Akbar Dawood

Akbar Dawood is an experienced investor focusing on disruptive early stage startups, particularly in deeptech, fintech, enterprise, biotech, and pharma sectors at Arc Ventures.

He has a strong background as a founder, having started a machine-learning, computer-vision startup that received funding from renowned VCs in San Francisco and New York. Additionally, he successfully led a biotech startup from FDA approval to market launch.

Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, Akbar commercialized technologies from universities and federal labs, managed a seed fund for the EPA, and initiated the DC NSF ICorps node.

His career commenced in the finance sector, working as an investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and on the trading floor at Credit Suisse.

Akbar Dawood pursued his undergraduate studies majoring in Economics, Markets & Management at Duke University.

Throughout his career, Akbar held key positions such as Principal at Arc Ventures, Strategic Advisor at Untethered Labs, Inc., Chief Financial Officer at Pathotrak, Co-Founder and COO at Grafiti, Inc., Mentor at AccelerateDC Venture Mentoring Service, and Director at the Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund at the University of Maryland.

He also served in interim executive roles across various startups including OmniSpeech, Remedium Technologies, University of Maryland startups, Resensys, and FlexEl LLC. Furthermore, Akbar was involved in financial analysis and investment banking roles at Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.