Arun Gupta is a venture capitalist, educator, and civic innovator who has spent his career helping bridge the worlds of entrepreneurship, technology, and public service. As founder and CEO of NobleReach, Arun leads efforts to connect innovators, investors, and institutions to solve society’s most important challenges through mission-driven ventures. He is the author of the national bestseller Venture Meets Mission, which explores how innovation, purpose, and policy can work together to drive meaningful progress.

A longtime lecturer at Stanford University and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, Arun is passionate about showing the next generation of entrepreneurs that they don’t have to choose between mission and success. His Stanford course, Valley Meets Mission: Purposeful Entrepreneurship with Government, explores how founders and policymakers can work together to scale innovations that strengthen national competitiveness and civic resilience. At Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, he teaches Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital, where he has received both the Entrepreneurial Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Peter W. Gonzalez Jr. Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence.

Before founding NobleReach, Arun spent nearly two decades as a Partner at Columbia Capital, where he helped establish the firm’s cybersecurity and government technology investments focused on national security, AI, and critical digital infrastructure. Earlier in his career, he worked at Carlyle Venture Partners, where he launched the firm’s cybersecurity and government technology investments focused on national security, AI, and cloud infrastructure, and in Arthur D. Little’s telecom and technology consulting practice. 

His work sits at the intersection of emerging technology, policy, and venture finance, with a focus on re-aligning American innovation toward public good. Arun’s ideas continue to influence entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers seeking to prove that purpose and performance can reinforce each other rather than compete.

Arun serves on the Stanford in Washington Advisory Board, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Advisory Council, and the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, among others.

Arun is a graduate of Stanford University (B.S., Electrical Engineering; M.S., Engineering Economic Systems) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A.). He has lived in the Washington, D.C. area for more than 40 years and remains deeply involved in his community. A lifelong basketball fan and coach, he believes the lessons of the game, teamwork, and preparation apply just as much in entrepreneurship as they do on the court. He also supports programs focused on youth education and food security, reflecting his belief that purpose and success are strongest when shared. Arun and his wife, Dr. Anjali Mehta Gupta, have been married for nearly 30 years and are proud parents of three children.