For Entrepreneurs. By Entrepreneurs.

Nandan Nilekani is a tech pioneer, entrepreneur, and investor. He co-founded software giant Infosys in 1981 and continues to be its non-executive chairman. In 2009, on the invitation of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Nandan joined UIDAI as a Founding Chairman. He was tasked with creating Aadhar - a platform that would give every Indian a unique ID. A total of 99.7% of India’s adult population has already been enrolled in Aadhar and it is the biggest social project on the planet and is world’s largest biometric program. Nandan is also credited with developing India’s mobile-first, real-time payments system -UPI which kickstarted and democratised digital payments and created greater financial inclusion.

A firm believer in using technology in ways that benefit people, Nandan has been actively involved with a number of philanthropic projects. With his wife Rohini, he founded EkStep, a not-for-profit initiative to improve the learning skills of students from underprivileged backgrounds. He also partnered with Ratan Tata and invested in Avanti Finance, an NBFC focused on offering micro-loans in rural areas. Nandan has recently agreed to becoming an advisor to the government in building an Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to prevent digital monopolies and level the playing field for smaller retain merchants in the country.

He enjoys looking at how Indian entrepreneurs identify original Indian problems and then solve these with application of technology. Prior to Fundamentum, Nandan made personal investments in multiple companies including ShopX, RailYatri, LetsVenture, Sedemac and Power2SME.

Nandan co-founded Fundamentum, a scale-up fund, in 2017 to transfer his learnings of building mega-scale ideas and lasting legacies. Going forward, Fundamentum will be the sole platform for Nandan to engage with the start-up world. As co-founder of Fundamentum, he is actively involved in deal decision making process and mentors the founders of the portfolio companies. He is excited about working closely with young entrepreneurs from the portfolio to help create built-to-last companies out of India, and steadfastly support them in their exciting journey.

Sanjeev has spent over three decades in the Indian technology sector. He has been an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist. He worked with leading technology companies for 15 years before starting his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Daksh, a pioneer in the BPO sector, in the year 2000. While Daksh was acquired by IBM in 2004, Sanjeev continued to serve as CEO till 2006. Under Sanjeev’s leadership, Daksh was listed among the “World's Best Managed BPO Companies (Black Book of Outsourcing) and was ranked as the “#1 employer in the Indian BPO sector” (IDC). In 2002, Sanjeev received recognition for his stellar work and was named "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year."

In 2006, Sanjeev co-founded Helion Ventures, one of India’s earliest venture capital funds. Considered the beginning of tech investing in India, Helion pioneered the ‘startup’ ecosystem and focused on early-stage investments.

Sanjeev is an active board member and was awarded “Venture Capital Professional of the year” for the Asia region by AVCJ in 2012. In less than a decade, the market caps of his portfolio companies collectively grew from $250 million (at the time of Helion’s investment) to $5 billion.

In 2017, Sanjeev co-founded Fundamentum, a scale-up fund, with Nandan Nilekani to help young tech entrepreneurs build enduring companies. Having been a lifecycle investor, Sanjeev is now focused on sharing his vast experience, both as an investor and an entrepreneur, to help create lasting institutions. At Fundamentum, Sanjeev actively participates in various stages of deal-making. Leveraging his experience, he engages with the founders of portfolio companies to mentor/ guide and help solve some of their scaling challenges.

He has also co-authored a book: “From Pony to Unicorn: Scaling a Start-Up Sustainably”. It describes the X-to-10X journey and narrates the fundamental principles behind scaling and various levers of organization-building.

Board Experience: MakeMyTrip, BigBasket, Azure Power, Axtria, ShopClues, UnitedLex, Amba Research

Ashish is a Founding Member of Fundamentum Advisors, the Asset Management Company that manages Fundamentum Fund(s). He has been with Fundamentum since Day 1 and, leveraging his understanding of the entrepreneurial journey, he has helped the fund build a high-quality portfolio with two unicorns.

As a General Partner at Fundamentum, Ashish leads the fundraising and the investment process. He continues to lead the fund’s successful investment strategy of investing in start-ups with strong fundamentals, and exceptional entrepreneurs, and also spends time identifying new investable areas and sectors for the Firm to invest into. He wants to help build businesses that have the potential to grow into behemoths.

Prior to Fundamentum, Ashish was a serial entrepreneur and a prolific angel investor in technology companies. His sharp business acumen is reflected in the fact that his personal portfolio has delivered exceptional returns. He has over two decades of experience in the information technology space and has worked in different countries (USA, India, and Singapore) across various sectors. With his deep interest in all things digital, coupled with hands-on experience in business and finance, Ashish has founded several successful companies. He harnesses his strong analytical skills and a deep understanding of technology to help start-ups manage challenges and resolve business problems.

Fondly called ‘Dasu’ (a reference to his All India JEE Rank of 10) by his friends, Ashish holds a degree in Computer Science from IIT Kanpur. Over the years, Ashish has developed a keen understanding of the gaps in multiple industries undergoing digital transformation and is focused on creating solutions that will help bridge this gap.

Board Experience: Pharmeasy, Spinny, Wishlink, AppsForBharat, Geniemode, Fareye, Whizzo

Prateek possesses over a decade of extensive experience of working in the e-commerce and on-demand services industry in India. He started his career with Heinz India and went on to lead successful assignments at organisations like Urban Touch, a beauty e-commerce start-up, where he served as Category Manager. Prateek also held the position of Product Manager at Junglee.com, India's no. 1 price comparison site powered by Amazon.

Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, Prateek founded Stayglad.com - an app-based beauty and wellness service provider offering on-demand home services in 2015. With over 30% MoM growth, stayglad.com began attracting attention and soon, was acquired by Quikr.

A successful entrepreneur, and an astute venture capitalist, Prateek’s strength lies in being able to build value-added, customer-facing products; driving growth of technology products; implementing effective digital marketing strategies; and establishing technology-enabled systems to scale up back-end operations.

Prateek joined Fundamentum in 2017 and now, as a Principal at the Fundamentum Partnership, he is focused on developing cross-border SaaS and consumer internet ideas apart from helping to shape the Fund's growth strategy.

Prateek holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from IIT Kharagpur.

Board Experience: Kuku FM, ProcMart, Probo, Apna Mart, Ayu Health

Mayank brings over 14 years of experience in Fintech. He co-founded IndiaLends in 2015, a consumer credit platform that offers free credit reports to customers. In the 7 years at IndiaLends he helped the business scale to over 10 million customers and achieve overall profitability. Prior to IndiaLends, Mayank spent 6 years at Capital One, working for the US and UK businesses.

Mayank has a B Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras. He is also a struggling musician and spends his spare time making music in his bedroom studio.

Board Experience: Flexiloans, Stablemoney, TransBnk, Olyv

Devesh, a Vice President in the Investment Team at Fundamentum, has five years of experience in investment banking and joined Fundamentum from Citi where he was a Senior Associate in the Investment Banking team.

At Citi, he advised leading global Private Equity, Venture Capital and Pension Funds for investing/divesting stake in companies across multiple sectors. He also advised leading global companies in M&A, raising equity / debt capital, corporate reorganizations, shareholder approvals etc.

An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, Devesh has a keen interest in music and is a sports enthusiast who enjoys football, cricket, swimming and running.

Aastha has four years of experience in management consulting and the start-up ecosystem. An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Aastha joined A.T. Kearney after her MBA, where she worked with top corporates on their strategy and topline growth initiatives. During her stint at Kearney, she helped conglomerates build B2B businesses from scratch.

Post Kearney, she joined Pine Labs where she worked on strategy, growth and product marketing for their B2C business - Fave. There, she led the GTM for multiple new products and several growth initiatives to chart the 0-1 journey of the app.

Outside of work, she’s a history buff and loves to dance. She can talk about books all day long.

Ishan has more than 10 years of experience in financial management, administrative and tax support, fund/deal structuring, investor reporting, audits, and other regulatory matters. He also had a stint at EY before he joined Helion in 2016 as an Asst. Manager. Over the years, Ishan has moved up to become the VP at Helion and Fundamentum.

At Fundamentum, Ishan is responsible for undertaking due diligence, closure of deal-to-portfolio process, fund/deal structuring, investor reporting, fund administration, and regulatory compliance while assisting in portfolio engagement and fundraise. Ishan is a Chartered Accountant and holds a B.Com (Hons) degree from Delhi University.

Siddhant has 8 years of experience in managing corporate finance for manufacturing companies and MNCs. Adept at all aspects of finance, Siddhant has handled statutory and internal audits and worked on balance sheet finalization and MIS preparation. As part of his work with Vectus Industries and Mitsubishi Electric India, Siddhant gained hands-on experience in budgeting, forecasting, and working capital management. He puts his knowledge of SAP Software to good use to transact, analyse and predict financial functions in real-time.

Siddhant joined Fundamentum in 2021 as Assistant Manager, Finance and is currently in charge of Fund Accounting, Compliances, Investor Reporting and Taxation. He keenly follows developments in the capital market and likes to keep himself abreast of national and international affairs. When not crunching numbers, Siddhant loves to play cricket and badminton.

He holds an MBA in Finance from IMT Ghaziabad and has passed the IPCC level of Chartered Accountancy course from ICAI.

Loveleen has over two decades of experience in fundraising, organisational governance, research, and brand building. Her work with organisations in the venture capital & outsourcing sector has given her strong foundational experience not only in creating corporate strategies and planning but also of how to work with dynamic teams that undergo rapid growth from start to scale.

Loveleen has worked with organisations like IBM Daksh, UnitedLex, and Helion Ventures before joining Fundamentum in 2017, where she looks after investor relations, research, brand building and provides support in fundraising. She draws on her strong project and corporate management skills across different domains to support the investment team. Loveleen holds a Post Graduate degree in Finance from MFC, Lucknow University.

Deepa is an HR/Admin professional with over 16 years of experience in coordinating and leading secretarial, administrative, and human resource projects. She uses her strong creative streak to deliver key outcomes, build teams and meet performance parameters. Over the years, Deepa has developed a keen understanding of the importance of teamwork and communication. Deepa’s work with organisations like EngenderHealth and Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd. helped her sharpen her financial acumen and technical knowledge. Her decade-long assignment with the American Embassy School in Delhi gave her an opportunity to understand the nuances of managing operations and dealing with new challenges every day. In her role as the Executive Assistant and Manager, Administration at Fundamentum, Deepa draws on her analytical skills to resolve operational speed-brakes and deliver excellence.

Deepa holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a specialization in Math from Annamalai University, Post Graduate Program in Management from the Indian Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Liverpool John Moores University, London.

Deepali has over 15 years of experience in complete office management and handling the office of C-suite executives across varied industries. She is accustomed to working with all levels of stakeholders with a balanced approach. She has an analytical bent of mind and a keen eye for detail. Before joining Fundamentum in 2018 she worked as India Office Manager at William Grant & Sons proceeded by Piedmont Development Company and I-Solution Providers India (later merged into I-Process Services) as Executive Assistant to the MD & Leadership Team.

Deepali loves spending time with her family, traveling, and exploring the great outdoors. She also enjoys working on upcycling projects and practices mindfulness and yoga.

Hari is the Co-founder of the Artha School of Entrepreneurship. He has over three decades of experience and wears multiple hats of an HR specialist, angel investor, advisor to VCs, sounding board to founders, author, and columnist. He is an advisor and mentor to numerous start-ups and young entrepreneurs globally. During his stint as a senior management executive with multiple start-ups and scale-ups (Tata Steel, Daksh, Virtusa, Amba, TaxiForSure, BigBasket), he developed their crucial human capital programmes. He has helped shape five successful exits in different industries including an IPO on NASDAQ. He is a mentor at accelerators like Techstars and India Accelerator.

As a Strategic Advisor with ‘Fundamentum’, Hari helps the teams of portfolio companies with various aspects such as Building scale organizations, Leadership scaling, Performance management, and excellence. Hari is a prolific author and has co-authored six books so far. LinkedIn had identified him as one of the top voices in India consecutively for three years from 2016-18.

Uma Arora is an organisational development professional and a leadership coach with more than 30 years of experience in transforming individuals and teams. Passionate about sparking organisational change through learning, she has managed diverse corporate portfolios at SSP Worldwide, Maldivian Air Taxi, Bernard Schulte Ship Management, ICICI Pru, PharmEasy, Daksh, and UnitedLex. She facilitated the launch of online TOEFL in India when she was leading country operations for Thomson Prometric. In 2006, Uma took the entrepreneurial path and founded Idam Learning, an organisation focused on building leadership skills and co-creating enabling cultures.

An accomplished professional, Uma currently serves as President of the Asia Pacific Alliance of Coaches based in Singapore and has been instrumental in launching the Benchmark Coaching Survey across the Asia-Pacific region. An accredited MBTI® practitioner, Uma is also a certified trainer and practitioner for Facet 5 and Hogan. Uma holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry, an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, and an LLB from Delhi University. She has completed several certifications in Applied Behavioural Sciences, including a change programme with Edgar Schein and Appreciative Leadership in NTL US. She received the “Distinguished Trainer Award’ in the Asia Pacific by the World HRD Congress in 2013.

She joined the Fundamentum Partnership team as Strategic Advisor for Leadership Coaching in 2017. She has helped the portfolio companies on building their vision/mission, and conducted workshops on conflict management, team building, and many other areas which contribute to the culture of the organizations. She has also done leadership coaching for scale readiness.

Sanjay has over 30 years of diverse global experience in corporate strategy and digital transformation across corporate and societal development sectors. Beginning his career at Escorts, Sanjay moved to the Tata Group where he is credited with deploying the Tata Business Excellence model, laying the foundation for long-term scalability and sustainability at more than 50 Tata Group companies. In 2000, Sanjay moved to Infosys, where he formulated a structured multi‐horizon strategy and execution framework, helping accelerate annual revenue growth from $400 million to $7 billion in 10 years. He also pioneered the Leaders Teach programme at the Infosys Leadership Institute and influenced the development of 400+ leaders in strategy, competitiveness, scalability, and resilience.

An avid technologist, Sanjay founded EdgeVerve, supporting clients in their digital transformation journey. A thought-leader with a keen analytical bent of mind, Sanjay is the Chair of the Innovation Advisory Board to UNLEASH, a global innovation lab for Sustainable Development Goals. He is a Partner at N/Core, a unique non-profit incubator in addition to being an Advisory Board Member at Sparks & Honey. Sanjay applies his learning and experience to develop Societal Platforms (open digital co-creation networks) for young entrepreneurs in the sustainable developmental sectors.

Sanjay joined Fundamentum in 2017. He helps portfolio companies think about scale, reflect on their long-term strategy through innovative systemic models, and engages in intense workshops to induce platform thinking (vs traditional thinking) and chart pathways to scale sustainably with speed.