# Vishal Punwani

> Vishal Punwani is the CEO and co-founder of SoWork, a generative-AI virtual workplace platform born at Harvard's Innovation Labs. A medical doctor turned founder, he traded clinical medicine and a stint at the World Health Organization for the question of how distributed teams keep a culture alive when nobody shares a hallway. He and his two co-founders, who first met playing World of Warcraft as teenagers, set out to borrow what video games solved decades ago - presence, spontaneity, belonging - and bring it to remote work. In October 2021 the company raised a $15M seed round led by Talis Capital, counting Tinder among its early customers.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at SoWork
- **Organizations:** SoWork, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, Oxford Foundry, MassChallenge Boston, World Health Organization (former), Khan Academy (former)
- **Education:** Founded SoWork at Harvard's Innovation Labs, Harvard University, University of Oxford, Doctor of Medicine, Medical degree (MD)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads SoWork, described as the world's first generative-AI-enhanced virtual workplace platform, Raised a $15M seed round led by Talis Capital (October 2021), Signed Tinder as an early enterprise customer

## Career timeline

- **before** — Trained and qualified as a medical doctor (MD)
- **before** — Worked at the World Health Organization in Geneva
- **before** — One of the highest-rated Teaching Fellows in Health and Medicine at Khan Academy
- **2017-2020** — At Harvard, began building a machine-learning edtech company (Sophya) with co-founders Emma Giles and Mark Liu
- **2020-2021** — Internal gaming-inspired communication tool outgrew the edtech product; company pivoted and rebranded to SoWork, a virtual workplace platform
- **2021** — Signed Tinder as a customer; over 300,000 people on the waitlist ahead of public beta
- **2021-10** — Raised $15M seed round led by Talis Capital
- **2023** — Speaker at HarvardXR Conference; Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, mentor at the Oxford Foundry, alumni advisor at MassChallenge Boston

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads SoWork, described as the world's first generative-AI-enhanced virtual workplace platform
- Raised a $15M seed round led by Talis Capital (October 2021)
- Signed Tinder as an early enterprise customer
- Grew a waitlist of more than 300,000 people before public beta
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs
- Mentor at the Oxford Foundry and alumni advisor at MassChallenge Boston
- One of the highest-rated Khan Academy Teaching Fellows in Health and Medicine

## Latest updates

- **2023-01** — Spoke at the HarvardXR Conference 2023 and served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs
- **2021-10** — Announced SoWork's $15M seed round led by Talis Capital

## Links

- Website: https://sowork.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vishal-punwani-md
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sowork_

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vishal-punwani
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-20