Nia Patel's path into venture is unusually hands-on: she went from serving as a Sergeant in the Royal Air Force to building a 60+ person investment team and helping close over $4 billion in transactions as an operator at PeerStreet before becoming an investor at Montage Ventures, where she focuses specifically on cross-border money movement and favors founders from outsider or cross-disciplinary backgrounds over conventional pedigrees. She combines operator instincts with careful, numbers-based diligence in her decision-making, and alongside her investing work, she also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.