Ajay Relan is an investor, entrepreneur, and community builder. He is the Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based venture capital firm Slauson & Co., investing with intention through the lens of economic inclusion. Prior to Slauson & Co., Ajay was a founding Partner at Queensbridge Venture Partners. With a keen focus on brand building and storytelling, Ajay's passion lies in identifying trends and engineering culturally aligned brands.
A lifelong Angeleno, Ajay has established a hospitality portfolio grounded in community. As co-creator of LA-based GVO Hospitality, his Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen has become a staple, facilitating productivity and collaboration in diverse neighborhoods across Los Angeles.
In 2012, Ajay founded #HashtagLunchbag, a grassroots movement that has fed 1.5 million-plus hungry and unhoused people in more than 150 cities around the globe. The success of the program led to the establishment of the Living Through Giving Foundation, a nonprofit platform empowering the creation of programs engaging diverse groups of people to contribute to various causes in their local communities.
Ajay is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, currently serves as Ambassador of the LA Opera, and lives in the View Park community of Los Angeles with his wife and three children.