Introducing Our Newest Team Member: Sujoy Sarkar, Director
Hi! It’s great to meet you in digital form. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sujoy, but largely everyone calls me Suj.
I am an entrepreneur, investor, dealmaker, ex-New Yorker, self-proclaimed economist, and more importantly — an optimist. I believe in people, ideas, and technology, and with this combination I strongly believe anything is possible.
That’s what brings me here today. Over the last decade, I have been fortunate to gain invaluable investment and operating experience across multiple evolving sectors including technology, consumer, and mobility.
After graduating Fordham University, where I majored in finance and economics, I began my career on Wall Street where I worked as an investment banker at JPMorgan and later RBC Capital Markets. Working 80+ hours a week taught me grit, helped me build a strong corporate finance background across equity and debt, but most importantly exposed me to Fortune 500 C-suite executives at a young age. I developed an interest in trying to understand companies, business models, and the key macro and micro factors driving the capital markets.
After I felt I reached a learning curve, where I was doing the same repetitive tasks every day, I decided it was time to move on to something more challenging. I teamed up with an industry leading Portfolio Manager, and we launched a quantitative macro hedge fund and research company that would later be sold to Forbes. It was here I turned my interest into a passion and learned how to invest into companies. Using advanced software and technology, we invested into internet, software, consumer, and autotech companies across North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. One of the major research reports I worked on focused on the changing electric vehicle and mobility landscape in China, which led to two major investments in Chinese automotive OEMs.
After we made these investments, I spoke about this mobility theme with an institutional investor that I respected greatly. He provided me with one of the best pieces of advice in my life. I was told in order to be a “great” investor having investment experience was not enough. I needed real operating experience. I needed to understand what it was like to go through the trenches that entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs go through daily. So, I took that advice to heart, packed two duffel bags of clothes, and bought a one way ticket to the one place that came to mind when I thought of innovation: Silicon Valley.
Over the last 4 years, I have been fortunate to have one of the best jobs in the world leading strategic investments, partnerships, M&A, and BD at BYTON, a leading autotech OEM headquartered in China. As Head of Corporate Development, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley, Israel, Germany, China, and the Middle East. I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world, work with and understand various cultures across continents, build strong relationships and ecosystems both domestic and internationally, and became a global dealmaker. More importantly, I’ve been in the trenches with our founders and c-suite, rode the numerous ups and downs, like a roller coaster or sine curve, being on top of the world one moment and being at rock bottom the next. I’ve gone through it all including helping scale the company to unicorn status, divestitures, acquisitions, restructurings, co-leading fundraising over US$500mm, and personally making introductions and building relationships with iconic CEOs like Eric Yuan. I’ve also made numerous mistakes, just like any startup founder would, when there’s no clear answer or direction. I’ve gained a tremendous appreciation for learning on the job, execution, relying on your peers or advisors when you need support, accepting the things that you cannot control, and pivoting when it is required. My experience at BYTON was a MBA on steroids and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Now that I have proverbially graduated, I am excited for my next journey to become a “great” investor.
Today, I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining Assembly Ventures as a Director based in Silicon Valley. I have had the opportunity to get to know and work with Chris, Jessica, and Felix over the last ~16 months. I strongly believe there is no other team in the mobility and ESG space that is more passionate and uniquely positioned to win than our team. Our network of companies, operating advisors, and experts spanning the globe provide us unparalleled access to deal flow as recently seen from our investment into Our Next Energy (ONE).
The future of mobility is rapidly evolving with the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, changing consumer preferences and habits around travel, the need for innovation in supply chain and logistics, and the acceleration of digitalization and automation. I am excited to join Assembly Ventures and partner with Jessica, Chris, and Felix to identify and invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs and mobility companies that are changing the world.
I would like to thank my mentors and peers and can’t wait to see where this new journey takes me. Please feel free to reach out to me at sujoy@assemblyventures.com if you’d like to get in contact!
Cheers,
Sujoy
Posted: March 11, 2022