Our speakers

Shashank Singh, Partner & India Head , Apax Partners

Shashank Singh is a Partner and Head of the India office of Apax Partners, the global Private Equity fund. He joined Apax in London in 2004, before moving to India in 2007 to start Apax’s office there. His deals at Apax include Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, GlobalLogic, IGATE Corp, Apollo Hospitals, TDC, Bezeq and Synetrix. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Shashank spent four years as a strategy consultant with Monitor Company in their London office, leading client engagements in the telecommunications and high technology sectors. Shashank serves on the boards of iGATE Corporation Inc. (Nasdaq: IGTE) and GlobalLogic.

Shashi Tripathi, Senior Director - Cloud Consulting, Searce

Shashidhar Upinkudru, Partner, Price Waterhouse & Co LLP

Shashwat Goenka, Vice Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group

Shashwat Goenka is the Vice Chairman of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, a diversified Indian conglomerate with operations across energy, consumer goods, retail, IT-enabled services, chemicals, media & entertainment, and sports. As of FY24, the Group reported consolidated revenues of ?36,509 crore (~USD 4.4 billion), an asset base of over ?60,590 crore (~USD 7.3 billion), with operations in more than 60 countries and a workforce exceeding 50,000. 

Since joining the Group in 2012, Shashwat has led major growth and diversification initiatives, alongside leading its digital transformation journey. His focus on building sustainable business models resulted in the founding of Purvah Green Power, driving the Group’s renewable energy ambitions across solar, wind, and green hydrogen. He also established Guiltfree Industries, introducing Too Yumm! a healthier snacking brand tailored for Gen Z. Further expanding the Group’s footprint, Shashwat launched RPSG Capital Ventures, an early-stage investment arm supporting consumer-first brands such as mCaffeine, Vedix, The Souled Store, and True Elements.

Shashwat’s consumer strategy is deeply anchored in youth culture, digital behaviour, and wellness-led innovation. He has launched ventures such as Three60, Within Beauty, and Naturali, and expanded into Ayurveda with Dr. Vaidya’s, translating Gen Z insights into scalable business models. This generational lens also shapes the Group’s growing portfolio in digital content and media, including the acquisitions of Pocket Aces (along with creator agency Clout), Editorji, the Fortune India franchise, and ILN Media, which owns iDiva, MensXP, and Hypp. He also founded Open Magazine and Hook Online, contributing to a wider ecosystem of culturally relevant, next-gen storytelling. In sports, he led the acquisition of the Manchester Originals in The Hundred cricket league and oversees the operations of both the Lucknow Super Giants and Durban Super Giants, extending the Group’s engagement with younger audiences across platforms. 

Beyond the boardroom, Shashwat is actively involved in ecosystem and industry development. He chairs the CII Eastern Regional Council, leads national committees on Retail, E-Commerce, and Ayurveda, and heads FICCI’s Young Leaders Forum. He has also served as the youngest President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce, and is the Founding Chair of YPO Next Generation Kolkata and a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). 

An Economics graduate from the Wharton School, he also serves as the Honorary Consul of Finland in Kolkata. He values balance between professional and personal life, prioritising time with his wife and daughters, staying updated on the latest in tech from Whoop to Gabit, and often unwinding with a game of pickleball to recharge. 
 
Shashwat has been featured in several prestigious lists and honoured with numerous accolades, including: 

  • Young Global Leader – World Economic Forum (2024) 
  • Fortune India 40 Under 40 (2023) 
  • Young Achiever – The Next 100, India Today (2022) 
  • Economic Times 40 Under 40 (2018) 
  • The Most Promising Scion Award – ET Family Business Awards (2018) 
  • Most Young & Dynamic Leader – Times of India Business Awards (2018
  • The Most Influential Young Indians – GQ India (2017)

Shashwat Sharma, Partner, KPMG in India

Shashwat has a Bachelor of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He is a partner with the Management Consulting function of KPMG and has over 21 years of experience in Business Consulting with a focus on Financial Services sector. In his role, he works primarily with clients on their business strategy formulation and specializes in working with mid-sized organizations on their future roadmaps.

He regularly participates at industry forums including CII, AIP, ASSOCHAM, FICCI and has authored a number of thought leadership reports.

Shaswat Kumar, Senior VP of Global Customer Success and Delivery, Darwinbox

Sheetal Bahl, Partner, Merak Ventures

Sheetal Bahl is one of the founding Partners of Merak Ventures, a sector agonistic venture capital firm based in India. Drawing on more than a decade of experience in the Indian startup ecosystem, combined with seven years focused on B2B and emerging technologies, Sheetal has honed his ability to spot emerging tech companies with the potential to transform the game.

As the driving force behind deal sourcing at Merak Ventures, Sheetal evaluates investment opportunities in a wide range of sectors, from ClimateTech, AgriTech, SpaceTech, to cutting-edge artificial intelligence and ubiquitous technology. Sheetal is known for his bold and audacious approach to investing.

Together with his fellow founding Partner, Manu Rikhye, Sheetal launched Merak Ventures with a target corpus of $100 million. The goal is to support passionate founders with ideas that matter, ideas that can make a positive impact on the world.

Sheetal is also a founding General Partner at growX Ventures. At growX, Sheetal played a key role in establishing an angel syndicate that made a number of successful investments such as Locus, Mad Street Den, and Quandl. Thereafter, he was instrumental in setting up growX Fund I, a $25 million fund that built upon the same investment thesis. His investments from the fund include Pixxel, Cynlr, and Cosmofeed among others. As a board member, Sheetal remains deeply involved in these ventures, providing strategic guidance and support to their founding teams.

Before venturing into the world of venture capital, Sheetal played a significant role in setting up the Everest Research Institute where he led the analysis of the offshoring industry. He also spent several years in management consulting with Andersen Consulting/Accenture and was part of the founding team of the credit cards business at ICICI where he managed the technology front.

Sheetal earned his B.Tech. in Elec. Engineering from IIT Bombay, and his extensive experience and unique perspective have made him a respected figure in the world of venture capital. He continues to drive innovation and support the next generation of startups with his visionary leadership and strategic investments.

Shekhar Kirani, Partner, Accel Partners

At Accel India, Shekhar focuses on Internet, mobile, and technology-enabled businesses. Shekhar has been an active angel investor in Bangalore since 2007 and has advised several early stage startups in and around Bangalore. Before joining Accel, Shekhar headed VeriSign India as Country Manager.

Shekhar serves on the boards of FreshDesk, HotelLogix, Mobstac and SureWaves.

Before VeriSign India, Shekhar worked as Vice President at VeriSign in Mountain View in their mobile division. Before VeriSign, Shekhar worked closely with Philippe Kahn in creating LightSurf Technologies, which was acquired by VeriSign in 2005. Before LightSurf, Shekhar worked as part of the management team at Starfish Software, which was acquired by Motorola in 1998. Shekhar started his career at Texas Instruments in Bangalore and then worked for Wipro Technologies. Post his studies, he worked at Qwest (U.S. West Technologies) in Boulder, Colorado.

Sheshadri Savalgi, CFO/Finance Director, General Mills, India

Shilpa Kulkarni, MD, Zodius Capital

Shilpa leads the development of our Digital Services companies. She also manages our investor relationships and corporate transactions. Shilpa has previously managed corporate development and Investments function at WNS, prior to which she was a venture investor at eVentures India where her investments included Mentorix (sold to Lionbridge), Intigma (sold to Emptoris). Shilpa began her career as an Investment Banker with JP Morgan Chase.