A storm has erupted in Silicon Valley after US-based Indian venture capitalist Ash Arora accused two Indian-origin startup founders of fraudulent behavior, sparking sharp reactions across social media. Arora, a partner at LocalGlobe and a Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe Finance) listee, claimed the founders were inflating numbers and faking major corporate ties to impress investors.
In a blunt post on X, Arora wrote, “Have met two founders in SF this month. Both fraud: 1. Is subletting a rented apartment and showing that as revenue for his startup. 2. Is claiming Amazon and Google are clients who have signed LOIs when they have never even heard of them.”
She went on to add, “What’s common among them? Both desi men. Beware of these people!” She further noted that four VCs had messaged her correctly guessing the identities of the founders, asking, “Is this Soham Parekh 2.0?”—a reference to a controversial engineer recently called out by Mixpanel founder Suhail Doshi for alleged resume fraud and manipulation.
The post quickly drew fire for its community-specific framing. Critics questioned her mention of the founders’ ethnicity. “A sample of two. What’s the point of including their race?” one user asked. Another noted, “The ‘desi men’ part is a spicy take, but honestly, the patterns of fraud in SF are pretty universal.”
In response, Arora defended her wording, saying her intention was to indirectly help others identify the individuals without naming them. “As a desi myself… if we can’t self-criticize, who will? How will we ever fix something if we are too proud to acknowledge it?” she wrote, adding that it would be labelled “racist” if a non-Indian made the same observations.
The allegations have reignited conversations around ethical conduct in the startup ecosystem and the role of community accountability. While some dismissed her remarks as unnecessarily incendiary, others expressed concern over the practices she exposed. One user commented, “If you’re inflating your revenue, you’re only hurting yourself. You’ll never truly validate your idea.”
The timing of Arora’s post—days after Suhail Doshi publicly warned about Soham Parekh—has only added fuel to the fire, drawing attention to what some are calling a pattern of startup misrepresentation in tech’s most competitive hub.
