Our speakers

Pankaj Goel, CTO, BharatPe

Pankaj Jain, Partner, 500 Startups

Pankaj Jain is a Partner at 500 Startups, a California based seed fund and accelerator program. Pankaj focuses on investing in early stage startups across New York City, India, South Asia and has led investments in over fifty companies at 500 Startups across 6 countries. After getting his B.S. from NYU’s Stern School of Business, Pankaj spent over 12 years in the Financial industry at firms such as JP Morgan, Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) and GlobeOp Financial Services.

At Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), Pankaj served in various roles including enterprise mortgage risk management, application development architecture, and market data infrastructure. From there, Pankaj went on to become one of the founding employees of GlobeOp Financial Services in late 1999, where he headed the firm’s trade management, pricing and data infrastructure as well as customer service areas.

In 2007, Pankaj’s adventures in India began, where he started a company building an on-demand, employment marketplace for the under-served. In 2008, Pankaj became a co-founder of the HeadStart Network Foundation and the led the efforts in Delhi. In late 2010, he began the process of founding Startup Weekend in India and led the organization until 2013.

In early 2012, Pankaj began working with TLabs, an Indian accelerator, where he helped source, select and invest in startups for the first two cohorts. In late 2012, Pankaj joined 500 Startups to lead the firm’s investments in Indian startups. Pankaj moved back to New York City in late 2013 and continues to focus on Indian startups targeting the domestic Indian market as well as a global market. Pankaj loves to eat, play video games, write really bad Perl code and sit on tropical beaches
doing nothing. He sometimes blogs at http://blog.pjain.me and can be found on Twitter at @pjain

Pankaj Joshi, CEO, Kelvin Cold Chain Logistics Pvt Ltd

Pankaj has over 23 years of experience in the logistics industry and was most recently the Head of Corporate Logistics at Mahindra Logistics. He has previously worked with AFL/DHL and has managed clients in Healthcare, Technology, Retail/FMCG, Telecom, Industrial, Automotive and Defence sectors. Pankaj is a graduate in Commerce and holds an MBA degree.

Pankaj Kathuria, Director Manager - Information Technology, Knowlarity Communications Pvt Ltd

Pankaj Keswani, Founder & Chairman, Alufit (India) Pvt Ltd & 84 Investments Pvt Ltd.

Pankaj Keswani is the Founder and Chairman of Alufit International, India’s leading curtain walling and façade solutions company. A first gen Entrepreneur, Mr Keswani built Alufit over the last 4 decades into an iconic enterprise known for delivering landmark commercial and hospitality projects across the country. 

Following a partial exit in 2021 and a full exit from the operating business in 2024, Mr. Keswani established 84 Investments Pvt Ltd, the Keswani family’s single family office. Set up with a professional CIO, the office follows a disciplined, multi-asset investment strategy across public and private markets in India and globally with long-term focus on capital preservation and growth.

Pankaj Kewani, Founder & Chairman, Alufit (India) Pvt Ltd & 84 Investments Pvt Ltd.

Pankaj Keswani is the Founder and Chairman of Alufit International, India’s leading curtain walling and façade solutions company. A first gen Entrepreneur, Mr Keswani built Alufit over the last 4 decades into an iconic enterprise known for delivering landmark commercial and hospitality projects across the country. 

Following a partial exit in 2021 and a full exit from the operating business in 2024, Mr. Keswani established 84 Investments Pvt Ltd, the Keswani family’s single family office. Set up with a professional CIO, the office follows a disciplined, multi-asset investment strategy across public and private markets in India and globally with long-term focus on capital preservation and growth. 

Pankaj Khandelwal, CMD, InI Farms Pvt. Ltd

Pankaj co-founded InI Farms in 2009. He started his entrepreneurial journey in 2003 with InI Consulting focused on Agriculture, Technology management and entrepreneurship development, Infrastructure and India Entry.

Prior to this, he worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Co and as a software developer with Verifone. His consulting experience spans over 13 years having advised companies in media, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, agriculture, logistics, supply chain, light engineering and chemicals.

Pankaj holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and is a Gold Medalist from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.

Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments

Pankaj is the Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Investments and brings in broad market expertise as well as a decade of investment experience to the table. Being a graduate of Bertelsmann’s Entrepreneurs Program, he has led the setup of the Indian Corporate Centre in 2011 and has been active in helping define and execute the growth strategy for Bertelsmann and its divisions in India.
Pankaj is also the Chairman of Private Equity Venture Capital Association of India (PEVCAI) at ASSOCHAM. He sits on the board of the following companies: WizIQ, Saavn, Indiaproperty, Pepperfry, i-Nurture, Kartrocket, Roposo, Lendingkart, Treebo, Eruditus as well as Bertelsmann Corporate Services India.
Before joining Bertelsmann, Pankaj has worked with the Malaysian conglomerate The Usaha Tegas Group where he led key investment projects in various sectors in India and South East Asia. Some of his projects included investments for Astro All Asian Networks, Maxis Communications, Measat Satellite Systems, Powertek, UT Real Estate and UT assets management. Prior to joining The Usaha Tegas Group, Pankaj spent around 3 years in audit, accounting and consulting assignments for Indian and International clients through his family firm SSA India.
Pankaj’s academic background includes an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Hons.) from Delhi University. He is also a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Pankaj is the Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Investments and brings in broad market expertise as well as a decade of investment experience to the table. Being a graduate of Bertelsmann’s Entrepreneurs Program, he has led the setup of the Indian Corporate Centre in 2011 and has been active in helping define and execute the growth strategy for Bertelsmann and its divisions in India.
Pankaj is also the Chairman of Private Equity Venture Capital Association of India (PEVCAI) at ASSOCHAM. He sits on the board of the following companies: WizIQ, Saavn, Indiaproperty, Pepperfry, i-Nurture, Kartrocket, Roposo, Lendingkart, Treebo, Eruditus as well as Bertelsmann Corporate Services India.
Before joining Bertelsmann, Pankaj has worked with the Malaysian conglomerate The Usaha Tegas Group where he led key investment projects in various sectors in India and South East Asia. Some of his projects included investments for Astro All Asian Networks, Maxis Communications, Measat Satellite Systems, Powertek, UT Real Estate and UT assets management. Prior to joining The Usaha Tegas Group, Pankaj spent around 3 years in audit, accounting and consulting assignments for Indian and International clients through his family firm SSA India.
Pankaj’s academic background includes an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Hons.) from Delhi University. He is also a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

 

Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann Corporate Services India Pvt. Ltd.

Pankaj Makkar is currently the Managing Director of Bertelsmann India Corporate Centre. He led the setup of the Corporate Centre in 2011 and has been active in helping define and execute the growth strategy for Bertelsmann and its divisions in India. He currently runs the Bertelsmann India Investment fund, which is Bertelsmann strategic investment vehicle investing in venture and growth opportunities in Media, Education, Digital and BPO sectors.

Pankaj sits on the board of various companies such as Authorgen Technologies, Big RTL Broadcast and Bertelsmann India Corporate Services. He joined Bertelsmann Inc. in 2009 in the company’s Bertelsmann Entrepreneur’s program. As part of the program, Pankaj initially worked on projects including Random House (US), ZD group on their education initiatives.

Pankaj worked from 2003 to 2007 with the Malaysian conglomerate – The Usaha Tegas Group and helped the group invest in various sectors in India and South East Asia. Working with various top executives of the group, he led key investment projects in the Television, Radio, TV Distribution, Internet, Telecom and Real Estate sectors for the group’s divisions including Astro All Asian Networks, Maxis Communications, Measat Satellite Systems, Powertek and UT Real Estate.

Pankaj holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Hons.) from Delhi University. He is also a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has spent around 3 years (2000-2003) in audit, accounting and consulting assignments for his family firm SSA India for Indian and International clients.

Pankaj Naik, Co-head Digital and Technology Investment Banking practice, Avendus Capital Pvt Ltd

Pankaj is co-head of Avendus’ Digital and Technology Investment Banking practice. Pankaj has 17 years of investment banking experience across industries with focus on Technology and Media vertical. Avendus’ Digital and Technology Team has closed over 40 deals in private capital raise and M&A in the last three years in India.