# Samir Kumar

> Samir Kumar is Co-Founder and General Partner at Touring Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that closed its oversubscribed $330 million Fund I in September 2025 to back AI-driven software companies approaching product-market fit. Before co-founding Touring Capital in 2023 with Nagraj Kashyap and Priya Saiprasad, Samir spent years at Microsoft's M12 venture fund investing in AI, deep tech, and hardware-enabled software, and prior to that held senior roles at Qualcomm's corporate R&D division, Samsung, and Palm. A Cornell-trained mechanical engineer who grew up in New York after being born in New Delhi, Samir brings a rare blend of hands-on engineering, product management, and institutional investing experience to backing the next wave of AI-powered enterprise companies.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and General Partner at Touring Capital
- **Organizations:** Touring Capital, M12 (Microsoft Ventures), Qualcomm, Samsung, Palm, Microsoft
- **From:** New Delhi, India
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Touring Capital and raised an oversubscribed $330 million Fund I in 2025, Named GCV Rising Stars Awards honoree in 2020, Backed Applied Intuition, PsiQuantum, Syntiant, and Netradyne at M12

## Career timeline

- **2000-2009** — Technology specialist and product manager at Microsoft, focusing on enterprise mobility
- **~2010** — Product Line Manager at Palm
- **~2011-2013** — Director of North America Technology Sourcing at Samsung
- **~2013-2018** — Senior Director, Business Development and Product Management at Qualcomm Corporate R&D - led early-stage product validation, partnerships, and strategy for embedded and on-device deep learning
- **2018-2023** — Managing Partner / General Director at M12 (Microsoft's venture fund) - invested in AI, deep tech, and hardware-enabled software companies including Applied Intuition, PsiQuantum, Syntiant, Netradyne
- **2020** — Named GCV Rising Stars Awards honoree
- **2023** — Co-founded Touring Capital with Nagraj Kashyap and Priya Saiprasad
- **2025-09** — Touring Capital closes oversubscribed Fund I at $330 million
- **2026-04** — Led co-investment in Parasail's $32M Series A

## Achievements

- Co-founded Touring Capital and raised an oversubscribed $330 million Fund I in 2025
- Named GCV Rising Stars Awards honoree in 2020
- Backed Applied Intuition, PsiQuantum, Syntiant, and Netradyne at M12
- Led early-stage AI/deep learning investment strategy at Microsoft's M12 venture fund
- Pioneered on-device deep learning product validation at Qualcomm's corporate R&D division
- Speaker at TechCon Global, Embedded Vision Summit, CyberSec&AI, and Montgomery Summit

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Touring Capital co-led Parasail's $32M Series A to build AI deployment infrastructure
- **2025-09** — Touring Capital closed Fund I at $330 million, oversubscribed, to back AI-driven SaaS companies

## Links

- Website: https://touringcapital.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samirkum/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/sk121

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/samir-kumar
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-17