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Arora Project CEO Is Bullish on Crowdfunding and Cryptocurrency

When Krishan Arora, CEO of Arora Project, is asked about the most important thing to know about the landscape of venture capital in South Florida, he calls that “a loaded question.”

Then he takes a bite out of it: “No. 1, there’s a tremendous amount of national attention happening in South Florida, specifically in the Miami ecosystem, primarily due to the citywide resources being driven to this area.” Just back from meetings in New York and San Francisco, Arora says that Miami and who’s moving there was a constant topic of conversation. “Seeing that on the ground level in completely disconnected circles was a great indicator that the conversation is still occurring,” he says.

And, yes, he credits Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s relentless public effort to lure tech leaders to the city, and he has stopped by for one of Suarez’s Cafecito talks—the mayor’s interview series that streams on YouTube.

“Two, what people should realize,” Arora continues, “is that there are many alternative avenues of fundraising, outside of institutional investments, that are becoming very popular within the national ecosystem and in South Florida as well.” Specifically, Arora is referring to what his 5-year-old company does best: raising capital from retail investors. Arora Project likes to practice what it calls “a founder-friendly” manner and has successfully partnered with Miami-based startups, including Caribu, and helped AEXLab successfully raise a $1.07 million seed round. Caribu is a family video-calling app, integrating children’s books and activities, while AEXLab is a virtual reality gaming studio.

Born in Mumbai, Arora emigrated to the United States at age 8, later graduating from Miami’s John A. Ferguson High School. Then, it was on to Harvard, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and maintained a brisk schedule that included coordinating and stage-managing TEDx events on campus. All the time, he was launching startups, and for a year served as Apple’s Harvard campus representative. “They select one student a year to represent the entire brand on campus,” he explains, “and that gave me a lot of good insight into Apple’s digital marketing footprint.”

After a few years of advising companies on how to raise capital while raising capital for his own initiatives, Arora realized that crowdfunding was taking off. “I left a very cushy six-figure job at a young age to start the Arora Project,” he says, “the focal point being, helping entrepreneurs raise capital and help businesses scale.”

Arora grows animated talking about his company’s recent moves. He calls Caribu CEO Alex Tuchman “a rockstar founder.” Tuchman had already raised considerable institutional capital and had an active user base, so what the Arora Project did was to advise her on best practices, which, Arora says, “she executes perfectly.”

Meanwhile, when AEXLab came to Arora for fundraising support, the venture capital company not only helped it raise more than $1 million, but it oversubscribed the gaming company’s fundraising round. “Their return on investment working with us was over 1,000 percent,” he says, “and we’re gearing up for another $2 million round right now.”

Perhaps Arora’s most daring move was announcing that it would accept cryptocurrency for fundraising.
“There’s such big national and global attention on cryptocurrency, and I’m definitely long on the crypto game,” he says. “I think the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency is going to add a lot of value to the financial ecosystem on a global scale, and for those founders who were smart enough to get involved in an early stage with crypto, and now are able to leverage their crypto for services with professional organizations like ours, we’re more than happy to accept them.”

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.