More than three decades ago, she and her late husband, Stanford professor Rajeev Motwani, saw the potential in what would become Google, mentoring its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
They encouraged the tech duo to see their research project at Stanford as a steppingstone to their own company, not just an academic project or something to be sold to a deep-pocketed acquirer.
A Career Built on Backing the Right People Early
After her husband’s untimely passing in 2009, Jadeja kept her husband’s legacy alive by continuing to support startups through investments, grants, and fellowships. Jadeja became an angel investor in dozens of companies, some of which became dazzlingly successful. One of them was AppDynamics, which Cisco acquired for roughly $3.7 billion in 2017. “Angel investing is very exciting,” she says. “Not every investment is successful like AppDynamics, but the ones that are alter the technology landscape or change how we live.”
More recently, she has taken her long-term vision to another realm: philanthropy. Through the Motwani Jadeja Foundation, founded in 2012, she has emerged as a major advocate for ties between the U.S. and India, global innovation, opportunities for women, and helping Israeli tech startups.
“These are all linked,” she says. “My vision is for many countries to benefit from innovation, but this can also make the United States stronger on the global stage.”
The H-1B Question: Protecting American Workers While Staying Open
H-1B visas, which allow tech workers to come to America from other countries, including India, are controversial, and Jadeja takes a cautious view.
“New H-1Bs must be more carefully vetted so more jobs go to American citizens,” she says. “Greater effort must be made in finding our talent pool within the country, before offering jobs to foreigners.”
From Technology to Public Policy
She has also become active politically in support of President Trump, donating $5 million to the MAGA super PAC.
Like other Silicon Valley figures, such as Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, Jadeja has leaned right politically in recent years. She wants to see policies that maintain American tech leadership and favor American companies.
She is a strong backer of President Trump and supports his policies on rooting out terror infrastructure globally.
“President Trump is very strong in terms of defense and understands why America needs to stand up against the threats we face, like Iran,” she says. “I have deep relationships in the U.A.E., and our allies in the Middle East, and we need to nurture those ties.”
As she sees it, Trump’s determination to put American companies first is essential. So is a regulatory environment that encourages innovation.
“We can’t be complacent,” she says. “I want to spread the administration’s support for innovation globally.”
China, India and the Global AI Race
What is more, with China now a clear global rival to the United States, countries like India and Israel can play a key role as innovative, tech-oriented allies. They can also export their know-how to the Global South, benefiting populations left behind by cutting-edge technology like AI.
“India is becoming a leading player in AI and that will help the U.S. and other countries, and there can be a diffusion of ideas and innovation,” according to Jadeja.
Sarvam AI, for example, has developed a large language model in multiple Indian languages, an undertaking that requires serious AI know-how.
Just as Asha Jadeja and her late husband saw incredible potential in Google, she says, today India and the U.S. can build out a global AI-tech ecosystem. And while many observers have focused on the risks of disruption, in her view AI offers tremendous potential for progress and innovation.
“It will disrupt jobs in the software industry, law, non-surgical medicine etc.,” she says. “But access to data will spark enormous value creation in every walk of life.”
“Unlike the Internet or software, you can use AI to solve problems yourself,” she adds. “You don’t need tech skills; you can do it in plain English.”
DRISHTI and the Israeli Innovation Model
Israel, too, has a young, tech-oriented population.
She wants to create a bridge between Israeli and American innovation and believes this alliance can be mutually beneficial. Her foundation supports DRISHTI, named for the Sanskrit word for vision, with a focus on Israeli emerging technologies in AI, machine learning, drones, and robotics.
“I find Israel very inspiring,” she says. “Despite external threats, they have built a very impressive innovation culture, with start-ups that have become worldwide successes.”
Jadeja’s support for Israel is not new, but she has been ahead of the curve as Silicon Valley now sees Israel as a key market for acquisitions. In March of 2026, Google completed its $32 billion purchase of the Israeli cloud infrastructure company Wiz, its largest deal ever.
Young People as the Engine of Innovation
In keeping with her long-term view, Jadeja’s efforts have focused on young people: she views them as the key to building bridges between the U.S. and India and spreading innovation worldwide. Her goals are ambitious, matching the programs she has established.
A tireless networker, Jadeja is frequently on the move: Silicon Valley, Washington, India and Europe, among other locales.
“Being an angel investor is exciting, but philanthropy, policy, support for education and innovation is just as rewarding, maybe more so,” she says. “I genuinely feel like I can make a difference.”
Jadeja has shared her message in many forums — the Milken Institute, Davos, the Hudson Institute, Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and a new program at the University of California San Diego, the 21st Century India Center.
The Motwani Jadeja Foundation helped launch the 21st Century India Center in late 2024, and it is off to a strong start.
In addition to offering young Indian innovators a chance to come to the U.S., she has created the Motwani Jadeja India Fellowship. A program with competitive admissions, it enables rising American leaders in government, the military, the private sector and media to spend approximately four weeks embedded in an Indian university or think tank.
Building on that cross-cultural pollination, in 2025 Jadeja donated $5 million to India’s O.P. Jindal Global University to support in-depth education about the United States for India’s fast-growing population of student
Many Indian students need a better sense of America’s unique advantages, she says, like its three branches of government, its tax system, or how Washington works with the states.
This gift, along with the new 21st Century India Center, sums up Jadeja’s passions — innovation, mentoring young people, and building relations between the U.S., India, and other countries. And always being in the room where it happens. “Young people really are the future,” she says. “America must continue to be the place that draws innovators from around the world. That’s what drew my husband and me to come.”
Jadeja’s concern about the future of innovation and America’s openness to entrepreneurship and opportunity are among the reasons she has become more politically active. “America is unique, and I’ve seen that as an investor in Silicon Valley,” she says. “We can’t afford to lose that.”
“America can lead the way for other countries, and with innovation and new technologies that empower their populations,” she says. “I want to be a force for that and give back some of the good fortune I found in America.”