Our speakers

Raja Kumar, CEO, Ascent Capital

Raja is among the earliest leaders of the Private Equity asset class in India. Raja founded Ascent Capital in association with UTI Ventures. Over the past ten years, he has recruited and nurtured a winning team, played a crucial role in all of the firm investments, and has forged significant LP relationships. Raja has a passion for supporting entrepreneurs and has worked closely with the teams of some of the most successful PE-backed companies in India.

Previously, Raja has served in various capacities such as Research Fellow at Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Officer of the Indian Civil Services, Regional Manager of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), India capital markets regulator and Executive Director of UTI Mutual Fund. During his association with SEBI, he oversaw the launch of several IPOs, regulated market intermediaries and also as member of Advisory Committee. He has also served as a director of five Indian stock exchanges and on the boards of several private and publicly listed companies.

Raja holds M.Sc. and M. Phil in Science, and is a graduate of AMP of the Harvard Business School.

Raja is an Advisory Board member of Next Wealth (fostering social entrepreneurship), and a charter Member of TiE. Raja is also a budding golfer.

Raja Parthasarathy, Managing Director, IDFC Private Equity

Mr. Raja Parthasarathy is a Managing Director with IDFC Private Equity, an Indian infrastructure-focused private equity manager which manages US$1.3 billion across three funds. Mr. Parthasarathy is currently on the boards of Manipal Universal Learning, Green Infra Limited, International Recreation Parks and Windforce Management Services Limited. He previously served on the board of Manipal Health Systems. Prior to joining IDFC Private Equity, he was Executive Vice President – Finance with Jet Airways, India’s leading private-sector airline, and was earlier with UBS, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. Raja holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MA in Economics from Tufts University and a BA in Economics from Hamilton College.

Rajagopal G , Director & Group CEO, KITES Senior Care & Columbia Pacific Communities

Raj is the Co-Founder & CEO of KITES Senior Care, a single specialty brand in geriatric care founded in Bangalore, South India in 2016. KITES Senior Care operates geriatric care centers and provides geriatric care at home & at senior living facilities. With 150+ beds under its management in three centers in Bengaluru & Hyderabad, KITES Senior Care has cared for over 4,500 elders since its inception both at their care facilities and at the residence of the elderly.

Raj commenced his healthcare journey as the CEO of Motherhood, a specialty in maternity care. He orchestrated a successful PE fund raise & a strategic acquisition which helped scale the brand from a single unit operations to multi-city multi-unit operations and its foray into treatment of infertility. 

Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, he also served as the Chief Executive of HCG Milann, leader in the space of reproductive medicine offering infertility treatment solutions & related research initiatives where he worked closely with the Board in formulating the growth strategies of the company and was responsible for its successful execution.

In the past, he has had the privilege of having worked with an eclectic mix of successful organisations Eastern Spices, AOL Time Warner, Cairn Energy India & HPCL where he had the opportunity to learn and contribute meaningfully at various levels.

His success stories include building/scaling brands, taking companies through Strategic M&A deals/PE fund raising, setting up of businesses (start-up/bootstrap) including scaling them. He strongly believes in effective teams to deliver organizational goals and hence strives to invest, build and grow high performing teams. Raj's strengths as a leader are in (a) Customer centric approach (b) People/Process/Value based Governance and (c) Sound Strategy with Execution.

Raj is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, New Delhi, an alumnus of ISB, Hyderabad (AMP) and holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Madras University. He also serves on the boards' of a super specialty hospital and a healthcare focused strategic advisory firm. He is extremely passionate about mentoring start-ups & sharing knowledge with budding entrepreneurs.

Rajan Anandan, Active Angel Investor & MD, Google India

Rajan Anandan is the Managing Director of Google India.  In this role Rajan is the Vice President responsible for Sales and Operations for Google in India.
 
Prior to Google, Rajan was Managing Director of Microsoft India, responsible for all aspects of Microsoft’s software, OEM and services business in India. Under his leadership, Microsoft India was recognized as the Number 1 subsidiary among the emerging markets worldwide (China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and India).
 
Before joining Microsoft, Rajan was the Vice President and Country General Manager of Dell in India where he grew the Dell business from $250 million to over $800 million and also held several leadership roles including being the Executive Assistant to Chairman Michael Dell.

Before Dell, Rajan was a Partner with McKinsey & Company in Chicago. He holds an MSc from Stanford and a BSc from MIT.

Rajan Mehra, Co-founder & MD, Nirvana Venture Advisors

Rajan is a Co-founder and Managing Director at Nirvana Venture Advisors. An MBA from the Darden Business School, USA, he is an internet industry veteran, with 17 years of experience in consumer internet and business services. Before co-founding Nirvana, he was a venture partner at Clearstone Venture Advisors, the India Advisory of Clearstone Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Santa Monica, Ca. Prior to Clearstone, he was Country Head for eBay in India and a member of the Asia Pacific Leadership Team of eBay.

Rajan’s early years in the Indian internet were at the start-up Baazee.com where he was a member of the management team. Baazee was acquired by eBay in 2004 in one of India’s earliest internet exits. Rajan is a Founding investor in CarTrade and has invested in/is a board member of Billdesk (India’s largest electronic transaction processor), Games2win (India’s leading Casual & Social gaming company),  Zopper & Housing.com.

Rajan R. Navani, Vice-Chairman & MD, Jetline Group of Companies JetSynthesys

Rajan Navani is the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Jetline Group’s JetSynthesys, a new age digital entertainment and technology company with a portfolio of world class products, platforms, and services, aiming to touch the digital lives of billions of consumers in India and around the globe. Under his leadership and strategic direction, JetSynthesys has built diversified business divisions spanning gaming, wellness, fintech, music, digital & social entertainment, currently serving millions of users globally and 100+ clients worldwide by harnessing advanced capabilities in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, blockchain and AR/VR.

In addition to helming affairs at JetSynthesys, Rajan has been the National President of the Indian Digital Gaming Society (IDGS) since the institution of the body in 2018. He is currently the Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s National Council on India@75 and founding trustee of the India@75 Foundation, through which he is working with multiple stakeholders, including government, corporates and civil society in helping build a Dream India of 2022, seventy-five years since its independence. He is the Chairman of the CII National Council on Future Businesses, and the Past National Chairman of the CII Young Indians.. He is a global board member of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and a member of the Purdue-India Executive Council. He is also a trustee of Aspen’s Ananta Centre in India, a fellow of the Aspen India Leadership Initiative 2011–2012 and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the world’s foremost group on values-based leadership across all walks of life. He is also a BMW Herbert Quandt Foundation’s Young World Leader. Rajan is also playing an active role in helping shape the US-India partnership on the government and business front and is a member of the Singapore-India and Israel-India Track II strategic dialogues. He is a Government of India nominated CEO of the India Japan Business Leaders Forum, member of the India Sweden Business Leaders Forum and is a founding board member of Indiaspora, a powerful network linking the Indian American Diaspora with India.

Rajan holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA, under a NASA grant, majoring in Digital Satellite Imaging and Remote Sensing graduating with the award for outstanding academic achievement. A gold medallist at the University of Poona, India in the Bachelors of Electronics and Telecommunications program from College of Engineering Pune (COEP), Rajan also has a diploma in Business Management. He worked with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, Maryland, USA is  before joining the family business.

Rajan Singla, Sales Director, Enterprise GTM, HPE Financial Services

Rajan Vasa, President, TiE Ahmedabad

Rajan Vasa has recently been elected President of TiE Ahmedabad chapter.  Mr. Vasa is the Chairman & Managing Director of Contech BPO Services Private Limited (CBSPL) – A Healthcare, Music and Customer Interaction BPO Services Company based out of Ahmedabad. CBSPL works with various clients in the US, UK, Europe and India.  Mr. Vasa is also the Managing Director of Rajka Realty Pvt. Ltd, a Real Estate Development, Marketing and Maintenance Management services company.  

Mr. Vasa has recently been appointed as Senior Advisor to KPMG India, to help KPMG establish and grow strong presence in Gujarat.  Prior to this, Mr. Vasa was Managing Director of Contech Software Limited.

Earlier, Mr. Vasa has spent eight years in the US and prior to returning to India, had received Practical Training as a Product Marketing Manager at Oracle Corporation, USA for close to two years.

Mr. Vasa has more than twenty years experience in the Services Industry.  He is a dynamic leader and a strong believer in Human Relations.  Due to his long stay in the US and good understanding of the Global Market, he has been seamlessly working on combining the business opportunities and strengths of the Global Clients and Indian Resources ever since his return to his homeland of Gujarat in 1990.    
 
Mr. Vasa is also involved in several professional organizations like IACC, TiE, GESIA, AMA, NASSCOM, CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and GCCI.  He has contributed to the cause of the Industry and Entrepreneurship in the State of Gujarat, India by founding and/or heading organizations like Gujarat Electronics And Software Industries Association (GESIA), TiE Ahmedabad Chapter, Indo American Education Society (IAES) and IACC Gujarat. He has been a committee member of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( GCCI ), Ahmedabad Management Association ( AMA ) and an advisor to the Government of Gujarat.  Mr. Vasa is an active member of Stanford and USC Alumni Associations.

Rajan Venkatesan, CFO, LatentView Analytics

Rajat Bansal, CTO, Games 24X7