Gaurav Kapadia (born 1981^[1]) is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and CEO of XN, an investment firm in New York City.^[2] He previously co-founded Soroban Capital Partners, where he was a co-managing partner, and served as a partner at TPG-Axon Capital.^[3] Kapadia is also known for his support for civic engagement and involvement in public policy and the arts.^[4][5][6]

Gaurav Kapadia was raised in the Queens borough of New York City.^[5] His parents immigrated to America from India on a visa program for immigrants in specialized professions.^[5]

Kapadia has spoken publicly about how his upbringing shaped his values and work, particularly his interest in increasing opportunity.^[5]

When he was 11 years old, Gaurav Kapadia's fifth grade teacher encouraged him to take the admissions test to Hunter College High School.^[5] After being accepted, Kapadia attended Hunter, which he credits for changing his life and setting up future opportunities.^[5]

Kapadia attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2003.^[7] He graduated magna cum laude^[7]with a Bachelor of Science in economics.^[4]

After Penn, Kapadia joined the Boston Consulting Group as a strategy consultant.^[7][5]

When he was 23 years old, Kapadia met Dinakar Singh, who founded TPG-Axon.^[5] Kapadia joined TPG-Axon Capital in 2004, where he eventually became partner.^[8] In 2007, he moved from New York to London to build out the multi-billion dollar investment firm's European presence.^[7][9]

With Eric W. Mandelblatt and Scott Friendman, Kapadia founded New York based Soroban Capital in 2010 and served as Co-Managing Partner.^[10] Notably, the fund's assets under management increased from $130 million to $11 billion by 2017.^[11]

In 2018, Kapadia left Soroban to found the investment firm XN in New York City as a family office.^[12] Kapadia is the CEO of XN.^[4]

In 2020, Kapadia opened the family office to outside capital, and XN became one of the largest new funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] After starting to trade outside capital, XN returned 46% in its first five months.^[12][2][13]

XN invests in both public and private securities. Among its private company portfolio are Airtable,^[14] Figma,^[15] and AMP Robotics.^[16] XN led Airtable's Series F funding round in 2021.^[17]

Kapadia has spoken publicly about his interest in creating opportunities for others.^[5] In a 2022 podcast interview^[8] with Patrick O'Shaughnessy for Invest Like the Best, Kapadia discussed the link between his roles and his interest in the American dream:

In one generation, I've had the luxury of being me. There's so much to unpack from that, but, to me, it's essentially the American dream....I view a lot of my role both at XN [and] outside of XN as to help other people fulfill the American dream. And that means reducing barriers, increasing opportunity.^[5][8]

Kapadia serves on boards of several nonprofit organizations and foundations related to civic engagement, the arts, and philanthropy:

• The Mellon Foundation^[4][18]
• The Whitney Museum of American Art^[4][19]
• The Trust For Governors Island^[20][21][4]
• The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center^[4][3]

He also supports several philanthropic organizations, like the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving and Recidiviz.^[22][23]

Kapadia married Sonia Kapadia (born Jain) in 2007.^[24] The couple met while attending the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.^[25] She is the Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Equal Justice Initiative.^[26] They live in Tribeca with their three children.^[3]