South Asia Investor Review

DreamBig, a fabless semiconductor company founded by NED University alumnus Sohail Syed, has been acquired by Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) for $265 million. The Silicon Valley-based startup is developing networking chips for data centers, with hardware specifically designed to run AI applications. The startup  does not manufacture its own chips but instead licenses its designs to other semiconductor companies. It has had a partnership with Samsung’s foundry division to bring its hardware to market.  Sohail Syed, Founder and CEO of DreamBig Semiconductors Here's how DreamBig Semiconductor describes itself on its  website : "DreamBig Semiconductor is a chiplet-based networking company dedicated to providing comprehensive, high throughput solutions for the AI, Datacenter, edge compute and Automotive markets. Headquartered in San Jose, CA, USA, we have over 200 employees globally and partnerships with the largest semiconductor companies in the world.  Founded by RDMA exp...

Omer Hasan and Mohammad Javed are the top donors to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York City, according to media reports. Both are former executives of Silicon Valley technology firm AppLovin. Born and raised in Silicon Valley , Omer is the son of a Pakistani-American couple who are long-time residents of Silicon Valley, California.  Omer Hasan, Top Donor to Mamdani Campaign Muhammad Javed donated $251,500 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a super-PAC backing Zohran Mamdani. Omer gave $250,000 to this super PAC. Other Mamdani super PAC donors include Liz Simons, Philanthropist, and daughter of hedge-fund billionaire Jim Simons, who gave $250,000 and Unity & Justice Fund, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations CAIR, that gave $100,000. But the biggest support has come from small donors to the Mamdani campaign. It has received a lot more money from small-dollar donors.  In August 2025, Mamdani's campaign had raised over $1 million from more th...

Last week I attended a Silicon Valley fundraiser by  iCodeGuru , a Pakistani-American group focusing on arranging training and guiding young men and women from underprivileged backgrounds to get full scholarships for advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees at universities in America. The well-attended event held at Chandni restaurant raised over $180,000. It featured  iCodeGruru alumni  who shared their success stories.  iCodeGuru Alumna Afsheen Ghuman Speaking at Silicon Valley Fundraiser.  The story of Afsheen Ghuman from Gujranwala shows how a poor girl from a small town can succeed in defying the odds with a little help from iCodeGuru team headed by Dr. Zafar Shahid. She was able to take advantage of the online platform remotely from her home.  She is now studying at an American university with a fully funded scholarship. iCodeGuru uses its online platform to offer advice, training and financial assistance to get advanc...

Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna has been instrumental in  inviting  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the joint session of US Congress on June 22, 2023. This came as a surprise to many of his constituents who  voted  for him after he declared in 2019: “It’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject  Hindutva , and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians.”   L to R: Narendra Modi, JOe Biden, Ro Khanna What caused this change of heart?  Is it the donation of $110,000 to his campaign by Hindu Nationalist donors in the United States, as reported by The Nation?  Fellow Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has also supported Modi's invitation. She will be among members of Congress who will escort Modi to the podium. Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal are both supposedly "liberal" Democrats.    While Khanna says that he “strongly opposes an...

Hateful Hindutva ideology is spreading rapidly among the Indian diaspora. Individuals and organizations connected to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) are actively working to promote India's divisive Islamophobic politics among the Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and their children. Hundreds of the  RSS shakhas  (branches) are now found in at least  39 countries  around the world. Hindutva is a Hindu supremacist ideology inspired by 20th century Fascism and  Nazism  in Europe; it is very different from the ancient Hindu faith, according to American history professor Audrey Truschke who teaches Indian history at Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey. Top  Indian economists  have raised alarm about it.  Global Hindutva Sangh Parivar. Source: Audrey Truschke False narrative of victimhood underlies Hindutva ideology. Indian historian Aditya Mukherjee characterizes the Hindutva victimhood as follows: “The great achievements of the past ...

Abdus Salam Qureishi, a successful technology entrepreneur and philanthropist, passed away last Saturday, August 6, 2022. He was 86. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un(‏ إنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ‏). He was a pillar of the Muslim community in Silicon Valley. Qureishi rose from humble origins in the Indian city of Aligarh and became very successful in the United States. He was very generous with his time and money in supporting the community. He helped build several Muslim community centers in San Francisco Bay Area.  He also invested in companies started by young Muslim entrepreneurs. I had the privilege of meeting him on many occasions while he was still very active in the decades of 1980s and 1990s. He and his wife came to our house for dinner and Yasmeen and I were invited by him for a private dinner with him and his wife at his house in Palo Alto, California.   Abdus Salam Qureishi (1936-2022) Qureishi was born in a poor family in Singahi village in ...

In response to growing reports of extreme  heat and floods  around the world, my wife and I are doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint: We now have rooftop solar panels as well as two electric vehicles. In fact, we have had rooftop solar since 2019. My wife Yasmeen traded in her Toyota Prius Hybrid car for an all-electric Chevrolet Bolt in 2019, and I have recently traded in my gasoline-powered Mercedes sedan for a Tesla Model Y 2022. Both of us see these actions as the least we can do to help our future generations. We all need to help bring about the  clean energy revolution .  My New Tesla Model Y 2022 Our rooftop solar panels have been generating enough electricity to power our home for the last three years. The SunRun solar app we have shows that our solar panels generated 8,500 kWh of electricity in the last 12 months, reducing CO2 emissions produced by 6,622 pounds of coal and 676 gallons of gasoline.  Rooftop Solar Panels on Our House Silicon Vall...

In yet another blow to Silicon Valley's "fake it till you make it" mantra, a federal jury has convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani on all 12 counts of fraud. Balwani was born in 1965 in Pakistan to a Sindhi Hindu family.  He attended Aitchison College, an elite prep school in Lahore that is also the alma mater of former Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan. His family emigrated to India in 1984 and then to the United States in 1987. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin and University of California at Berkeley. His one-time girlfriend and partner Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, was convicted on similar charges earlier this year. Both face up to 20 years in prison.  Elizabeth Holmes (L) and Sunny Balwani of Theranos "Fake it till you make it" is a well-known phrase in  Silicon Valley . It means to consciously cultivate an attitude, feeling, or perception of competence that you don't currently have by prete...

Luma Health, co-founded by Adnan Iqbal, a second generation Pakistani American , raised $130 million in series C funding. Adnan's fellow co-funders include Dr. Tashfeen Ekram, a Pakistani-American and Aditya Bansod, an Indian-American. The latest round has brought Luma's total funding to $160 million.  "I have had a life of privilege. I have been to the right institutions. I have played collegiate sports. I check all the boxes. But I have a recognizable Pakistani Muslim name. I would have raised twice the amount of money in half the time if I was a white guy. That's just the honest truth", he told an interviewer.  Luma Health Co-founders San Francisco-based Luma’s platform is designed to centralize and automate scheduling and communication with patients. The company’s tech integrates with more than 80 types of electronic health records (EHRs) across the healthcare IT stack. Luma has served more than 30 million patients across the U.S. and is used by more than 550...

 Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital investment firm, is leading series A round of $17 million investment into Pakistani start-up Tajir. The startup operates an online marketplace for small store merchants in Pakistan. The announcement came via a tweet by Mamoon Hamid, a Pakistani-American Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins who led the investment. Last year, Tajir raised a $1.8 million seed round.  The company's revenue has increased by 10x since its seed round.  Here's what Hamid tweeted: "Made my first investment in Pakistan, my country of birth, and a place I called home from the ages of 10 to 13. Feels special. This also marks @kleinerperkins first investment in Pakistan. We are thrilled to announce our investment in @tajir_app_pk"  Tajir has been cofounded by two brothers, Babar and Ismail Khan. The company lets stores place orders for inventory through its app and allows customers to compare the prices of goods, purchase inventory and have ...

A Hindu sect (BAPS) with close ties to India’s ruling BJP has exploited hundreds of low-caste men in a years-long construction project, reports the  New York Times . A US federal lawsuit filed against the Hindu group alleges that the men brought to the United States under religious R-1 visa had their Indian passports confiscated by the Hindu group. It further alleges that the workers, mainly Dalit men who worked 13-hour days doing heavy lifting for about $1 an hour, were kept as prisoners at the construction site of a massive Hindu temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey.  Cases of caste discrimination and exploitation among India diaspora have also surfaced in Silicon Valley.  Hindu Temple in Robbinville, New Jersey Caste Discrimination in America: Shocking as it is, the New Jersey case of exploitation of Indian Dalit workers brought to America is not unique.  Over two-thirds of  low caste Indian-Americans  are discriminated against by upper caste Indian-Americ...

Massive cyberattack that recently targeted US government agencies and private companies, labeled the 'SolarWinds hack', was first discovered by US cybersecurity company FireEye, founded by a well-recognized Pakistani-American cybersecurity expert Ashar Aziz. Karachi-born Ashar served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fireeye from 2004 to 2012.  Ashar became the first  Pakistani-American tech billionaire  when the company stock soared after its initial public offering (IPO) in 2013. His net worth was last estimated at  $268 million in 2015 .  Ashar Aziz Solar Winds Hack: Solarwinds is a cybersecurity toolset used by multiple US government agencies to detect and stop cyberattacks. It is alleged by American government agencies that some Russian-sponsored hackers managed to compromise Solarwinds software by adding malware to updates distributed by the company to its customers. It only came to light when the perpetrators attempted to break into the  cybers...

Silicon Valley based  SiFive , a technology startup headed by  NED University  alumnus Dr. Naveed Sherwani, has raised $60 million in series E round, bringing the total raised to $190 million to date. This round is led by SK Hynix, joined by new investor Prosperity7 Ventures, with additional funding from existing investors, Sutter Hill Ventures, Western Digital Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, and Spark Capital. The  Silicon Valley  company offers open-source RISC V processor core designs for custom and semi-custom chips used in a broad range of applications from smartphones and communications chips to IoT (Internet of Things), data centers and cloud computing. This market currently is dominated by proprietary Intel and Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) architectures. Availability of open-source processor architecture like RISC V has gained particular significance now because of the ongoing  US-China technology war . Dr. ...