Event Speakers

With a career spanning more than 3 decades in the consumer brand and investing ecosystem, Kanwaljit Singh brings deep expertise in venture investing, strategy and business development, brand building and marketing. As the Founder and Managing Partner of Fireside Ventures, he has successfully raised two separate funds (AUM US$170Mn) with notable investors include L’Oreal France, Investment Corporation of Dubai; Unilever Ventures, SIDBI (managing Govt of India’s Fund of Fund for startups), HDFC Bank etc. Apart from defining the overall contours of the portfolio he mentors entrepreneurs to scale and champions Fireside’s thought leadership.

Kanwaljit is on the board of several companies, and at Fireside plays a pivotal role in the growth of brands like Boat, Slurrp Farm, Vahdam Teas, and The Ayurveda Experience etc. Prior to establishing Fireside Ventures, Kanwaljit invested personal capital and provided mentorship support to consumer brands like Licious and Mama Earth (both became Unicorns recently), Paper Boat, Epigamia, Yoga bar, amongst others. Prior to this, as the co-founder and Senior MD at Helion Ventures (AUM US$600Mn) from 2005 to 2015 he worked closely with business in the consumer and consumer technology space. Some of his notable investments were Qwikcilver, ID Fresh, Simplilearn and Lifecell etc. Prior to Helion, as the Director of The Carlyle Group, India (2001-2005) he led investments in technology ventures. Kanwaljit’s foundational years (1987-2000) were at Hindustan Unilever focussing on sales, marketing and product innovation, along with a 3-year stint at Intel as the General Manager – Marketing overlooking responsibilities in India and the SAARC Countries. Kanwaljit holds an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi; and a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Punjab University.