Mahesh Narayanan

Mahesh Narayanan

Managing Partner and Founder, Neuvation Ventures

Mahesh Narayanan is Managing Partner and Founder of Neuvation Ventures, a Baltimore-based seed fund backing deep tech, medtech, diagnostics, and biotech innovation in brain health.

He holds a master’s in biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania and bachelor’s degrees in history and neuroscience from Boston University. He taught anatomy and physiology, and spent fifteen years running startups in life sciences, with two exits.

He started investing after his niece was diagnosed on the autism spectrum in March 2020. Searching for solutions, he found that the science existed while the funding did not.

On Open Door Salon

“Karen Harris and Mahesh Narayanan on Why Alzheimer's Startups Still Struggle to Raise Money”
Karen Harris & Mahesh Narayanan · August 12, 2026

Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon

“There’s just been too many failures, to be honest … it just hasn’t been enough to show a lot of major capitalists that there’s returns in the neuro space.”Mahesh Narayanan, on Open Door Salon (on why early-stage neuroscience became so hard to fund)

“We can make the drugs, we can get them in the market, but if physicians aren’t willing to prescribe it or payers aren’t willing to pay for it, those drugs end up being a failure either way.”Mahesh Narayanan, on Open Door Salon (on why the payer conversation cannot wait)

“It has to be what we call an MVP. There has to be some kind of minimum viable product for us to see. It has to be much further than just an ideation.”Mahesh Narayanan, on Open Door Salon (on the seed-stage evidence bar)

“The goal of a caddie is not necessarily to go play the game for the golfer. The golfer is the one that’s hitting the ball. So it’s just telling them where to go.”Mahesh Narayanan, on Open Door Salon (on the caddie test his firm runs during diligence)

In this episode

Why neuroscience became the hardest early-stage money to raise
What changed: approvals, payer literacy, and neuroscientists becoming investors
The payer and prescriber conversation founders start far too late
Anthem covers a blood-based biomarker, and why that matters
NIH, DARPA, ARPA-H, and the dual-use advantage in brain health
Where private equity actually fits, and where it does not
Venture philanthropy and venture capital: convergence and divergence
What each investor needs to see from a founder
Red flags: part-time CEOs and founders who will not be coached
The caddie test
What neuro founders should be doing right now and are not

Topics

Brain Health InvestingSeed-Stage Venture CapitalNeurotechnologyAutism and NeurodevelopmentMedtech and DiagnosticsFounder DiligenceNon-Dilutive Federal FundingDeep Tech

Watch on Open Door Salon

Why Alzheimer's Startups Still Struggle to Raise Money | Karen Harris & Mahesh Narayanan

Open Door Salon brings life-sciences leaders into candid conversation. Every Monday, the week's takeaways land in your inbox.

Subscribe on Substack →

The Briefing

Need the life-sciences signal but short on time?

Get the free quarterly briefing: every guest from the quarter, in one sitting. What decides whether a therapy reaches a patient, gets funded, and can be trusted.