconductor company. Candou says Centillium went from seed financing to a NASDAQ IPO in three years under his leadership. Earlier in his career, he worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Fujitsu Network Communications, and MA/COM; Centillium’s archived founder materials describe his Bell Labs and Fujitsu work in modem and broadband-access technologies.

Aalaei later led Aquantia as chairman and CEO. Marvell announced in May 2019 that it would acquire Aquantia for $13.25 per share in cash and completed the acquisition on September 19, 2019; Marvell said Aquantia’s chairman and CEO, Aalaei, joined Marvell in a senior leadership position. Candou’s bio says he then ran Marvell’s Networking and Automotive businesses, a billion-dollar revenue segment.

In 2024, Aalaei founded Cognichip, where he is founder, chairman and CEO. Cognichip is building Artificial Chip Intelligence for semiconductor design. His education includes a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, an MSEE from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from the University of New Hampshire, and an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Wentworth.

• Candou describes itself as an early seed investor that helps founders shape plans into investible businesses, fund seed rounds, and raise from tier-one VCs.
• The firm’s stated focus is “unique and defensible ideas”; it looks for differentiated technology, real problems, and large markets.
• Candou’s preferred first institutional seed check is $500K to $1M.
• Sector focus is BASIC: B2B, AI, SaaS, IoT, and cloud infrastructure. Its contact page also describes focus across platforms, AI, SaaS, IoT, and cloud infrastructure.
• Candou explicitly excludes life sciences, consumer products, B2C, and mobile apps.
• Aalaei’s own operating history suggests particular strength in semiconductor, networking, infrastructure, and deep technical markets where technical diligence and go-to-market sequencing matter.