Jarek Khoilian and Manas Punhani, who were GCV Rising Stars from 2025 and 2026 respectively, have been promoted to principal.
Woven Capital, Japanese carmaker Toyota’s $1.6bn growth investment arm, has announced three promotions today.
Jarek Khoilian, a GCV Rising Star in 2025, has been promoted to principal from his previous position of senior associate. His investment focus has been across deep tech and emerging technologies and has played an important role in building the unit’s space investment thesis from the ground up.
Manas Punhani has also been promoted to principal. He joined the Woven Capital team in 2024 and has since played an important role in the unit’s investment activity and the development of Fund II. Punhani was recognised as a GCV Rising Star this year.
Chris Starkey has been promoted to senior manager and head of finance. Starkey joined the Woven Capital team in 2023 and was unofficially leading the unit’s finance function over the past year. His promotion formalises the role he has been performing for a while.
The Woven Capital team has seen considerable movement since December 2025 with Ro Gupta replacing George Kellerman as the managing director of the unit. This was followed by the appointments of Michiko Kato as chief investment officer and Mia Panzer as chief operating officer.
The appointments are a reflection of the growth of the team and the momentum following the launch of their second fund valued at $800m last year.
Founded in 2021, Woven Capital manages $1.6bn in assets across two $800m funds. The unit backs around 20 portfolio companies per fund, with initial cheques typically ranging between $10m and $35m. Woven invests primarily from series B to pre-IPO. Approximately 40% of its portfolio companies have strategic collaborations with the Toyota Group.
See all the recent deals by Woven Capital in the CVC Funding Round Database
Oishani Mitra
Oishani Mitra is the content manager for Global Corporate Venturing.