From Day 1, Contrary's mission has been to identify and invest in the world's most exceptional people. It’s enabled us to be early backers of companies like Zepto, Ramp, Hallow, Anduril, and many others.

Our student Venture Partners are a key part of this process. They’re an exceptional team of builders who work closely with us to discover the next generation of founders at universities across the US and Canada.

Each year, we run a rigorous recruitment and selection process to identify a small number of VPs to join our community. This year was one of our most selective and competitive years yet: we received nearly 1500 applications, of which we ultimately accepted 20.

They are a diverse group of exceptional builders, founders, researchers, investors, writers, engineers, and everything in between, and we are thrilled today to welcome them to the Contrary family.

This year’s class includes:

• Current and former founders who have raised over $15M+ in venture capital
• Thiel fellows, competitive programmers, Wimbledon players, published researchers, and former investors
• Product builders with apps that have served 1M+ users
• Musicians (tabla and jori players, jazz singers, and violinists) who have performed at venues around the world
• Builders of spectrofluorometers, mushroom-picking robots, solar plants, and photonic chips

As we’ve gotten to know them over the past few weeks, we couldn’t be more excited to start working together. We’re thrilled to welcome the following new Venture Partners to the Contrary family!

Abhay Ratti - Waterloo

Hi - I'm Abhay, a sophomore in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. I'm deeply fascinated by robotics and manufacturing. I recently worked as a mechanical engineering intern at a large-format additive manufacturing startup in Switzerland designing factory automations and helping scale production of aerospace and defense tooling. Prior to that, I started the Waterloo Hacker Fab, an open-source, DIY chip fab where we built all the tools and processes necessary to design NMOSFET transistors completely from scratch. I'm now focused on developing hardware for SOTA dexterous robotics - pushing toward generalizable models for physical intelligence. Outside of work, I love to hike, watch hockey (go Habs!), and learn new languages.

Abhinav Reddy - Dartmouth

Hey! I’m Abhi, a junior at Dartmouth studying EE and Math. I’m interested in ASIC/VLSI design as well as better design and verification tooling. Before Contrary, I did YC (S24) building custom silicon for ternary weight transformer models. I do research at Dartmouth concerning robustness and generalization in machine learning models! In my free time I lift, bicycle, and read!

Anant Khandelwal - Georgia Tech

Hey! I’m Anant Khandelwal, a current second-year at Georgia Tech studying Computer Science and Math. Last summer, I was at Palantir Technologies, working on making the setup and monitoring of distributed communication for the US Government easier and more secure. I’ve worked at startups developing advanced medical-grade gaze-tracking techniques and photonic chips for matrix multiplication, and at school, I’m particularly involved in research on federated learning methods and efficient compute methods. I’ve recently picked up pickleball at Tech, and I enjoy reading policy analysis works and registering voters in my home state of Virginia.

Anika Somaia - Columbia

Hi! I'm Anika, a junior at Columbia studying Math and Computer Science. I'm currently taking a semester off to research and build AI observability products at LangChain. I lead research at Columbia's AI Alignment Club and previously worked on generative video models at Pika. I love playing tennis (and have competed at Wimbledon!), snowboarding, and house music.

Annmaria Antony - Stanford

Hello! I’m Annmaria, a third-year at Stanford studying computer science with a focus on AI and systems. I’m currently a researcher at Integrated Biosciences, a Sutter Hill–backed startup using deep learning to study aging biology. Previously, I worked on VLSI tools and LLM benchmarking at NVIDIA and Intel and conducted neuroscience research at Harvard Medical School. I’m obsessed with learning systems—both biological and artificial—and hope to witness the reverse-engineering of the human brain in my lifetime. Outside of work, you might find me debating with the Stanford team, hunting for new coffee shops, or writing fiction late at night.

Arjun Nargolwala - Penn

Hey! I'm Arjun, a student at Penn M&T studying computer science and economics. I'm passionate about building autonomous systems at scale, particularly with applications in enterprise and research contexts. Before joining Contrary, I was a Research Engineer at Labelbox AI and a Kleiner Perkins Engineering Fellow, with previous experience in robotics, ML theory, and AI infra. Outside of work, you'll find me watching sports, playing chess or poker, or hanging out with friends!

Armaan Aggarwal - Michigan

Hey, I'm Armaan! I'm an incoming freshman at the University of Michigan and currently work full-time at Replit as an engineer. Previously, I created Bessy, a mobile app I exited shortly after graduating high school, and was a founding engineer at Coconote, a consumer AI company. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music, going on walks, and exploring engineering experiments.

Armaan Gupta - Penn

Hey, I’m Armaan! I’m a triplet — (the middle child). Being a triplet has shown me what a near-perfect equilibrium is like. My goal in my life is to move the world towards this equilibrium, and to fold the noise in the periphery. In the meanwhile, I focus on the people around me and what I can learn from the world. I love to read, I love to talk with my friends, and I love to go for walks and exercise.

Aryan Saha - Princeton

Hey! I’m a junior at Princeton majoring in computer engineering, with minors in materials science and quantitative/computational biology. I'm interested in helping computers learn science, and how to leverage these tools to accelerate discovery. Currently, I’m researching machine learning models used to accelerate materials discovery in the Rosen Group, working with high-throughput computing and quantum-chemical calculations. Always happy to chat in anything AI for Science, computational chemistry/bio, or more! I love meeting new people, exploring new coffee shops, and long bike rides! Feel free to reach out!

Dilzafer Singh - Harvard

Hey! I’m a first-year undergrad at Harvard studying applied math and economics. I founded Arcafeed (AI agents for financial research). I’m also currently exploring the agent observability space. I’m passionate about AI, fintech, economic policy, and music. This summer, I contributed to research with UC Berkeley economists and MIT's J-PAL on evidence-based policy solutions to address the drug epidemic in Punjab, India. As a classically-trained tabla and jori player, I’ve performed at venues around the world, including Symphony Hall, Festival of Tabla, House of Blues, and Parliament of the World’s Religions. My fusion music content generates 1M+ views across social media platforms. I grew up in the Boston area - go Celtics!

Jake Hillard - Stanford

Hey there, I'm a second year PhD student at Stanford's Magnetic Resonance Lab. Previously I was cofounder and CEO for 6.5 years at Red Leader, a lidar company focused on digital signal processing to make self-driving cars safer. When I'm not studying the blade of deep tech passion projects, you can find me doing yoga, laughing with friends, and trying good food. I love passing on my knowledge of entrepreneurship and encouraging others to start their own companies. Let's talk!

Justine Mach - Columbia

Hey! I’m Justine, an undergrad at Columbia pursuing a double major in CS and History (specializing in East Asian Studies). I’m currently exploring climate tech, specifically with a focus on developing regions. At Columbia, I am conducting research at the Decision Engine for Socioeconomic Disaster Risk at the Climate School, publishing my Vietnam War history research under the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, and lead the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs. I am also a filmmaker, love photography and sing jazz!

Melody Yu - MIT

Hi! I'm Melody, an undergrad at MIT studying computer science. I'm originally from Southern California and I've worked largely with agentic workflows, frontier AI research, and DeFi—previously building projects like agentic voice trading bots at a DeFi startup. I also enjoy competitive programming and have loved growing community with the Competitive Programming Initiative/usaco.guide. I'm always down to meet new people and chat about anything tech or beyond. Outside of work, I love vlogging, skiing, sitcoms, & traveling!

Rhea Malik - Penn

Hi! I’m Rhea, a sophomore at Penn M&T studying computer science and finance. I’ve spent the past few summers building and interning at early-stage startups, most recently in SF at Numeric, a Series A AI for accounting startup. I’m broadly excited about building in the fintech and healthcare spaces, and have recently been diving deeper into machine learning research, especially around interpretability. In my free time, you can usually find me running, playing squash, or exploring the outdoors with friends.

Samuel Chen - Stanford

Hey, I'm Samuel Chen, a sophomore at Stanford. I'm studying materials science and physics and enjoy thinking about interesting technical problems in energy. I'm currently on leave working on new ideas in fusion transmutation at Marathon Fusion, and I've previously worked at Antora Energy and SLAC as well as materials labs in Stony Brook, UNLV, and my garage. I was born and raised in Las Vegas and enjoy rock climbing, poker, and spending time with friends.

Tejas Sukesh - Duke

Hey y’all! I’m Tejas, a Duke Freshman, studying Electrical and Computer Engineering and Philosophy. I have been spending my time doing deep-dives, recently building in personalization/genUI, and now RL + foundation models for general purpose humanoids. Before starting at Duke, I worked in spectroscopy -- creating software automation for research labs and rebuilding a $10k spectrofluorometer using my iPhone and $5 of material. In my free time, I enjoy solving difficult math problems, watching Dallas sports, and mixing music.

Thanush Patlolla - MIT

Hi! I’m Thanush, a freshman at MIT studying EECS and Physics. I’m generally interested in foundation model research, robotic intelligence, computer architecture, and device physics. Previously, I did physics olympiad and computational materials science research at Duke (density functional theory simulations). In my free time, I enjoy playing guitar, building audio electronics, photography, climbing, and collecting vinyls.

Theo Grether-Murray - Berkeley

Hi, I’m Theo! I’m a freshman at UC Berkeley in the MET program, pursuing a dual degree in engineering and business (Materials Science + Business). My passion lies in researching Renewable Energy, previously interning at a company that builds solar plants in rural Uganda. Additionally, I love building community events for the startup ecosystem, such as Piñata Pitch, a startup competition where winners win $10,000 for their project and break a Piñata!

Tobias Grether-Murray - Waterloo

Hi! I'm Tobias, I study Mechatronics Engineering at Waterloo with a minor in physics. Before college, I studied at the Montreal Conservatory training to become a pro violinist. Now I work on hardware: I've built things spanning from heat pumps to mushroom-picking robots to battery manufacturing lines at Tesla, and last year co-founded the Waterloo Hackerfab. Outside of tech, I enjoy reading philosophy and history and writing my blog "Cadenza". Please don't hesitate to reach out!

Zack Grymes - Stanford

Hi! I’m Zack, a first-year MBA student at Stanford GSB. Prior to business school, I was a growth-stage investor at Insight Partners focused on vertical AI, vertical SaaS, and B2B & B2C marketplaces. Before that, I started my career at Morgan Stanley on their Equity Research team. I graduated from University of Utah where I double majored in Finance and Quantitative Analysis of Markets & Organizations. I’m originally from Utah and love anything and everything outdoors. I spend my free time Ironman training, climbing summits like Kilimanjaro and Annapurna, and learning to golf.