Priyank Mallikarjun Kharge (born 22 November 1978) is an Indian politician from Indian National Congress and Serving as the Cabinet Minister in the Government of Karnataka. He is 3 time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Chittapur Constituency in Kalaburagi District of Karnataka. Priyank Kharge entered into the politics as an activist of the National Students' Union of India in 1998. In 1999, he became the NSUI College General Secretary. Later in 2001, He started serving as NSUI State General Secretary till 2005. He was also the Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress from 2005 to 2007. He served as a Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress General Secretary from 2007 to 2011. In 2016, at the age of 38, he became the youngest minister to be sworn into the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s cabinet as the Minister of IT, BT & Tourism. He has also served as a Cabinet Minister of Social Welfare in the coalition Government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.

A pioneer in the Indian real estate industry, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani has been recognized as the Real Estate Mogul of India. The Indian billionaire is the founder and managing director of the Hiranandani Group. He is a first-generation Indian entrepreneur who holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Real Estate) and is an adroit Chartered Accountant. Under Dr Niranjan Hiranandani's astute leadership, the Hiranandani Group has transitioned from a real estate company into a conglomerate. It has diversified into emerging asset classes such as industrial and logistics platforms, data centres, and oil and gas. He has inspired many Indian entrepreneurs through his futuristic vision, resilience, and leadership attributes. His success story has been hailed as a symbol of hope and inspiration for millions of Indians. He is seen as a beacon of opportunity for young entrepreneurs and a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs. His persistence, persuasiveness, and passion have contributed to his success and led to the establishment of a colossal empire. In the Indian business community, he is widely regarded as a respected figure who is staunchly committed to the growth and development of the Indian economy.

Padmaja Ruparel is nationally recognized as a key player in the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem and has helped co found many of the relevant institutions, besides being an active Angel investor herself. Her operating experience spans large corporates, M&A, and startups/early stage companies. She has been awarded as one of the 'Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business' by Fortune India for 4 years, is listed in Forbes India’s W- Power Trailblazers and “30 Most Powerful Women in India” by Business Today for 3 years running. The Women Economic Forum recognized her with its “Women of the Decade in Investment Banking” award. She is Co Founder of Indian Angel Network (IAN), India's single largest horizontal platform for seed and early stage investments. IAN is the first and now possibly one of the world’s largest group of business angels, comprising the who's who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs from India and overseas

Imran Jafar is the Managing Partner of Gaja Capital. He is responsible for investment activities, operations and team development. He has over 26 years of experience in various industries which includes 20 years of experience in private equity

Manoj Chacko, a seasoned aviation and travel industry leader with over 30 years of experience, is the Managing Director and CEO of FLY91, a pure-play regional airline headquartered in Goa. Under his leadership, the airline has focused on enhancing connectivity between underserved and unserved destinations using a fleet of ATR 72-600 aircraft.
An alumnus of Goa Engineering College and holding a Master’s in Management Studies from Goa University, Manoj Chacko has held senior roles at Emirates, American Express, SOTC and WNS. His expertise spans business development, operations and customer service, with a track record of driving growth in competitive markets.
Rooted in Goa, Manoj Chacko has positioned FLY91 as a catalyst for regional economic development, leveraging local talent and resources. With a focus on operational efficiency and market expansion, he continues to shape India’s regional aviation landscape.

Naveen Unni is Managing Partner at TCF. With nearly two decades of consulting experience at McKinsey, Naveen brings a wealth of knowledge and leadership to our team. His diverse background across multiple geographies, including India, Australia, and Southeast Asia, positions him as a key driver of investments and portfolio management across various verticals. Naveen’s extensive experience spans a wide range of sectors, with a particular focus on the industrial landscape. He has worked with manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, infrastructure, and utility companies on a large scale. His invaluable insights and strategic guidance have propelled these organizations forward in India, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Vinod Murali is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Alteria Capital. Vinod has 22+ years of experience spanning Venture Debt, Mezzanine Capital & Structured finance. He has been a part of the Indian startup ecosystem for 17+ years and is acknowledged as a pioneer of Venture Debt in India. Alteria Capital is India’s largest Venture Debt platform with a corpus of $550 Mn with a portfolio of 200+ companies. Alteria provides venture debt to high growth, innovative Indian startups in technology, consumer and healthcare segments. At Alteria Capital, Vinod has led several high profile deals including Spinny, Mensa Brands, Rebel Foods, One Card, Jupiter, Country Delight, BharatPe, Ultrahuman, Lendingkart, Toppr, Portea, Sunstone Eduversity, Kissht, Dunzo, Wrogn, Loadshare, Haber, Fisdom, Raw, Clover, Samunnati, Emversity, LBB, Zeno Health, Cropin, Mfine, Euler Motors, Nua, Ayu Health, Kaleidofin, Fingerlix, TurnO, Intangles, Cityflo, Happay, Instamojo and Damensch among others.

Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma is a pioneer in India's startup ecosystem, with over 20 years of experience in investment, acceleration, and incubation within the startup sector. He holds a PhD in Incubation and a Diploma in Mentoring Studies from UC Berkeley and has invested in more than 500 startups. He has played a groundbreaking role in democratizing angel investing and founding the first accelerator and incubator in India. Known for his exceptional ability to drive transformation, he excels in advanced evaluation techniques, rapid investment execution, real-time mentorship, and has developed a unique startup development methodology alongside comprehensive scout programs.

Vineet Rai is the Founder & Vice Chairman of Aavishkaar Group and chairs its Board and Group Executive Council. Aavishkaar Group is an Impact Investment Platform impacting millions of people in Asia and Africa using an entrepreneurship based development approach. Vineet believes in building impact ecosystems to deliver real Impact as enshrined in the vision of Aavishkaar Group “We exist to bridge the Opportunity gap for the Emerging 3 Billion”. Vineet believes that Impact Investing has the potential to change the world of finance irreversibly. The Group’s ecosystems include Aavishkaar Capital – the Impact fund manager focused on Global South, Arohan – One of India’s largest & most digitally advanced microfinance institution (MFI) targeting low income households, Ashv Finance – a Fin Tech NBFC, offering unique cash flow based business loans to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and IntelleCap –building Impact Ecosystems globally.

Jinesh is the Managing Partner & Co - founder at Omnivore VC. Previously, he was Vice President and CFO at Nexus Venture Partners, one of India’s leading venture capital funds. Earlier in his career, Jinesh worked in corporate finance roles for Datamatics (leading Treasury/M&A), Patni Computers (initiating the IPO process), and HCL Technologies (founding the BPO business). He is a member of the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, the JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation (JIIF), the core working group of the World Economic Forum related to agriculture, the CII National Council on Agriculture, and the chair of CII’s agtech task force. More recently, he has joined the NITI Frontier Tech Hub Expert Council for Future of Agriculture. Jinesh is a Chartered Accountant with a B.Com from R A Poddar College and an MMS (Finance) from JBIMS.

Saravanan Nattanmai is Partner at Premji Invest. Saravanan is a seasoned private equity professional with 18+ years of experience in private equity across sectors / stages and Corporate Strategy and Planning and has held leadership positions and been on the boards of regulated companies with best-in-class corporate governance in India. Currently, he leads investments in the financial services sector (traditional and new age) at PI across key areas of focus including insurance, lending, wealth management, payments, and banking infra. Previously, he worked with AION Capital (JV between Apollo Global Management and ICICI Bank) and Nereus Capital and has led investments in diverse sectors including financial services, consumer/retail, technology, and industrials. Saravanan began his career at GE in 2005. During his tenure at GE, he is credited for acting as catalyst for ideating and implementing innovative technologies with high degree of potential for disruption

Sibabrata ‘Shibam’ Das is the Co-founder and CEO of Atomberg Technologies, where he plays a pivotal role in driving product innovation, engineering excellence, and operational scale. An alumnus of IIT Bombay, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Sibabrata demonstrated entrepreneurial aptitude early in his journey by co-founding an e-commerce venture during his college years, which he successfully led as CEO for over two years before exiting to co-found Atomberg. He began his professional career as a Business Analyst at Practice Next Digital and later served as Head of Operations at Aasaanjobs, gaining valuable experience in scaling businesses and building high-performance teams.
At Atomberg, Sibabrata has been instrumental in building the company from the ground up, contributing significantly to its technology roadmap, product development, and execution strategy. He has played a key role in developing Atomberg’s core BLDC (brushless DC) technology platform, enabling the company to emerge as a leader in energy-efficient appliances. In addition to overseeing product engineering, R&D, and day-to-day operations, he has also led fundraising efforts and spearheaded the development of new categories, including the water purifier business. Under his leadership, Atomberg has disrupted India’s traditional consumer durables market through deep engineering and innovation, while also delivering meaningful sustainability impact by saving over 2.5 billion units of electricity and generating more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Dipanjan Basu has over two decades of experience across E-commerce Consumer brands, Investments, M&A and Digital Consulting apart from his deep experience in Finance and Operations. At Fireside, he is closely working with disruptive brands such as Fable Street, Sarva and Sleep Company. As a board member he Is not only mentoring these rapidly scaling brands, but his cross functional experience is helping them create an Institution. He is instrumental in creating a unique Debt ecosystem for all Fireside portfolio which can help companies scale faster. He leads Fireside’s Finance and Investor relations function, and supports the portfolio companies on E-commerce strategy, fundraising, capital planning and good governance. Prior to joining Fireside, he also co-founded Inflection Point Ventures, an angel investing platform and mentored several entrepreneurs. As the CFO of Myntra (Flipkart Group), he played a key role in driving balanced and profitable growth, build scalable processes and invested in several Fashion and Lifestyle Brands. As part of the Flipkart leadership team, he was deeply involved in the Walmart Flipkart deal in 2018.

Mr. Parag Shah is Founder and Partner of Amara Partners, a mid-market Private Equity fund. Amara Partners provides growth capital to businesses and supports entrepreneurs in strategy, innovation, digitization, change management, governance and business transformation. In a career spanning over 25 years, Parag has held various positions with the Mahindra Group and in his last role, he was a Member of the Group Executive Board. Prior to that, he was the Managing Partner of Mahindra Partners, the 1 Bn USD Private Equity and Venture Capital division of the Group. Parag continues to be a Director on several Mahindra Group companies and is also an Independent Director on the board of HDFC AMC Ltd., Lumax Auto Technologies Limited, Thermax Limited and KPIT Technologies Limited. Parag holds a BS Degree in Computer Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the General Management Program from Harvard Business School. Parag has been an Executive Committee Member of several CII and FICCI Committees in addition to other external associations. He is also an angel investor & is on the Board of Trustees of TiE, Mumbai and J.C. Mahindra Memorial School. Parag has been recognized by Economic Times & Spencer Stuart as India’s Top 40 Business Leaders under the age of 40. He was also featured by India Today as ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ in their anniversary issue.

Mr. Navin Honagudi is a Managing Partner at Elev8 Venture Partners based in Bangalore. He has 16+ years of experience investing in the startup ecosystem. Before founding Elev8, he co-founded and partnered with Kae Capital, a premier venture firm. Managing Partner, Elev8 Venture Partners He's instrumental in raising $250 million across five funds, leading Growth investing and backing market leaders like Brightchamps, Rupeek, Cuemath, and Porter. At Kae, Navin evaluated 5000+ tech companies, investing in 30 where he actively advised and served on boards for startups like Porter, Healthkart, Loantap, Snapmint, Loanzen, and BSB. He played a pivotal role in mentoring and nurturing startups like Porter from seed stage, achieving remarkable 100x growth. Navin effectively managed boards with leading VC firms such as Sequoia, Accel, Tiger, Lightrock, and Kalaari

A trusted name in the wealth management industry, Akash Harjani brings over 25 years of rich experience guiding family offices and UHNIs. He joins us from Kotak Mahindra Bank, where he spent 21 years and was instrumental in developing tailored wealth management strategies to address the complex needs of ultra-high net worth clients, while also driving client engagement and overall business development. Akash has also had impactful stints at TCFC Securities, where he began his career as well as at Avendus Wealth Management’s Multi-Family Office, where he served as Executive Director strengthening the multi-generational family wealth vertical. With his extensive experience, Akash has successfully navigated the intricacies of UHNI and Family Office wealth management, earning numerous accolades and solidifying his reputation as a leader in the field. Akash will play a pivotal role in the growth strategy of Motilal Oswal Private Wealth, both in India and abroad.

Ashish Gala is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at VentureSoul Partners, a debt house focussed on providing innovative credit solutions. VentureSoul Capital Fund I is the first offering under the umbrella, a 600cr CAT II debt AIF, looking to provide debt solutions to companies in the New Economy Ashish has 24+ years in Structured Finance, Pvt Credit, Leverage Finance. He has also been the key investment member of a Pan-Asis debt fund. Ashish is specialist in M&A and LBO financing as also pioneer of fund financing in India. He maintains an active engagement with various VC/Pes funds through the country His previous work experience includes HSBC, Credit Suisse, CLSA Capital Partners, Standard Chartered Ashish is a CA and CFA (USA) by qualification

Subeer brings over 15 years of extensive experience in startup and venture investing to our team at Sorin. His journey into the world of venture investing began in 2010 with Mayfield Fund's India-focused fund, where he spent over 12 years honing his skills and contributing to over 20 investments spanning various sectors such as financial services/fintech, technology, consumer, and enterprise. Witnessing the transformation from "0 to 1" and "1 to 100" in numerous startups has been a privilege for Subeer. Among the notable companies he has been involved with include Strata, a leading fractional commercial real estate ownership platform, Enkash, one of the largest B2B cards payment businesses, LEAP India, the largest pallet rental company in India, Knowlarity, a cloud communication business acquired by Gupshup, and Securens Systems, a prominent video e-surveillance business. Before joining Sorin, Subeer played a pivotal role at ICICI Venture, where he contributed to shaping the strategy for the firm’s new VC fund.

Adhil Shetty is the Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar: India’s largest fintech co-branded credit card issuer and online platform for free credit score with a registered customer base of 70 Mn. Adhil’s vision is to democratize finance and increase financial inclusion in India through BankBazaar by making personal finance entirely contactless. Under his leadership, BankBazaar has grown to become India’s leading online fintech platform that attracts 250 Mn organic visits per annum.

Prashanth Aluru is an accomplished business leader with a wealth of experience in various industries, including technology, e-commerce, and finance. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of TMRW, an Aditya Birla Group Venture, where he leads a digital-first D2C "house of brands" platform that is building the next set of disruptor brands in the fashion & lifestyle category. In this endeavour, TMRW will play the role of coach & catalyst for these brands acting as their growth multiplier Prior to founding TMRW, Prashanth was a founding investor and board member of Avataar, a 3D AR/AI start-up focused on enabling immersive 3D consumer experiences for commerce and marketing. As a senior director at Facebook, he led various business and functional initiatives across sales and marketing, partnerships, growth operations, and policy/communications. He was also responsible for start-up investments, including Meesho, Unacademy, and Jio Platforms.

Chetan Mehta is the Founding Partner of Aum Ventures, which is pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund backing companies building in Innovation-driven, IP-led DeepTech, by Indian founders which have the potential to scale globally. Within this thesis, Chetan invests in spacetech, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, robotics, defence and AI. At Aum Ventures, Chetan was an early investor in Skyroot Aerospace, India’s first spacetech unicorn. Chetan founded AUM Ventures with a vision of supporting the Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem and build India’s reputation as a formidable venture capital destination. His previous experience includes building an alternate investment portfolio of venture/startups for a large single family office. He created a global deal sourcing network, fund-of-funds program and led investments in 60+ startups across India (Smiles.ai, LenDenClub, ChargeZone, Waterfield advisors, Sharechat, Sourcewiz, Rapidbox, Cogos, etc), Israel (eToro, Immunai, Antidote, H2Pro, Arbe robotics, Binah.ai, Goarc, etc), GCC (Verofax, Altibbi) and the US (SpaceX, Rho banking, Shef, Capsule, Daily Harvest, etc).

More than 16 years of experience in digital marketing. Previously Head – Strategy at MPG and National Director – Digital at Starcom Media Vest. Associated with LIQVD Asia from inception.

Nikhil Barshikar is the Founder and CEO of Imarticus Learning, India's leading professional education company. With 18+ years of investment banking experience at Lehman Brothers and Nomura Securities India, he identified a critical skills gap between academia and industry. He founded Imarticus Learning in 2012 to bridge the gap with education that leads to real outcomes. Imarticus has impacted 10 lakh+ learners, placed 75,000+ professionals at organisations like JP Morgan, EY, Amazon, and Flipkart, and operates 20+ centres across India. Spanning finance, analytics, technology, AI, cybersecurity, marketing, and management, the company serves learners across the full career arc, from college readiness through Imarticus School of Finance & Business (ISFB) and Kickstarter, to employability programs, global certifications, executive education, and enterprise capability building. Its societal reach extends beyond the classroom, training 2,45,000+ personnel across Mumbai and Gujarat Police, executing Mission Karmayogi with SPIPA Gujarat, and driving financial literacy for 90,000+ citizens through partnerships with NTPC and PFRDA.

Rakhi Prasad is a finance-and-technology leader turned AI entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of data, intuition and human judgement. With more than two decades across Goldman Sachs New York, Matrix Partners India, Enam Securities and Alder Capital — she now co-leads ClarityX, an AI-driven analytics firm that helps organizations transform overwhelming data into decisive insights.
Rakhi also serves on the boards of C E Info Systems (MapmyIndia Mappls) and IONIC Wealth. An alumnus of some the most prestigious Indian and international institutions, Rakhi holds a BA in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, a BS in Computer Science from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and has pursued her MS in Financial Engineering from Columbia University in New York.
Featured on Bloomberg Markets Asia, TEDx speaker and honored as one of India’s Top 100 Women in Finance, Rakhi combines analytical depth with her background in theatre to explore how clarity, storytelling, and ethics shape the future of AI.

Krushant is the Vice President, Investments at BlackSoil, bringing over eight years of experience in underwriting, investing, and fundraising. Before joining BlackSoil, he led the Founder’s Office at a growth-stage logistics startup, where he played a key role in raising equity from marquee investors such as Tiger Global, SBI Investment, Axilor, and Fundamental, along with debt from Banks, NBFCs, and venture debt firms. Earlier in his career, Krushant was among the first employees at a leading venture debt firm, where he was instrumental in investing in 20+ growth-stage startups across various sectors. He is a Chartered Accountant, has cleared two levels of the CFA program, and had received an admit to ISB’s flagship MBA program in 2020.

Anurag Gupta is a Partner and Leader at EY-Parthenon India. With over 25 years of experience in designing and driving business strategy and transformation, he has worked across a wide range of sectors, including the consumer and industrial goods sector space. He is passionate about helping consumer facing businesses create long-term value through the value chain.
He is skilled at boosting sales, excelling in business, transforming through digital and data, and carrying out strategies across multiple channels.
In the past, he has driven growth across sectors like consumer product goods (CPG), retail, auto, industrial, and pharma. He brings a wealth of experience in guiding companies through the entire value chain, particularly in digital and analytics transformation programs

Ashutosh Taparia is the Chief Executive Officer of CredAble’s fintech business, where he leads the company’s global strategy across banking and enterprise SaaS, embedded finance, and working capital infrastructure. He is responsible for scaling CredAble’s platform-led offerings across India, APAC, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, enabling financial institutions and enterprises to deploy capital more efficiently across supply chains. With over 20 years of experience in trade finance, supply chain finance, and tech-led financial services, Ashutosh has been a key architect of CredAble’s evolution into a global fintech infrastructure player. He has played a central role in building and scaling CredAble’s AI-powered working capital platforms that have enabled over $21 billion in financing to date, supporting 175+ global corporates and over 350,000 MSMEs, while partnering with 100+ banks and financial institutions worldwide.

Rahul Agarwalla is the Founding & Managing Partner of SenseAI Ventures, India's pioneering AI-native VC. Founded in 2017, the firm has built one of the country's largest and most active AI investment portfolios. A three-time tech founder and seasoned investor, Rahul brings over 25 years of experience across India, the US, and Japan. During his time with the Uchida Yoko Group, he built NLP and big data platforms for Fortune 500 companies including Toyota, Honda, and Canon, giving him rare technical expertise and cross-border experience. At SenseAI Ventures, Rahul partners with founders from day zero, combining deep operational experience with an extensive global network to help portfolio companies execute effectively and scale AI applications worldwide.