# Nitesh Banta

> Nitesh Banta is the co-founder and CEO of B12, a New York-based AI website builder and online presence platform for professional service firms. A Harvard graduate who spent five years investing at General Catalyst and co-founded the student fund Rough Draft Ventures, he teamed up with his middle-school classmate Adam Marcus in 2015 to bet on a shift from do-it-yourself software to do-it-for-you software where AI and human experts work side by side. B12 has raised more than $40M and helped over 150,000 firms get online.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at B12
- **Organizations:** B12, Rough Draft Ventures, General Catalyst, Getaround, Summer Workation, The Parthenon Group, Google
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads B12, which has helped more than 150,000 professional service firms build an online presence., Raised over $40M in total venture funding for B12 across multiple rounds., As a General Catalyst investor, backed companies including Mark43, Handy, Brainly, and BigCommerce.

## Career timeline

- **Mid-2000s** — Interned on Google's Customer Insights and Analytics team while a student at Harvard, where he caught the startup bug.
- **Pre-2010** — Worked as an associate consultant at The Parthenon Group and founded Summer Workation; involved early with peer-to-peer car-sharing startup Getaround.
- **2010** — Joined venture capital firm General Catalyst, working from an office in Harvard Square.
- **2012** — Co-founded Rough Draft Ventures, a fund backing student entrepreneurs (portfolio included Mark43, Instabase, and Workflow).
- **2015** — Left General Catalyst after roughly five years and co-founded B12 with middle-school classmate Adam Marcus.
- **2016** — B12 raised a $12.4M round from Breyer Capital, Founder Collective, General Catalyst, and SV Angel.
- **2021** — B12 raised a $15.7M Series A led by Tola Capital, with General Catalyst, Naval Ravikant, and Breyer Capital.
- **2022** — B12 launched a free version of its website builder and the Firm of the Future Award for professional services.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads B12, which has helped more than 150,000 professional service firms build an online presence.
- Raised over $40M in total venture funding for B12 across multiple rounds.
- As a General Catalyst investor, backed companies including Mark43, Handy, Brainly, and BigCommerce.
- Co-founded Rough Draft Ventures, helping launch the modern student-founder funding ecosystem.

## Latest updates

- **2021-10** — Closed a $15.7M Series A led by Tola Capital with General Catalyst, Naval Ravikant, and Breyer Capital.
- **2022-10** — B12 introduced a free version of its website builder and launched the Firm of the Future Award.

## Links

- Website: https://www.nbanta.com/
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nbanta
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/nbanta
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbanta

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nitesh-banta
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-03