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Raj Shah
Managing Partner,
Shield Capital
Raj is Founder and Managing Partner of Shield Capital. Raj leads
and manages all aspects of Shield Capital including firm governance,
investment strategy & process, fiduciary fund management, capital
raising, operations & administration, and the strategic partnership with
L3 Harris. As a founder of two start-up technology companies, Raj
brings an entrepreneur’s perspective, experience, and relationships
to deal sourcing, evaluation, and working with founding teams to build
businesses.
Raj serves on the boards of several SHIELD portfolio companies including Elroy Air, Howso,
Overwatch Imaging, Tetra AI, and Rangeview. He serves as Chairman of Resilience, a SHIELD
Contributed Investment that he co-founded to address the cybersecurity insurance market.
Raj serves on the Department of Defense Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting,
and Execution Reform. Raj recently was nominated to the Board of Directors to NATO’s
Innovation Fund that will invest into emerging technologies in European start-ups.
Raj previously served as the Managing Partner of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit
Experimental (DIUx), reporting to the Secretary of Defense. Raj developed DIUx operational
strategy, recruited and managed a nationally distributed team, and oversaw funding into
numerous early-stage technology companies including several that became publicly traded
companies. Due to Raj’s foundational leadership, DIU today is no longer an experimental
initiative and fields leading-edge commercial capabilities to the Department of Defense faster
and more cost-effectively than traditional defense acquisition methods.
Raj previously served as Senior Director of Strategy at Palo Alto Networks (PANW) reviewing
corporate development, acquisitions, and technology partnerships. Raj joined PANW following
the acquisition of Morta Security, the cybersecurity start-up company that he founded and led as
CEO following his active duty in the US Air Force.
Raj serves in the US Air Force Air National Guard. Raj previously served in multiple combat
deployments as an F-16 fighter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Raj holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania. He is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
and Senior Advisor at Center for New American Security.
and manages all aspects of Shield Capital including firm governance,
investment strategy & process, fiduciary fund management, capital
raising, operations & administration, and the strategic partnership with
L3 Harris. As a founder of two start-up technology companies, Raj
brings an entrepreneur’s perspective, experience, and relationships
to deal sourcing, evaluation, and working with founding teams to build
businesses.
Raj serves on the boards of several SHIELD portfolio companies including Elroy Air, Howso,
Overwatch Imaging, Tetra AI, and Rangeview. He serves as Chairman of Resilience, a SHIELD
Contributed Investment that he co-founded to address the cybersecurity insurance market.
Raj serves on the Department of Defense Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting,
and Execution Reform. Raj recently was nominated to the Board of Directors to NATO’s
Innovation Fund that will invest into emerging technologies in European start-ups.
Raj previously served as the Managing Partner of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit
Experimental (DIUx), reporting to the Secretary of Defense. Raj developed DIUx operational
strategy, recruited and managed a nationally distributed team, and oversaw funding into
numerous early-stage technology companies including several that became publicly traded
companies. Due to Raj’s foundational leadership, DIU today is no longer an experimental
initiative and fields leading-edge commercial capabilities to the Department of Defense faster
and more cost-effectively than traditional defense acquisition methods.
Raj previously served as Senior Director of Strategy at Palo Alto Networks (PANW) reviewing
corporate development, acquisitions, and technology partnerships. Raj joined PANW following
the acquisition of Morta Security, the cybersecurity start-up company that he founded and led as
CEO following his active duty in the US Air Force.
Raj serves in the US Air Force Air National Guard. Raj previously served in multiple combat
deployments as an F-16 fighter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Raj holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania. He is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University
and Senior Advisor at Center for New American Security.