Akhil Iyer

Partner

Akhil is a Vice President at Shield Capital, a new venture capital fund focused on supporting early-stage entrepreneurs building frontier technologies critical to both national security and commercial enterprise.

Alongside an incredible team of veterans and founders at Shield Capital, Akhil helped launch the fund and explore critical domains in cybersecurity, space systems, autonomous platforms, and artificial intelligence.

Prior to Shield Capital, Akhil served as a Marine Corps Infantry and Special Operations Officer, leading infantry units in the Western Pacific and a special operations team in the campaign to defeat ISIS.

In addition to his Marine Corps service, Akhil worked at Anduril Industries, supporting the development of multi-sensor counter-drone capabilities. He also researched the future role of ground forces at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, as well as historical counter-insurgency campaigns at Stanford’s Hoover Institute.

Akhil graduated with a BA in international relations and honors in international security studies from Stanford University. He received his masters in business and policy from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar and Student Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.