Flare Capital Expands the Team – Yet Again…

A critical dimension to the staffing model at Flare Capital is our deep bench of Executive Partners. These people are notable operating executives who have a record a tremendous success in scaling businesses in times of industry transformation. Our Executive Partners are visionary thought leaders, have a depth of industry expertise and insights, can see around corners, and are lightning rods for great talent. Through that lens, I am super excited to share that my great friend, Varsha Rao, has joined as our newest Executive Partner.   

Varsha and I first met in 1991, a shockingly long time ago, when we both worked on Wall Street at one of the hottest emerging boutique investment banks, Wasserstein Perella. After graduating from Harvard Business School, Varsha spent time at McKinsey & Co. which set her up for a series of leadership positions in start-ups (Eve.com) and high growth companies (Gap/Old Navy, SingTel Digital Media, LivingSocial). Notably, she then served as Head of Global Operations for Airbnb before her role as Chief Operating Officer at Clover Health. Until quite recently, Varsha was the CEO of Nurx, a leading provider of women’s healthcare products and services, having navigated the successful merger of the company to Thirty Madison. She also sits on a few prominent public company boards: Callaway Golf, Viasat. Oh, and she also holds a BA in Math from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School.

Not to be lost among all of her successes is that she is also a prominent angel investor with a particular interest in working with female founders and marketplace business models. Insider listed Varsha as one of the country’s top 100 angel investors, having built a broad portfolio across a number of emerging industries. Her network among Silicon Valley investors will clearly be additive to the work we do, to say nothing of the terrific insights she has already contributed with new investment opportunities and for our existing portfolio companies.

In addition to her exceptional insights into the dynamics of marketplaces, Varsha is also keenly aware of the behaviors of consumers. She will be particularly helpful with one of our investment themes involving the “retailization/consumerization” of healthcare.

Join me in welcoming Varsha to the Flare Capital team and the world of early-stage healthcare technology venture investing…