Divesh Makan is a partner at ICONIQ, a global investment firm advising many of the most influential families, leaders, and companies of our time. Since co-founding the firm in 2011, Makan and his team have cultivated a remarkable community of clients and partners spanning technology, business, entertainment, and global affairs. While ICONIQ does not disclose client names, its advisory board includes the likes of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, GM CEO Mary Barra, AMD president and CEO Lisa Su, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“What makes this community so special is that it’s not transactional,” Makan says. “Together, we learn about new ideas, emerging technologies, and global problems that we may be able to help solve. Real relationships enable truly extraordinary things to become possible.”
Through that community, Makan realized early on that technology is not a vertical market, but a horizontal force that cuts across all sectors to transform industries and our lives. That thesis fueled the firm’s early conviction in the mobile web, cloud, SaaS, data infrastructure, and now AI. Along the way, ICONIQ has built enduring partnerships with many of the world’s most consequential companies, including Anthropic — where ICONIQ is one of the company’s largest investors — as well as OpenAI, Legora, Snowflake, Figma, Datadog, Ramp, and Airbnb, among others.
Beyond investing in companies, ICONIQ also convenes its community to tackle some of the world’s most complex challenges, from climate to youth mental health, gender inequity, and threats to democracy. ICONIQ Impact, the firm’s platform for collaborative philanthropy, has mobilized nearly $1 billion to help create a better tomorrow.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that technological progress benefits not just some people, but all people,” Makan says. “My suspicion is that some of the most important investment opportunities of the next decade may come not just from the power of AI and other technologies, but from how they shine a light on our own humanity.”
Born in Durban, South Africa, Makan holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Natal and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Previously, he served as an executive director at Morgan Stanley and as a vice president for Goldman Sachs. He sits on the Board of Trustees for SF Jazz and on the UCSF Foundation Board.
We are thrilled that Divesh is joining the DOC 2026 Faculty. Please join us in welcoming him to the DOC community.