Mahni Ghorashi

Mahni Ghorashi
Born	July 12, 1983 Knoxville, Tennessee, US
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Yale University
Occupation	Entrepreneur

Mahni Ghorashi is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, CMO and most recently served as Chief Strategy Officer for the state of Tennessee's economic development program for startups and venture capital.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Early life and education

Mahni Ghorashi was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He attended Farragut High School, received BS degrees from MIT in 2005,[7] attended the PhD program in English at Yale,[8] and received an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Early career

Ghorashi started his career as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, where he founded and help grow a number of ventures to exit in Silicon Valley, including Bina (acquired Roche),[9] Trapit (acquired ScribbleLive), and LiteScape (acquired Dell).[10] In 2014, Ghorashi co-founded Clear Labs,[11] a private genomics testing company headquartered in San Carlos, California, United States. It conducts high-throughput DNA sequencing tests to determine if food samples contain the genetic materials of specific pathogens.[12] It can also verify a food's ingredients, its GMO status, or whether it has been contaminated by human or animal DNA.[13][14]

Clear Labs was founded by Ghorashi and Sasan Amini,[15] both of whom left their jobs at genomics companies to start Clear Labs.[16] They acquired $6.5 million in series A financing in 2015.[17] In 2017, the company closed a $16 million Series B funding round and followed by another $21 million round in October 2018.[18] The company raised a follow-on round of $18M in May 14, 2020 and $60M Series C for a total of $123.5M.[19][20][21] The company was listed as one of Forbe's 25 most innovative Ag-tech startups.[22]

Public Policy, Investment and Education

Mahni served as Chief Strategy Officer at Launch Tennessee, the state of Tennessee's early-stage venture economic growth engine.[23] Launch Tennessee stimulates the statewide economy by facilitating capital formation, market building and providing the needed resources to ensure sustainable growth for entrepreneurs and investors. As Chief Strategy Officer, Ghorashi oversaw state-wide venture capital and portfolio investments, state-wide entrepreneurial incubators, university and government-lab tech-transfer and licensing programs, university engagement, private sector and policy outreach.[24][25][26]

He's guest-lectured on entrepreneurship at Stanford and MIT Universities.[27]

Personal life

Mahni is a classical pianist, having studied piano with faculty of the Juilliard School.[28]

References

1. "Clear Labs Aims To Be Google Search For GMOs In Packaged Food". TechCrunch. September 15, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
2. "Food analytics startup Clear Labs raises $13 million from Wing, GV, Tencent, more". VentureBeat. December 13, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
3. "Ilya Tokhner". Vanderbilt University. Owen Center for Entrepreneurship. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
4. Ehlinger, Maija (November 19, 2020). "Innovation Has Deep Roots in Tennessee. Now, The Rest of the Country Is Taking Note". Hypepotamus. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
5. "Author: Mahni Ghorashi". TechCrunch. January 21, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
6. "Register". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
7. "Author: Mahni Ghorashi". TechCrunch. January 21, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
8. "LaunchTN". ne-np.facebook.com (in Nepali). Retrieved December 17, 2020.
9. "Roche acquires Bina Technologies and enters the genomics informatics market". sequencing.roche.com. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
10. "3686now Presents: Deep Roots: Building a High-Performance, Diverse and Connected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Tennessee". www.3686now.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
11. "Clear Labs closes $21M funding round to advance food safety solutions". Food Dive. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
12. "Evolving pathogen testing methods offer better, faster alternatives". www.foodengineeringmag.com. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
13. Leopold, Todd (October 26, 2015). "10% of vegetarian hot dogs contain meat, says analysis". CNN. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
14. Bromwich, Jonah Engel (November 5, 2015). "No, Hot Dogs Do Not Contain Human Meat (Published 2015)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
15. "Clear Labs Aims To Be Google Search For GMOs In Packaged Food". TechCrunch. September 15, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
16. Grant, Rebecca (October 23, 2015). "The Company That Wants to Test Your Hot Dog's DNA". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
17. "Clear Labs Aims To Be Google Search For GMOs In Packaged Food". TechCrunch. September 15, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
18. Cathy Siegner. "Clear Labs closes $21M funding round to advance food safety solutions". Food Dive. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
19. "Clear Labs Overview". PitchBook Data. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
20. "Clear Labs raises $18 million to expand its automated next-generation sequencing platform for COVID-19 diagnostics". Tech News | Startups News. May 14, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
21. "Food safety tester Clear Labs raises $60M to chase COVID-19 variants". FierceBiotech. May 26, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
22. Sorvino, Chloe. "The 25 Most Innovative Ag-Tech Startups". Forbes. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
23. "Meet the Team". Launch Tennessee. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
24. "3686now Presents: Deep Roots: Building a High-Performance, Diverse and Connected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Tennessee". www.3686now.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
25. Ehlinger, Maija (November 19, 2020). "Innovation Has Deep Roots in Tennessee. Now, The Rest of the Country Is Taking Note". Hypepotamus. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
26. "Author: Mahni Ghorashi". TechCrunch. January 21, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
27. "3686now Presents: Deep Roots: Building a High-Performance, Diverse and Connected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Tennessee". www.3686now.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
28. "3686now Presents: Deep Roots: Building a High-Performance, Diverse and Connected Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Tennessee". www.3686now.com. Retrieved December 17, 2020.