ARUN Ragav

Finance · Venture · Dubai

Arun Ragav
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Hi — I'm Arun. At 25, I've lived in 6 countries and 8 cities, which means I've spent more time adapting than settling.

I work in Strategic Finance at Dentons, the world's largest law firm (79 countries, 200+ offices).

Outside of work, I'm building market intelligence tools and writing on VC in emerging markets, specifically where capital is scarce and opportunity isn't. My focus is on pre-seed to Series A startups, and I keep finding myself drawn to the fintech and defence sectors.

I play football, tennis, and padel, read as widely as I can, and think a lot about India, its history, its future, and where I fit in it after an eternity lived elsewhere.

What I'm working on
Senior Strategic Finance Analyst
Dentons
Finance strategy and M&A analysis.
Learning VC
Studying fund dynamics, deal mechanics, and return drivers. Pre-seed to Series A, with a focus on fintech and defence.
Writing weekly
Publishing The Allocation Thesis — a weekly VC-focused newsletter analyzing deals across emerging markets.
Building
SamaIntel: a self-built market intelligence tool for startup activity across the GCC and India.
Career
Senior Strategic Finance Analyst 2023-Present (3 years 3 months)
Dentons  · Global law firm (79 countries, 200+ offices)
Global FP&A, Due Diligence, and post-M&A environment analysis at one of the world's largest professional services firms.
Founding Team Member 2020—2022 (2 years)
Muvme  · Supply Chain and Logistics startup
Joined pre-revenue and helped scale to $500k ARR, owning finance and strategy as the business grew.
Education
MSc Finance and Banking In Progress
King's College London
BSc Management (Hons) 2021
Lancaster University
Projects
The Allocation Thesis
Breaks down VC deal flow and fund dynamics across emerging markets, weekly.
Writing
SamaIntel
Tracks startup activity, funding trends, and investor patterns across GCC and India in real time.
Tool
SamaVentures
Scouts and evaluates early-stage deals for asymmetric return potential across emerging markets.
Platform
SamaCapital
Building a micro-syndicate focused on UAE angel and pre-seed investments.
Venture
Reading Suggestions
Venture Capital
The Power Law · Sebastian Mallaby
How venture capital built Silicon Valley and shaped the modern economy
Venture Deals · Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson
The mechanics of VC term sheets, stripped of jargon
Secrets of Sand Hill Road · Scott Kupor
What VCs actually look for, from an a16z insider
Growth (Professional)
Extreme Ownership · Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Navy SEAL leadership principles applied to business and accountability
Scattered Minds · Gabor Maté
A reframe of ADHD as a response to environment, not a character flaw
Swami Vivekananda's Leadership Formulas · A.R.K. Sarma
Ancient Vedantic principles distilled into leadership practice
Growth (Personal)
Siddhartha · Hermann Hesse
A novel about the search for meaning, self-discovery, and the cost of certainty
Krishna-Niti · Kushagra Aniket & Nityananda Misra
Strategic wisdom from the Mahabharata reread through a modern lens
Ignited Minds · A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
A former president's vision for India and what it means to dream at scale
Identity
The Great Indian Novel · Shashi Tharoor
The Mahabharata retold as a satire of modern Indian political history
Land of the Seven Rivers · Sanjeev Sanyal
India's geography as the hidden thread of its entire history
The Tamils · Nirmala Lakshman
A portrait of Tamil identity, culture, and its place in the Indian story
Down the rabbit hole
What If? · Randall Munroe
Absurd hypothetical questions answered with rigorous science and deadpan wit
Our Mathematical Universe · Max Tegmark
The case that reality is, at its core, a mathematical structure
How to Solve It · George Pólya
A mathematician's timeless guide to problem-solving and structured thinking