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Straia
The agentic AI platform for higher education ($4.5M cARR in 4 weeks)
$4.5M committed ARR* in 4 weeks. Straia is the agentic AI platform replacing legacy software across higher education. We unify siloed institutional data and deploy AI agents to analyze and act on that data. Building the AI-native operating system for every college in America. *In contracting
Meet the Team
CEO at Straia
Ryan Lau
Co-founder and CEO of Straia. Scaled first edtech startup to $5M in 9 months. Called over 3,000 colleges and universities before starting Straia. Spent nearly my entire career investing and operating at intersection of education and technology. Wharton grad.
CTO at Straia
Alan Chan
Cofounder and CTO at Straia. Engineered the backbone of the systems at Skillz that scaled to a $3.5B public offering. Built Greenpark Sports from the ground up until acquisition by JOA. Serial builder, now focused on higher ed where institutions are drowning in data they can't use.
COO at Straia
Gautam Narasimhan
Co-founder and COO at Straia. Prior to Straia, built the early US GTM and deployment motion for agentic AI platform at Sana Labs (acquired by Workday in 2025 for >$1B). Laser-focused on helping our partner schools derive immediate ROI from custom AI deployments. Previously consumer internet investor at Advent International / founding operator at Kismet / growth strategy at YouTube & Bain & Co. Wharton grad.
CPO at Straia
Nikki Dansey
Co-Founder and CPO of Straia. Previously, co-founded SageSpot (Khosla-backed) as CTO, first hire at Arcus (acquired by Addepar), and built the first AI-native programmatic platform in advertising at The Trade Desk. Studied computer science at UC Berkeley and have spent my career at the intersection of engineering and product.