About Us
Chaanakya Capital brings together investors, scientists, and operators with decades of experience across venture capital, healthcare, biotech, software, and engineering. Our team is driven by the belief that diverse expertise and diverse perspectives lead to better decisions and bigger outcomes.
Together, we’ve supported over 20 companies through investment, mentorship, and strategic advisory — unlocking 25x markups and helping visionary founders turn scientific breakthroughs into world-changing businesses.
Quick Stats
25x MARKUP
on investments in Neurotech and Medtech
15+ YEARS
in Venture Capital
15+ YEARS
in Technology and Software Engineering
20+ YEARS
in Neuroengineering, Life Sciences, Biotech, Medtech, and Healthcare
20+ COMPANIES
with success stories under our mentorship, advisory, or partnership
GLOBAL REACH
spanning North America, Latin America, India, Africa, and the European Union
Our Heroes
Varun Turlapati
Managing Director
Varun holds a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering and brings nearly two decades of technology industry experience across diverse verticals. His work with companies of all stages and sizes—from early-stage startups to established enterprises, including both successful ventures and instructive failures—has shaped his strategic perspective and deep understanding of what it takes to scale transformative technologies.
Varun serves on the board of a non-profit venture organization. His passion to study the brain brought him into the path of our Advisor (Dr Vega Leonel). Together they have consulted and advised MedTech startups. In the venture capital space, he worked as both Venture Analyst and Venture Partner with multiple firms, focusing on identifying and backing innovative founders who are building breakthrough solutions. His hands-on experience as a former Fractional CTO at an early-stage PropTech startup gives him unique insight into the operational challenges founders face when scaling deep tech innovations.
Beyond his corporate roles, Varun is developing a passion project in regenerative farming and land stewardship while maintaining ownership of two small businesses, reflecting his commitment to both technological innovation and sustainable impact—values that align with transformative healthcare solutions.
Johana Carolina M Vega Leonel, PhD
Advisor
Johana holds a PhD in NeuroEngineering and has dedicated decades to scientific research, including her work at the Center for Disease Control. Her interdisciplinary expertise spans tissue engineering, biochemistry, materials science, polymers, electrical engineering, and medicine—providing the deep scientific foundation essential for evaluating cutting-edge neurotech and medtech innovations.
Following her tenure as a postdoctoral researcher and teaching faculty at Stanford, Johana has established herself as a strategic advisor in the healthcare innovation ecosystem. She serves on boards and advises prosthetics, medtech, and healthcare startups while also providing guidance to venture capital firms investing in next-generation healthcare technologies, bringing crucial scientific rigor to investment decisions.
Additionally, Johana mentors and advises fast-growing companies operating at the cutting edge of brain-computer interface and bionics technologies, leveraging her deep scientific background to champion breakthrough innovations in human-machine integration—exactly the type of paradigm-shifting technologies that are reshaping the future of healthcare.
Gerald A. Grant, MD
Neurosurgeon Advisor
Gerald A. Grant, MD is a globally recognized neurosurgeon, surgeon-scientist, and academic leader, serving as Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery and Allan H. Friedman Distinguished Professor at Duke University School of Medicine. His clinical and research expertise spans pediatric and adult neurosurgery, brain tumors, epilepsy, and complex neurological disorders, with a strong focus on translating scientific innovation into improved patient care. Dr. Grant is also an MBA candidate who will soon graduate from the Duke Fuqua School of Business in May 2026.
Dr. Grant has led and participated in numerous NIH funded and industry-collaborative research programs focused on advanced neurotherapeutics, neuroimaging, and strategies to improve drug delivery to the central nervous system, including approaches addressing the blood-brain barrier. He has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications that have helped shape clinical standards and emerging neurotechnologies.
As a Neurosurgeon Advisor to Chaanakya Capital, Dr. Grant provides strategic guidance on clinical relevance, scientific rigor, regulatory readiness, and real-world adoption of neurotechnology and medtech innovations, helping ensure investments are aligned with unmet clinical needs, translational feasibility, and scalable healthcare impact.
Dhruv Mehrotra, PhD
Associate
Dhruv Mehrotra is a neuroscientist with a PhD from McGill University, where his research focused on neural dynamics and systems neuroscience. His work has explored how intrinsic and synaptic neural mechanisms contribute to sleep oscillations. He is passionate about scientific communication and innovation that bridges neuroscience research into real-world impact.
At Chaanakya Capital, Dhruv supports technical due diligence and market research for investment opportunities. He evaluates emerging innovations for scientific validity, clinical relevance, and commercialization potential. His scientific background and emerging interest in early-stage venture capital enable him to bridge the gap between cutting-edge neuroscience research and commercial application.
Prapthi Bathini, MD
Associate
Dr. Prapthi Bathini is a physician-investor with over a decade of experience spanning clinical pharmacology, family and lifestyle medicine, medical education, and research. She operates at the intersection of healthcare and technology, with expertise in preventive care, chronic disease management, drug safety, and translating clinical insights into scalable solutions that deliver measurable patient outcomes.
As an advisor and mentor to early-stage life sciences and healthcare startups, Prapthi focuses on diagnostics, women's health, neurotech, and digital preventive care. Her work encompasses clinical validation, real-world evidence generation, regulatory strategy, and commercialization—helping founders build scientifically credible products and scale operations to achieve tangible impact.
Trained in venture capital through the Venture Institute Fellowship (VC Lab), Prapthi combines deep clinical expertise with structured investment discipline to identify and support game-changing healthcare innovations. She is committed to backing mission-driven founders who unite rigorous science with strong execution, advancing equitable access to revolutionary technologies while creating substantial value for patients and investors alike.