‘Don’t be the noise, be the value’: Kavita Gupta of Delta Blockchain Fund to aspiring female VCs

The blockchain world remains a ‘male fiefdom’ despite the tremendous progress in terms of gender diversity. It will likely take a few more years for female leaders to dominate this space.

However, there are already a few women folks around the world who are breaking the glass ceiling and defying all the odds to establish a name for themselves. Kavita Gupta is a great example. She has broken through the male-dominated industry to launch Delta Blockchain Fund, an early-stage strategic fund in the US.

In an interview with e27, Gupta talks about her journey into the tech and VC industry, the challenges she faced in the male-dominated industry, and the future of blockchain.

Can you talk about the work you do at Delta Blockchain Fund? What are some of the exciting projects you are currently working on?

Delta Blockchain Fund is an early-stage blockchain technology investment fund. We collaborate with amazing founders from all over the world. Our team is also global with employees from Europe, Dubai, Asia, India, and the US where I’m based.

We work with founders from the very beginning — incubating their ideas, brainstorming with them, and connecting them with other thought leaders in the space who can help them grow. As a VC, I love being a catalyst and enabler for these founders. It’s something that comes naturally to me and I’ve really seen the value of it over the past 12 to 15 years.

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We’ve invested in over 47 companies and we continue to support each and every one of them. Our goal is to help founders live out their visions and execute their goals. That’s how I see my role as an investor, as really a support system and that’s what I’m passionate about.

Can you tell us about your journey into the tech and VC industry? What inspired you to pursue a career in this field?

I’ve realised that sometimes life happens to you more than you plan it. I came to the US as a student back in 2004-2005 when India didn’t have strong internet access and my applications used to be on paper instead of email but even then I was super curious about anything that had batteries.

My first job was on the World Bank trading floor, which introduced me to finance. I soon started realising my passion for tech and I was very fortunate to be given the job of doing the valuation for early-stage tech in emerging markets at the bank. As soon as I began working, I realised that it didn’t even feel like work. It was answering my curiosity, and honestly, it was fun for me. And so destiny pulled me in that direction and it just felt like home. So that was the beginning.

But if I think back to when I was a kid, I think I always wanted to play with electronics. I was always curious about how things worked and asked things like why they worked that way. What can we change for the better? Can it be bad? And then when computers came into my life, I was in eighth grade and I was just fascinated. I noticed about myself that with every piece of hardware, I had to open it up and see what was going on inside. That journey to combine tech, finance and impact continues till now.

What challenges did you face as a woman in a male-dominated industry? How did you overcome them?

This is an interesting question. When I started my career, I didn’t think much about it because when I went to an engineering school there were only four girls in my class.

But when I took my first job on the trading floor, there were hardly any women there. There were probably only one to two, including my boss, Nina Shapiro, who thankfully is still the advisor to Delta Blockchain Fund. During those days, there was really no conversation about women in the workplace. As I started moving into more senior positions, I began to realise that I was always one of the only women.

I realised pretty quickly that there was a certain way things worked. I just had to work extra hard to earn my seat at the table. Honestly, there was an inbuilt pressure that if I’m on the board and all of the members are male, I had to earn my seat by being extra prepared. Sometimes it was difficult to ask a question and expect proper attention like my male colleagues on the board.

As a woman, I had to learn to ask for what I wanted and know my worth.

A lot of times, women are scared to say “Hey, I deserve this promotion”. Often, we’re always apologising for things. But I also feel that most of the women who have made it to the top as founders and investors have learned the skill of building trust and friendships while learning to stand up and push and ask for what they want or deserve.

And every time now when I’m meeting a lot of young women or I am hiring somebody, I push them to know their worth and ask for what they need.

In your opinion, what are the major barriers that are blocking women’s entry into the tech and VC industry? What steps can be taken to increase gender diversity in this space?

Over the past few years, the progress has been amazing. When I went to college 18-20 years ago, there were very few women in STEM courses. Now, when I go to guest lectures or even when I teach a STEM class at Stanford, it’s usually at least an equal number of men and women in the class.

But then when it comes to the workforce, I notice that many tech teams are very male-dominated. The founders are male and you have one woman who is either a CMO or a community head or head of HR and then the rest of the team is all male.

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I think that we have incredibly qualified women who are figuring out how to navigate the so-called ‘bro gang’ but it’s a generational change and I feel like more and more men are getting comfortable studying alongside women in a larger capacity. So in the workplace, there will definitely be a big difference.

At Delta, out of our 47 portfolio companies, we only have two women founders. But I have a strong belief that it’s going to get better.

What do you think is the role of blockchain technology in addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues, such as climate change and income inequality?

Blockchain is a powerful technology that offers transparency, traceability, and security. In 2019, I gave a talk at MIT media lab on liquid democracy, discussing how blockchain could be utilised to create a transparent government system where every department, including tax and driving licenses, is on the blockchain. This would result in a truly transparent democracy, as the government could track what is owed to them and citizens could see if the government fulfilled its obligations.

Blockchain could also be used for land titling, mining, carbon credits, and salary wages with privacy through zero-knowledge systems. However, the extent to which blockchain is used depends on the willingness of people to adopt it.

How do you see the blockchain industry evolving in the next five years?

There has been a shift towards spending more time and energy on really important things like infrastructure and I see this continuing. The importance of infrastructure cannot be overstated. A global identity comprises financial, government, and social components etc. all rolled up together, true decentralised data storage, user-readable search results, an explorer for on-chain data etc.

Without proper building blocks, blockchain may be limited to small applications or speculative tools, which goes against its true potential. However, if things continue in this way, I see the industry growing exponentially and creating many new opportunities.

What are your future plans and aspirations for your work in the tech and VC industry?

Our future plans are to create new and unique VC offerings and products to support investors, while also generating profit for our Limited Partners. Our goal is to support founders throughout the entire cycle, from the preseed level to token launch and market fluctuations, ultimately supporting the technology. Our objective is to continue growing while remaining strategic partners for our stakeholders.

What advice would you give to women who want to pursue a career in the tech and VC industry?

My advice to those wanting to work in the tech or VC industry is to be yourself, be strong, and believe in yourself. Focus on doing your best work. It can feel like an exclusive club at times, and there may be uncomfortable situations, but don’t let that discourage you.

Keep building your network and proving your value, and you will be invited to the table. Don’t be the noise, be the value.

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