Our speakers
Archana Jahagirdar, Founder and Managing Partner, Rukam Capital
Archana Jahagirdar, CEO, Angelworks
Archana Jahagirdar, the Managing Director & CEO of MentorX Incubation and Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Post Graduate degree from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Archana is actively involved in managing deal screening process including financial analysis and due diligence. She oversees the analysis of consumer and retail deals that are relevant to seed and series A rounds.
She is also involved in deal structuring and negotiation; ensure effective execution of investments. Archana has proactively engaged in the post-deal monitoring process, close contact with portfolio companies and keep abreast of their development. She also participates in strategic planning sessions with portfolio companies and internal leadership to ensure maximum value creation. Archana also prepares management reports for internal and external stakeholders' review. She is also involved in overseeing investment analysis on investment target, including industry/market analysis, SWOT analysis, and return analysis. Part of her mandate is to decide on helping portfolio companies raise their next round, decide on doing follow-on rounds and exit decisions. Over the years, Archana has deep dived in the start-up ecosystem and screening deals across sectors. She is engaged in meeting entrepreneurs, financial analysis, legal and financial diligence, industry analysis. Archana has been a director of the company since its incorporation and was appointed as managing director with effect from August 25, 2017. Since its inception in 2017, Archana has looked at thousands of deals across sectors.
Prior to this, she was the CEO of Indian Angel Network Incubator and COO for Indian Angels Network from 2015 till 2017, where she was actively involved in deal vetting, creating investment mandates and successfully executed CSR programs for corporates such as Michelin India, Johnson Matthey, and Napino Auto & Electricals.
IAN typically receives almost 4,000 decks a month. As part of the top management, Archana was closely involved in evaluating the opportunities at the first stage, including initial interviews and conducting the entire documentation process related to incubation such as MOU, SSHA, share certificate. She also oversaw the investment due diligence process and help reach the investee company to reach the investment stage. She was also involved in coaching entrepreneurs for presentations to the network
In her personal capacity, Archana is also an active angel investor.
Archana Jahagirdar, Founder and Managing Partner, Rukam Capital
- National Recognition: Nominated to the National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC), chaired by Honorable Cabinet Minister Shri Piyush Goyal.
- Awards: Featured in Mint's "100 Women Entrepreneurs Building and Shaping India" list (2022) and named among the "41 Women Torchbearers of India’s Startup Investment Space" by Inc42 (2023).
Archana Jahagirdar is at the forefront of transforming the entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem in India. As the Founder and Managing Partner of Rukam Capital, an early-stage consumer-focused VC fund, she stands out as one of the few women general partners in venture capital both in India and globally. Archana’s sharp intuition and deep understanding of the Indian markets define her illustrious journey.
Achievements
Early Career and Contributions:
Before founding Rukam Capital, Archana excelled in deal sourcing, setting up accelerators, and collaborating with the Indian Angel Network. Her early-stage investing expertise is demonstrated in brands like Burger Singh. Her transactional acumen is matched by her ability to scale portfolio companies and foster relationships with tier-1 funds.
Rukam Capital: Founded in 2019, Rukam Capital has invested in 18 companies across various sectors, including Sleepy Owl, GoDesi, BECO, Pilgrim, Curefoods, and Yoho. Archana believes in the economic impact of catalyzing entrepreneurial spirit, which inspired her to launch Rukam Capital.
Rukam Sitara: A tech fund launched to capture value in India's dynamic tech landscape.
Startup Ecosystem Events: Key organizer of New Delhi Slush’d, India’s licensed avatar of Slush Helsinki, and Startup Makakumbh. Co-led the Indian startup delegation at Latitude 59, Estonia.
Bootstrap Incubation and Advisory Foundation: Founded a non-profit organization aimed at creating a community for early-stage startup founders, investors, business enthusiasts, industry experts, and other stakeholders.
Education:
Archana holds bachelor's and master’s degrees in literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.
Archana Priyadarshini, Venture Partner, Unicorn India Ventures
Archana is Venture Partner at Unicorn India Ventures. She heads Unicorn’s Bangalore operations and engages with portfolio entrepreneurs for performance monitoring, capital raising, and strategic decision making.
Archana has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry, where she has worked in leadership roles in various consulting companies and banks. She was very instrumental in defining equity based lending products for Wells Fargo.
After her corporate stint, Archana started Bootcamp Fitness Studio (Bangalore based chain of gyms) which ran successfully for a couple of years before taking an exit. Archana became an active angel investor afterward and had invested in various sectors.
She is a Chemical Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur.
Archana Sasan, Vice President-India Legal and Ethics, Dell Technologies
Ms. Archana Sasan joined Dell in October 2011 as the Lead Counsel for India Legal team. Prior to joining Dell, Ms. Sasan was senior vice president, legal and compliance, for Bharti Airtel where she had geographic responsibility for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and also oversaw legal, tax litigation and statutory compliance issues for its various business units. She previously worked with GE Money Financial Services Limited as vice president within its legal and compliance organization. Prior to moving in-house, she spent close to 15 years in private practice as a Partner in a leading Indian law firm where she was also the head of the employment law, real estate and telecom practices. Ms. Sasan brings significant experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment in India and other large commercial transactions. Ms. Archana Sasan holds a LLB from the Campus Law Centre, a diploma in journalism from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan in New Delhi and a Bachelor’s degree in English with honors from Lady Shriram College.
Archana Tewary, Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors
Archit Gupta, Founder & CEO, Clear
Archit is the Founder and CEO of Clear, India’s leading fintech startup. Clear serves millions of Indians and businesses in the areas of taxes, invoicing, and wealth management. Archit earned his B. Tech in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Archna Shukla, Editor in Chief, News Corp VCCircle
Archna Shukla is a journalist with close to two decades of experience with leading publications such as The Indian Express, Mint, The Economic Times and Business Today. At VCCircle, she leads the editorial teams across vccircle.com, techcircle.in
Ariane Di Iorio, Regional Industry Manager South Asia, Financial Institutions Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group
Ms. Ariane Di Iorio joined IFC in 2011 and was FIG’s Hub leader in Brazil before moving to India, where she led the business development, portfolio management and structuring of investments in debt, equity, trade finance and providing advisory services in the financial sector in Brazil. Prior to IFC, Ms. Iorio was the CEO of the Rio de Janeiro Municipality Pension Fund and Deputy Secretary of Finance of Rio, where she led the debt restructuring of the municipality and improved the governance, efficiency and investment policies of its pension fund. In the financial sector, she has more than 12 years of experience being the head for Arab Banking Corporation in Brazil for international proprietary trading and treasury. Ms. Iorio also led the team for one of Banco Itau’s first international trading desks in New York. She was also a member of the diversity committee at the Brazilian Governance Institute, Member of the BMFBovespa Sustainability Index Board and currently a board member at Recovery, Latin America's largest debt collector. Ms. Ariane Di Iorio holds a Masters degree in Economics from London School of Economics and a BSc in Economics from the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro.
Arif Khan, CDO, NPCI
Mr. Arif Khan leads the strategic planning for digital transformation at NPCI. His role is growing NPCI’s new products portfolio basis customer needs and industry trends. Mr. Khan is responsible for driving innovation, analytics and technology.
A post graduate in Business Management from XLRI – Jamshedpur, Mr. Khan was earlier associated with RazorPay (one of the fastest growing payment gateways) as the Chief Innovation Officer. Arif during his stint at HDFC of over 15 years was instrumental in driving strategic initiatives in payments, digital banking and financial inclusion. With an overall experience of over 18 years in the product management, business development and delivering innovative business and technology solutions, Arif has been instrumental in influencing diverse groups to deliver innovative business and new age disruptive solutions.