Dejana Dua
Dejana Dua is an early-stage investor, strategic advisor, and ecosystem builder with over 25 years of experience supporting technology ventures from concept to commercialization. As Managing Partner at Anexa Capital, she invests in founders solving complex global challenges across AI/ML, cybersecurity, life sciences, clean tech, quantum, and enterprise infrastructure.
In her role at ventureLAB, Dejana leads the Investment Readiness Program, where she has advised numerous tech entrepreneurs and helped unlock over $100M in combined equity and non-dilutive funding. Her work often spans the full journey from R&D to revenue, helping first-time founders navigate complex funding stacks, understand their unit economics, and build investor-ready roadmaps.
A hands-on partner to early-stage ventures, Dejana is known for her ability to dive deep into technical and market diligence, shape early go-to-market strategy, and guide companies through the critical milestones of early traction, product validation, and capital formation. She has helped hundreds of startups refine their business models, strengthen investor narratives, and secure pre-seed and seed rounds from top-tier domestic and international investors.
Dejana’s portfolio includes ventures that have gone on to win global innovation awards, secure landmark customer contracts, and scale to Series A and beyond. She has played a pivotal role in helping founders secure government-backed grants (IRAP, SDTC, SR&ED), attract international co-investors such as Khosla, M12, Insight Partners - to name a few, and build capital-efficient growth plans.
Beyond investments, Dejana serves on the Board of Advisors at the George Washington University School of Business and mentors with Techstars, The Firehood, Ignite GTM, Connecpreneur, to name a few. As a frequent panelist, guest lecturer, and ecosystem advocate, Dejana is passionate about supporting women in tech, championing capital access, and fostering a globally competitive innovation economy.
Dejana's key areas of focus and achievement include:
- Leading early technical and market diligence on deep tech companies emerging from university labs, incubators, and accelerators
- Supporting go-to-market planning and customer development for ventures in regulated, B2B, or enterprise-driven sectors
- Advising on capital strategy and structuring seed-stage investments using SAFEs, convertibles, and hybrid instruments
- Bridging founders with strategic partners and early adopters to accelerate validation and commercial pilots
- Guiding teams through pitch refinement, financial modeling, and investor matchmaking in North America and beyond
