Indian American tech founder Ethan Agarwal, who has raised tens of millions of dollars from VCs across two startups, has thrown his hat into the ring for the race for California Governor.
“I think California is the greatest state in America and I want us to realize our full potential,” he posted on X announcing his candidacy. “Don’t vote for me if you think things are generally ok; you have plenty of other candidates to choose from.”
Agarwal, 40, a Democrat, believes “capitalism is the solution to every problem. I believe in meritocracy. I believe America is the greatest country in the world, and that California is the greatest state in the country.”
Asserting immigration is good for California, Agarwal wanted legal immigration to be made easier and faster and illegal immigration to be “addressed with compassion and common sense solutions.”
“We believe immigration is a net positive for California,” he says on his campaign site. “That immigrants start businesses, create jobs, and contribute to our communities.
READ: Kamala Harris not running for California governor (
Describing AI as the internet 30 years ago, Agarwal said he believes “AI offers an optimistic future. That it will provide education, training, intellectual development, scientific breakthroughs, and more. We believe that we should welcome AI with open arms, and do everything we can to understand it and nurture and leverage its growth.”
Describing education as a silver bullet, and more education as good, Agarwal said he believes “public schools should enable specialization, allowing all children to realize their unique maximum capabilities” and “the very best teachers should be paid a lot of money.”
Asserting decentralized currency helps everyone, Agarwal said, California should be the leader in crypto innovation with clear guidelines and a safe harbor for startups through a regulatory sandbox.
More long term, California can invest in education, research, and clean energy incentives for sustainable blockchain infrastructure, he said. “There’s no reason why California shouldn’t become the most crypto friendly state.”
On role of government, Agarwal said, government should be small and efficient and should focus on the basics: infrastructure, education, and public safety. “We believe that when government gets too involved in the economy, it hurts everyone,” he wrote. We believe that the best government is the one that gets out of the way and lets people and businesses thrive.
READ: Vivek Ramaswamy to spend $30 million in Ohio’s race for governor (
Agarwal previously co-founded fintech startup The Coterie, which raised $80 million from VCs, according to PitchBook, before its assets were sold earlier this year. He also co-founded Aaptiv, an audio-focused fitness app that raised roughly $61 million before being sold to Pear Health Labs for undisclosed terms.
Agarwal has already planned campaign fundraising events, with hosts including DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang and Y Combinator President Garry Tan, who invested in The Coterie through his venture firm Initialized Capital.
Born in Montreal in 1985 and raised in Los Gatos, he is the son of Vinod Agarwal, a former McGill University professor who founded semiconductor firm LogicVision, which went public in 2001.
He studied economics and political science at Johns Hopkins University, earned an MBA from the Wharton School, and worked at Lehman Brothers and McKinsey & Company before turning to entrepreneurship.