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 probably explains why I find it easier to pack a bag than make a plan.

I work in strategic finance at Dentons, the world's largest law firm (79 countries, 200+ offices). Outside of work, I'm building tools and writing on the edge of venture capital and emerging markets, specifically where capital is scarce and opportunity isn't.

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 · Global law firm
Finance strategy and M&A analysis.
Learning VC
Studying fund dynamics, deal mechanics, and emerging market return drivers.
Writing weekly
Publishing The Allocation Thesis — a weekly VC-focused newsletter analyzing deals across emerging markets.
Building in public
SamaIntel: a self-built market intelligence tool for startup activity across the GCC and India.
Career
Senior Strategic Finance Analyst Present
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 Previous
Muvme  · Supply Chain and Logistics startup
Joined pre-revenue and helped grow a tech-enabled supply chain startup to $500k ARR. Wore multiple hats across operations, finance, and growth.
Education
MSc Finance and Banking In Progress
King's College London
BSc Management (Hons) 2021
Lancaster University
Projects
The Allocation Thesis
Weekly publication tracking VC deal flow, fund dynamics, and return drivers across emerging markets.
Writing
SamaIntel
Self-built market intelligence tool aggregating startup activity and investor patterns across GCC and India.
Tool
SamaVentures
Venture scouting and deal-sourcing platform evaluating business models and asymmetric return potential.
Platform
SamaCapital
The capital layer connecting intelligence and venture scouting into a cohesive investment framework.
Venture
What I'm reading
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