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.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mahesh Narayanan
Who is Mahesh Narayanan?
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. Before he began investing he taught anatomy and physiology, and spent fifteen years running startups in life sciences, with two exits.
Why did Mahesh Narayanan start investing in brain health?
Mahesh Narayanan founded Neuvation Ventures as a Baltimore-based seed fund backing deep tech, medtech, diagnostics, and biotech innovation in brain health. He started investing after his niece was diagnosed on the autism spectrum in March 2020, and in searching for solutions found that the science existed while the funding did not. On Open Door Salon he said there have been too many failures to show a lot of major capitalists that there are returns in the neuro space.
What does Mahesh Narayanan look for at seed stage?
Mahesh Narayanan sets the evidence bar at what he calls an MVP: some kind of minimum viable product his firm can see, carried much further than ideation. He also treats the payer and prescriber question as one founders should take up early. He has said on Open Door Salon that a drug can be made and brought to market and still fail if physicians are not willing to prescribe it or payers are not willing to pay for it.
How does Mahesh Narayanan work with founders?
Mahesh Narayanan uses a caddie analogy for the role he takes with founders, one his firm applies during diligence. As he described it on Open Door Salon: “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.”
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
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
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