Nafisa Istami

Nafisa Istami is the Senior Innovation Manager at the Rice University Office of Innovation in Houston, Texas. In this capacity, she leads strategic initiatives including the Nexus and One Small Step Grant programs to support faculty research commercialization. Prior to this position, Istami served as a Senior Analyst at Mercury Fund from 2023 to 2024, focusing on early-stage B2B SaaS and enterprise software investments across Middle America. Her earlier venture capital experience includes roles as a Venture Associate at the Houston Angel Network and a Venture Fellow at Republic Ventures. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Rice University in 2021, where she founded and directed the Rice Ventures student accelerator. Istami currently focuses on bridging academic research with commercial markets and advancing early-stage technology ventures outside of traditional coastal hubs.