Soraya Darabi

"Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles."
– Walter Cronkite

Soraya is an entrepreneur, investor, and longtime advocate for human rights. She is a General Partner and founder of TMV, an early-stage venture firm that champions ambitious founders aiming to reshape industries and inspire new ones. With ~$200 million in assets under management, TMV backs startups across the care economy, sustainability, the future of work, and logistics, including Cityblock Health, Kindbody, Ridwell, Smalls, Topline Pro, Clockwise, Forta Health, and Freightify. Before her tenure at TMV, Soraya was an early investor in companies that went on to go public, such as FIGS, Casper, and pre-IPO CloudFlare, as well as startups like Gimlett and Lightwell, which were successfully acquired by Spotify and Twitter. She is also the founder of Transact Global, a large and fast growing group of international venture capital fund managers.

Soraya began her career as the Manager of Digital Partnerships & Social Media at The New York Times, where she positioned the global news leader on then burgeoning social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, partnered with startups large and small, and established award-winning campaigns. She went on to co-found Foodspotting, named by Apple as “App of the Year,” and later acquired by OpenTable, later Priceline. Soraya was a two-season host of “Business Schooled — a “Top 20 Business Podcast” by Synchrony for which she traveled the country interviewing persevering founders who have made it past their startup days.

For her work at The Times and startups, Soraya has been featured on the cover of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” issue and on the cover of Brandweek’s “Digital Best” issue. Soraya was named an Inc. magazine “30 Under 30” honoree (2012), and was featured in Fortune magazine’s “40 Under 40: Women to Watch” (2015). She is a World Economic Forum “Young Global Leader,” a six-time mentor to TechStars New York, three-times named a “Mentor of the Year.”

Soraya graduated with high honors from Georgetown University and completed the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century module program at the Harvard Kennedy School. She currently serves on the board of directors for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Resultid AI, Tali AI and lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.