Arnav Pokharel

CTO and Founder at Lunaseed

I build products at the intersection of fintech, systems design, and applied AI.

LinkedIn: arnav-p-1968061a5GitHub: arnav-pokharelEmail: arnav.pokharel@lunaseed.io

Experience

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Lunaseed · Nov 2025 - Present

  • Leading the architecture and full-stack development of an AI-driven fintech platform automating startup fundraising workflows.
  • Built secure multi-portal infrastructure (Founder, Investor, Admin) using Next.js 15, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Prisma, and AWS S3.
  • Integrated legal automation (OpenAI GPT-4o), Plaid, Stripe, and Persona for KYC, fund transfers, and compliance.
  • Deployed with AWS Amplify (frontend), AWS ECS (backend), and GCP Cloud Run Jobs (validation engine), with automated CI/CD, observability, and Stripe-based billing.

ITS Media Services | Producer, Video Director

Washburn University · 2023 Nov - 2024 Aug

  • Streaming live campus events to 1,000+ viewers using Blackmagic,multi-camera setups.
  • Built a custom PA system for outdoor events, enhancing audio quality and coverage.
  • Driving the vision of the production team by mentoring camera operators and coordinating event logistics.

Projects

Lunaseed

www.lunaseed.io

AI-powered fundraising OS connecting vetted startups and investors through automated validation, legal generation, and fund transfers.

Currently scaling private beta with verified investors and 150+ early-stage founders onboarded.

Next.js 15 · Node.js · Express · PostgreSQL · Prisma · AWS S3 · CloudFront · Stripe · Plaid · Persona · OpenAI GPT-4o · TailwindCSS · Shadcn/UI

Achievements

Washburn School of Business · May 2024

Community Innovation Challenge Grand Prize

Crowned the overall winner for a community-first fintech concept that impressed investors and alumni judges.

Read more

Washburn Business Venture Challenge · May 2024

Fast Pitch + Elevator Champion

Secured the top pitch award for crisp storytelling and a traction plan that resonated with the judging panel.

Read more

Washburn University · 2023 · 2024 Editions

Featured Founder, Washburn Business Magazine

Profiled for building student-first SaaS and for leading diverse venture teams across two magazine issues.

Read more

Kansas Startup Community · May 2024

Entrepreneur Awards

Highlighted in WIBW and Washburn News for taking home multiple prizes at the Washburn Entrepreneur Awards.

Read more

Education

San Francisco State University

Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc), Computer Science

Aug 2024 - Dec 2026 · San Francisco, California

Washburn University

Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc), Computer Science

Aug 2022 - Aug 2024 · Topeka, Kansas

Capabilities

I use Next.js 16 + React 19 with Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion, Zustand, TanStack Query, Radix UI, and Socket.io client on the frontend. Backend is Hono (Node/TypeScript) plus FastAPI (Python) for RAG and validation services. Data layer uses PostgreSQL + pgvector (Drizzle), MongoDB (Mongoose), Redis, and Supabase helpers. AI is primarily OpenAI (gpt-4o, text-embedding-3-small), with Claude and Gemini/Vision in VERIS 2.0 flows. Infrastructure runs in Docker on AWS (ECS, ECR, S3, SES, SSM) and GCP (Cloud Build, Cloud Run Jobs). Integrations include Stripe, Plaid, Persona, Google Meet, and Resend/Nodemailer. For AI coding, I use Antigravity as my primary coding agent alongside VS Code/Cursor.

Frontend

Next.js 16 · React 19 · Tailwind CSS 4 · Framer Motion · Zustand · TanStack Query · Radix UI · Socket.io Client

Backend & Data

Hono (Node.js/TypeScript) · FastAPI (Python) · PostgreSQL + pgvector · Drizzle ORM · MongoDB + Mongoose · Redis · WebSockets

AI, Infra & Tools

OpenAI (gpt-4o, text-embedding-3-small) · Claude, Gemini, Vision APIs · Docker · AWS (ECS, ECR, S3, SES, SSM) · GCP (Cloud Build, Cloud Run Jobs) · Stripe · Plaid · Persona · Antigravity + VS Code/Cursor

Writing

I also write about consciousness, systems, and reality models.

Read: Reality as STM+C