Ajey Kaushal is an investment principal at JLL Spark, responsible for sourcing, evaluating, investing, and scaling early-stage PropTech startups. Prior to joining JLL Spark, he held roles across strategy, tech investing, commercial real estate, and management consulting, most recently serving as Chief of Staff at Anderson Holdings and as an investment associate at PLG Ventures prior to that.
Ajey holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, where he served as student body President. After graduating with his MBA, Ajey has been an official mentor for current UCLA Anderson MBAs looking to launch startups post-graduation.
Laurent is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist collaborating with start-ups to successfully build scalable teams, strong company cultures, and disruptive products. Laurent believes there is a need for additional support within the early-stage ecosystem in budding technology hubs in the US and globally. His desire to support these growing tech communities led to his current role as Partner at JLL Spark in April 2021, focusing on strategic PropTech investments.
Laurent has founded, expanded, and managed multiple start-ups ranging from a tech-enabled corporate catering company, Eat Club, to a leader in the mobile health and wellness space, Zeel. His experience working in the early-stage startup scene has given him the tools necessary to understand the needs of founders in the infancies of their companies.
Laurent holds a B.A. in International Relations and Occupational Science from the University of Southern California. He is based in Los Angeles.
Raj is the managing partner of JLL Spark, the corporate venture capital group of JLL, focused on strategic PropTech investments. Previously, he was interim co-head/managing director of investments at JetBlue Technology Ventures, the corporate VC of JetBlue Airways.
Prior to that, Raj served as CEO and co-founder of London-based Sooqini, an on-demand economy task delegator for small businesses. Before that, Raj co-founded and led a Geneva-based consulting firm and worked with various governments to foster entrepreneurship. As a general partner and co-founder of Pervasive Technology Ventures—and also as a principal for the New York-based VC arm of Investcorp—he was responsible for sourcing, negotiating, and closing new investments in tech startups. At Booz Allen Hamilton (now Strategy&), Raj led strategy and technology projects in ecommerce; technology, media, and telecommunications; and financial services. He also held multiple positions at IBM at the start of his career.
Raj holds an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and a B.S. in computing science from Imperial College London. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Sean is an investment principal at JLL Spark, covering the EMEA region. Previously, he served as a managing director at Stanley Ventures and Check24 Ventures.
Prior to working in corporate venture capital, Sean founded Carden Capital, an investment firm which managed a hedge fund and sub-advised several mutual funds. He was also at Allianz Capital Partners, where he completed leveraged buyouts and mezzanine debt investments in Western Europe. Sean began his career as an investment banking analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
Sean holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, and a Masters in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds Business Administration and German language degrees from Pepperdine University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He is based in Frankfurt, Germany.
