| 1. Neha Narkhede, an Indian American professional, excels as a tech entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. |
| 2. She co-founded Confluent and held the essential role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) within the company. |
| 3. Furthermore, she is recognized as a founding member of Apache Kafka, a widely used open-source software platform. |
| 4. In 2020, Forbes esteemed her by including her on the list of America’s Self-Made Women, highlighting her remarkable achievements. |
| 5. She started her career as a software engineer at Oracle after her master's degree. |
| 6. She later worked as the lead of streams infrastructure at LinkedIn, where she co-created Apache Kafka in 2011 with Jun Rao and Jay Kreps. |
| 7. She co-founded Confluent in 2014 with Rao and Kreps as a B2B infrastructure company based in Palo Alto. |
| 8. Confluent raised $125 million in 2019, bringing total funding to $206 million that year. |
| 9. She now serves as a board member of Confluent. |
| 10. She and her husband co-founded Oscilar in 2021, a real-time AI-based risk detection platform for online transactions, where she serves as CEO; the company emerged from stealth mode in 2023. |
