Prachi Vakharia

Prachi Vakharia lives and works in Washington DC in the Office of CTO of AES, a 33 Billion USD company with 10 Billion USD in annual revenues, where Prachi runs the Innovation and Investments of AES Next in new domains and technologies. Beyond AES, Prachi works on Autonomous Vehicles, V2X technologies, digital and shared mobility projects in DC, NY and LA. Previously, she worked with the WRI, World Bank and also mentors and invests in organizations and startup companies — 3 of those startups were acquired by Daimler AG (German auto maker of Mercedes Benz) for $100 million in a single deal on a single day. (One of the companies went from PowerPoint presentation to product design, launch, expansion and to acquisition in just 9 months!) Prachi invests in selected and advises many startup companies in USA, ranging from transportation, to energy, to computer vision, and more.

Prior to this, Prachi has worked in the Transportation Industry with World Bank, WRI-Embarq, Car2Go, myTaxi, RideScout, TransitLabs, and RideAmigos equipping her with a comprehensive understanding of V2V–V2I–V2X, BRTS, HSR, Urban Transport, Taxi and Shared Vehicles. Prachi also worked in the Business Development for RANIMOL-MIT where they built Artificial Intelligent Solutions for large companies and government agencies, and she brings those collective understanding, skills and knowledge of Industries, Systems, Structures, Operations, Management and the Leadership to Womanium.

Prachi also chairs 3 committees for the US National Academies of Sciences Transport Research Board, and was approached by SAE to serve as the first Global Chairperson for the development of new worldwide Digital & Shared Mobility Standards with SAE to create new global standards, definitions and business models for industry, governments, regulators and academia. Part one was completed in a record time of 10 months! Within these, Prachi advocates for accessibility features and needs for the elderly and disabled to be included in the standards, along with creating new avenues to advance education and training for the next generation.

Having grown up and educated between Asia, Europe and Americas, Prachi also brings global perspectives, mindset, values and understanding. Prachi holds combined degree in Mathematics and Economics from London School of Economics (England, UK).

Prachi created and fully funds WOMANIUM FOUNDATION to create the new Scientific Leaders of Tomorrow. Modelled after DARPA and ARPA-E, Womanium is one of the most unique Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship organizations in USA that has worked with NASA, DARPA, ARPA-E, National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Mental Health, Amazon, PARC, Industries, etc. for women’s advancement in STEM+Entrepreneurship in domains ranging from Energy, Space, Astronomy, Computational Neuroscience, Geroscience, CRISPR Gene Editing, Industrial Additive Manufacturing, Automation, Transportation to Nuclear Weapons Safety.

Through Womanium, Prachi Vakharia gave away 177 Scholarships through Womanium to students in 42 countries – including 50 from MIT and 11 from Columbia University, for Space, Energy and Neuroscience.