This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Ash Arora, the youngest Partner at LocalGlobe — the #1 early-stage VC fund in EMEA and a backer of legendary companies like Wise, Canva, Twitter, Robinhood, and more.
Ash shares her journey from Delhi to leading investments in frontier tech across London and beyond. We dive into her time at Polygon Ventures (where she managed a $100 million fund with LPs like Sequoia, Lightspeed, and SoftBank), her experience advising the Indian Prime Minister’s Office on emerging tech startup investments and strategic policy impacting 1.5 billion people, and the lessons she’s learned about power, adversity, and much more!
Video version of episode 118:
Audio version of episode 118:
Key takeaways:
- “Perfect” is the enemy of launch. Ship it.
- Trust your gut—even when it goes against the grain.
- Most startups don’t need venture funding.
- Reading people is an underrated investor skill.
- Gut instinct = subconscious pattern recognition.
- Zombie startups are born from too much capital.
- Adversity creates clarity, drive, and vision.
- Pay it forward. Always.
