About Faris Capital
We advise growth-stage technology ventures and institutional capital across the US, Europe, the GCC, and India. Operators first, advisors second — we've built companies, deployed institutional capital, and run the deals we structured ourselves.
Who We Are
Arif Padaria
Arif has spent 30+ years building, financing, and exiting technology ventures. As an investor he deployed capital at Microsoft, TVM Capital, Pilot House Ventures, and NEOM Investment Fund, across 200+ transactions in deep tech, AI, and infrastructure. As an operator he co-built Princeton Softech (acquired by IBM) and Evolutionary Technologies (acquired by Versata), and scaled Rize, a WEF Technology Pioneer, through to exit. He was KAUST's first Entrepreneur in Residence and a founding executive of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. He leads the firm's US venture and institutional capital relationships.
Stephanie Portier
Steph works at the intersection of sovereign capital and applied AI. She structured a $40M strategic partnership between a GCC sovereign fund and a leading US AI player, then spent a year running its execution: sales build-out, pipeline structuring, governance. She previously built the AI services function at Inception (G42) from the ground up, with earlier work in commercial due diligence at PwC, strategy at Delta Partners/FTI, and ecosystem development at DIFC Innovation Hub. She is the firm's bridge between US ventures and Gulf sovereign platforms — on the ground in Dubai, working both markets daily.