Hi, I'm Ravi Kurani

Welcome! My name is Ravi Kurani, and I'm passionate about building products that help society and the environment.My core focus in recent years has been on building Sutro, the world's leading water testing device company.

A little bit about me...Early life

  • I started as a pool boy at my family's pool store in Riverside, CA (Southern California).

  • I have a mechanical engineering degree from UC Riverside, graduated in '09.

  • Built the first Formula SAE car at the University.

here's a pic

Early Work

  • Worked on a NASA project helping design a more efficient jet engine. We looked at the 'swirl number' to help combustion engines mix fuel better.

  • Got an MBA (supply chain management & finance) from Middlebury College in Monterey.

  • Worked in India at an impact investing fund to deploy $20M for businesses catered to folks earning less than $2/day.

  • Crashed at my cousin's apartment (Milie Sheth) in San Francisco and snuck into Impact Hub to find a place to live and a job.

  • Worked in the built environment to do LEED Certifications for buildings.

  • Started ImpactSpace, the CrunchBase for impact investing in '12. Sold it to ImpactAlpha (the TechCrunch for impact investing) in '14.

Core Work

  • Built Sutro in '14, a robotic diagnostics platform for water chemistry. We sold this to Sani Marc (a large water sanitation company in Canada) in '19.

  • I still run day-to-day operations at Sutro.

  • We've partnered with some of the largest brands in the industry and will be the only NSF certified autonomous device for water safety on the market.

Work Pt. II

  • I'm advising a 250-person software development agency in the US and Canada: Incodeks.

  • I'm leading a homelessness initiative (Street to Home) to solve a $4M working capital gap issue for the Future Communities Institute in Kern County, CA with Akido Labs.

  • Advisor for a health navigation company, Juniper.

  • Advisor for an XR, FashionTech company, Gaian.

  • Was invested in a Vegan Mexican joint in Oakland, CA. Never again will I work in the restaurant business.

  • I'm also an Engineer in Residence (EIR) at Future Communities VC. I'm working on a tool to better track funding for climate solutions via the IRA (infrastructure redux act).

Other Things

Personal

  • I'm married to the most amazing woman, Anja. We moved out of San Francisco in 2023 and now live in New York City.

  • I'm always interested in learning and trying new things. In the past few years, plant-based cooking has become a big passion of mine.

our civil wedding in Vegas

Want to connect? Send me a message on LinkedIn!