Dipalo [di-pa-lo]

1. From Bangla, the modern South Asian language rooted in Sanskrit
2. ‘Pra-dip’ (Bangla), ‘Pra-di-pa’ (Sanskrit) meaning “light, lantern”
3. ‘Alo’ meaning light

Team

Collectively, we represent a level of experience in product development and manufacturing generally not found in venture capital.

Rafiq Ahmed

Managing Partner

Rafiq is the Founder and Managing Director at Dipalo Ventures. As a serial entrepreneur and investor, Rafiq has over three decades of experience in innovation, user experience design, product development, management consulting, and early-stage ventures.

His investment focus areas include climate, industrial, manufacturing, and medical devices. Rafiq’s angel investment portfolio has a 29.23% IRR and 2.33x MOIC with 1 unicorn and 5 exits. He co-founded the interactive storytelling platform Demibooks and exited to EDC (NASDAQ: EDUC). He is a Limited Partner in several Venture Capital Funds. Rafiq’s prior work included Motorola Mobility, Publicis Sapient Fannie Mae, and PwC.

Rafiq studied Computer Science and received an MBA from Virginia Tech and a BS in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia Wesleyan.

LinkedIn | Prior Investments

Rafiq Ahmed

Managing Partner

Mitul Patel

Partner

Mitul works as a Venture Partner for Dipalo Ventures. He leads technical due diligence and the Dipalo Ventures Residency for Fund I.

Mitul is the Founder and CEO of M.P. Consulting (MPC) and contractor manufacturer AMC. He has more than 15 years of expertise designing consumer electronics for Motorola Mobility, Cuff., and MPC. He has worked on projects including wearables, smart homes, smartphones, and industrial sensors and has filed over ten U.S. Patents. In addition to his work at MPC, Mitul has made it his life’s mission to establish his son’s legacy with an initiative to benefit Maternal Fetal Medicine and Fertility with an intense focus on technology development, data analytics, and worldwide causes. Women’s Health is the centerpiece of Mitul’s operation, from MPC to AMC and his son’s namesake foundation: The Aarush M. Patel Foundation.

Mitul received a BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

LinkedIn | MP Consulting | The Aarush M. Patel Foundation

Mitul Patel

Partner

Larry Hayward

Venture Partner

Larry is a Venture Partner at Dipalo Ventures. Larry invests in researchers and engineers developing game-changing technology. Recent examples include microneedle medication delivery systems, self-healing coatings, tankless water, air heating, and wireless power technologies.

Larry is also a Partner and Co-founder of hard tech VC Fund Independence Equity, which focuses on efficient resource utilization in early-stage investments. He co-founded Cornerstone Angels, one of Chicago’s earliest angel networks. Since 2003, he has provided startup investment banking, governance, and management support through VentureLab. His prior work also included Arthur Andersen’s small business advisory division. He is a board member of the EcoMyths alliance and the executive-in-residence at the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Larry received an MBA in Marketing and Finance and a BS in Psychology and Operational Behavior from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

LinkedIn | Independence Equity | Prior Investments

Larry Hayward

Venture Partner

Monika Razdan

Platform

Monika is an Analyst at Dipalo Ventures and works across Platform Support, Investor Relations, Deal Sourcing, and Marketing.

Monika is a member of the Fall 2022 cohort of Chicago Venture Fellows by Chicago:Blend. She is a Founder of Mental Polaroids, a startup dedicated to raising mental health awareness and normalizing it in our community.

Monika received an MS in Marketing Analytics from Illinois Tech’s Stuart School of Business and a BS in Computer Science from Punjab Technical University (India).

LinkedIn

Monika Razdan

Platform

Stavan Shah

Fall MBA Associate

Stavan Shah is a full-time MBA student at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (one year, Class of 2026). He is interning with Dipalo Ventures in Fall 2025 through Kellogg’s VC Lab, focusing on hardtech innovation, robotics, and smart manufacturing.

Before Kellogg, Stavan spent 4 years in Deloitte’s Smart Manufacturing practice and 1.5 years at McKinsey. His work centered on deploying smart factory use cases, including digital operations, computer vision, and AI-enabled workflows across Fortune 500 manufacturers and government agencies, from roadmap to pilot to scaled adoption. He also helped early-stage teams translate shop floor insights into scalable products.

Stavan is a Georgia Tech alumnus with a BS in Industrial Engineering and a 2x Create-X Startup Launch founder.

LinkedIn