Vishnavi Paruchuri is an investor at NTTVC, a $500M venture capital firm founded in partnership with NTT, a global technology services provider. Vish focuses on early-stage enterprise AI investments and supports founders with go-to-market and partnership opportunities, leveraging NTT’s global network of over 100K clients across 50+ countries. Prior to joining NTTVC, Vish was an investor at Touchdown Ventures, where she made early-stage enterprise investments across industries including legal, financial services, and manufacturing. She holds a Master’s degree in Financial Economics from University of Oxford Saïd Business School and received her undergraduate degree in Statistics and Economics at UC Berkeley.  

What is a value, principle, or philosophy that has meaningfully shaped your journey? How does it continue to influence how you invest, lead, or approach challenges?

A value that has deeply shaped my journey is resiliency, which fuels my ability to navigate the fast-paced changes and acceleration of today’s market. This mindset means I never hesitate to try new paths or embrace challenges head-on. Resiliency keeps me agile, by constantly adapting, asking tough questions, and remaining open to growth.

Equally important to me are the principles of teamwork and dreaming big. I believe the most meaningful breakthroughs happen when you connect people, bringing together a diversity of perspectives and talents. Whether investing or taking on a new initiative, I strive to foster collaboration and bold vision. By encouraging others to dream big and supporting one another, we unlock new possibilities and move further, together. 

This is exactly what I bring to the founders I work with: a resilient, collaborative spirit and the encouragement to dream bigger. 

Is there a technology, idea, or movement that most people overlook (or dismiss) which you believe will define the next era of innovation? What draws you to this perspective?

The rise of Vertical AI, solutions purpose-built for specialized industries like manufacturing, skilled trades, healthcare operations, or supply chain management. Many assume certain industries are resistant to technological change, but I believe vertical AI solutions are poised to drive the next era of innovation, because they finally address longstanding operational frictions that traditional software never solved.

What makes this different is the depth of domain expertise. Instead of generic assistants, vertical AI solutions understand the nuanced workflows and operational realities of specific industries. The real breakthrough happens when AI integrates deeply into the tools and environments where people already work. Rather than requiring users to learn new interfaces or change existing workflows, these solutions integrate seamlessly into the systems people already use daily. 

What draws me to this perspective is the moat these companies can build. By solving industry-specific problems deeply, they accumulate proprietary datasets and workflow knowledge that becomes nearly impossible to replicate. Unlike horizontal AI tools that compete on generic capabilities, vertical solutions become indispensable by understanding problems that only exist in specific contexts.

The biggest value creation often happens in focused markets where deep specialization creates outsized impact, and we at NTTVC are uniquely positioned to support this. We can help entrepreneurs identify vertical market opportunities, help them with their first design partners, and accelerate go to market through NTT's 100K+ client base across industries around the world.