In 2016, Russian hackers broke into John Podesta’s Gmail during the US election. That single breach exposed how vulnerable email really is – and it directly inspired a billion-dollar cybersecurity startup. At the time, even the most powerful people in the world couldn’t fully secure their inboxes. Once hackers got access, there was nothing stopping them from reading everything: drafts, attachments and sensitive documents. Instead of trying to prevent email hacks, three ex-Dropbox engineers — Abh...
Jun 22, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Kevin Carter is the Founder & Chief Investment Officer of EMQQ Global, a San Francisco based investment management and research firm focused on providing investors access to the fast growing Emerging and Frontier Markets technology sector. EMQQ Global invests in publicly traded internet and ecommerce companies operating in 50+ countries, including India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, Mexico, Vietnam, and Turkey. Through ETFs listed across US, Europe, and Asia, the fund helps inve...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 154
Arun Penmetsa is a Partner at Storm Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on Enterprise software companies. He invests primarily in SaaS, Security, and Digital Health startups. Before joining Storm, Arun held product and engineering roles at Oracle and Google, where he built enterprise software solutions at scale.Arun is deeply passionate about the intersection of healthcare and technology. In addition to investing in US-based startups, he actively advises several healthcare grou...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Rohan Nayak is the Co-founder & CEO of Pocket FM , a company redefining audio storytelling for the world. While we’ve recently been publishing video episodes, this one’s a throwback to pure audio. Rohan had to travel unexpectedly, but we didn’t want to miss the chance to capture his insights on building one of India's fastest-growing consumer tech companies. Pocket FM is making waves globally — having recently raised $103 million in Series D funding , bringing total funding to $196.5 million...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Brij Bhasin is a longtime investor turned founder and the co-founder & CEO of Snow Mountain AI , a company focused on automating business processes in finance, compliance, and legal through AI. Before founding Snow Mountain, Brij was a General Partner at Rebright Partners , and earlier helped launch GSF Accelerator, one of India’s first and largest startup accelerators. He was also part of the early team at Little Eye Labs, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014, and has over a decade of exp...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 151
Pramod is a Senior Principal at Blumberg Capital , an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in leading Seed and Series A rounds. The firm is based in Tel Aviv (Israel) and San Francisco. Before joining Blumberg Capital, Pramod was a Principal at 11.2 Capital, where he focused on investing in early-stage cybersecurity, data, dev-tools, and AI. He led seed rounds in Coalesce, Permiso, StrikeReady, Surf Security, MightyMeld, Leen, and Collinear AI. Previously, Pramod was Director of Corpora...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 150
Anshu Bansal is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He co-founded Hyrecar , a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace that allows anyone to rent their cars to Uber and Lyft drivers safely and reliably. In today’s episode, learn how a late-night Uber ride in 2014 sparked a groundbreaking business idea that would reshape the ride-sharing industry in the US. Anshu takes us through his incredible entrepreneurial journey—from his programming days at H&R Block and Amazon Prime Music to buil...
Mar 01, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 149
Aquibur Rahman is the Co-founder and CEO of Mailmodo , an interactive email marketing software that helps marketers create app-like experiences in email by adding forms, shopping cart, calendar, NPS and other widgets. It helps companies collect feedback from their users, book meetings with prospects, recover abandon carts, generate leads, all within the the body of the email. The company is backed by Peak XV Partners (prev. known as Sequoia India), Y Combinator, BoldCap, Titan Capital & All ...
Feb 15, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Yousuf Khan is a Partner at Ridge Ventures , a seed and Series A stage venture fund investing in enterprise and B2B startups. With a deep understanding of startup growth and scaling challenges, Yousuf not only drives Ridge’s investment portfolio forward but also provides hands-on support to founders, offering guidance rooted in his extensive experience across leadership roles. He currently serves as a board director for Ridge-backed companies, including Archera, Cerby, Chisel Labs, Lightyear, Ra...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 147
We had the privilege of hosting Sriram Viswanathan , Founding Managing Partner of Celesta Capital . Based in San Francisco, Celesta Capital is a global, multi-stage venture capital firm managing $1.1 billion in assets. The firm specializes in cross-border investments between India and the United States, with a focus on deep-tech. Since its inception in 2013, Celesta Capital has invested in over 100 companies including those in space-tech, bio-tech, artificial intelligence, drug discovery, semi-c...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 146
In this episode, we sit down with Sheel Mohnot , co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), a San Francisco-based $350M AUM fund that leads pre-seed and seed rounds in fintech companies globally, typically writing first checks ranging from $500K to $4M. BTV also runs The Mint Accelerator, a program providing mentorship, resources, and community support for fintech founders. At its core, BTV invests for a better future, driven by the belief that fintech can genuinely improve people’s l...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 145
After 150 audio-only episodes on Spotify & Apple Podcasts, The Desi VC is finally stepping into the world of video ! The first video episode drops on January 1st. Join host Akash Bhat every fortnight as he interviews: Top investors managing billion-dollar funds Serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful exits Operators who’ve built some of the most recognizable tech companies Get ready for: Candid stories of personal highs, lows, and the decisions that shaped these leaders' journeys Exclu...
Jan 02, 2025•2 min•Season 1Ep. 145
Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl is the Founder & Managing Partner at Eternal Capital , a 120-crore fund investing in transformative startups across technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors in India. He is the former COO of BharatPe, and a leader with extensive experience in scaling businesses and driving operational excellence across Airtel, PayTM, and Fortis Hospitals, where he spearheaded growth and strategy initiatives. This is the first of a two-part series, with the second part coming out next w...
Dec 26, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 144
Dhirendra Mahyavanshi is the Co-Founder of Turtlemint , an online insurance platform backed by Nexus Venture Partners, Peak XV, Jungle Ventures, GGV Capital, Blume Ventures among others. The company is on a mission to makes it easy to understand and buy insurance. Before founding this company he held leadership positions at Quikr and ICICI Lombard. He holds an MBA degree from The IIM Calcutta. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (1:20) Early exposure to entrepreneurship (2:16) Influence of ICICI a...
Dec 20, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 143
Archana Jahagirdar is the founder and managing partner of Rukam Capital , to find out. Set up in 2019, the Delhi-based venture capital firm invests in early-stage consumer products and services companies with significant growth potential. The VC has funded as many as 20+ startups, including noted brands such as Go DESi, Sleepy Owl Coffee, Burger Singh, BECO, The Indus Valley, Curefoods and more. . . . Episode Notes: Intro (1:25) Why did Archana venture into investing in startups? (2:51) The evol...
Dec 09, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Anshuman Singh is the Co-founder of Scaler , an edtech company designed to upskill college graduates and young software engineers in advanced computer science topics. The company has raised $55M from Lightrock, Peak XV Partners and Tiger Global Management, at a valuation of $700M. Before Scaler, Anshuman had co-founded InterviewBit, a platform aimed at helping software engineers prepare for technical interviews. During this time, he noticed that many talented individuals were struggling with...
Dec 01, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 141
Sagar Kochhar is the Co-founder of Rebel Foods , and CEO of Eatsure . After completing his engineering degree from NIT Kurukshetra and an MBA from SCMHRD Pune, he began as a design engineer with Larsen & Toubro, then moved to Perfetti Van Melle and Vodafone in marketing roles. At Rebel Foods, he initially joined as Sr. VP of Operations, playing a crucial role in building brands from scratch to multi-million-dollar valuations. Since becoming Group CMO in 2016, Sagar has led brand growth acros...
Oct 28, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Karthik Prabhakar is the Managing Partner at PeerCapital , an early-stage investment fund in India focused on seed to Series A rounds. Karthik has been a part of the Indian tech ecosystem since 2005, with a wealth of experience in venture capital, product development, and marketing. Prior to PeerCapital, Karthik was the Managing Director at Chiratae Ventures (formerly known as IDG Ventures). . . . Episode Notes: What still excites Karthik about India today (2:35) Staying ahead of trends ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Aditya Nambiar is the co-founder of Fennel , a modern feature engineering platform that enables you to author, compute, store, serve, monitor, and govern both real-time and batch ML features, backed by Foundational Capital. Before diving into entrepreneurship, Aditya built products at Google and Facebook, and is an IIT-B alumnus. . . . Episode notes: Introduction (1:40) Why choose entrepreneurship? (2:32) The mindset shift: Small teams solving big problems vs. hyper-focused challenges (9...
Sep 16, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Mayuresh Raut is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Seafund , investing in pre-Series A startups in India with investments in companies such as Wigzo, Inc42, Zippee, ClooTrack among others. SEA Fund’s mission is to help the next set of technical founders, with small amounts of early capital in getting to market to build efficient and scalable businesses. He is an Engineer and an MBA and is an alumnus of Virginia Tech and INSEAD, has over 21 years of leadership experience with global client...
Aug 27, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Swati Bhargava is the Co-Founder of CashKaro.com , India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site, backed by Kalaari Capital, Korea investment partners and Affle. Swati first started Pouring Pounds with her husband Rohan Bhargava in the UK in 2011. Seeing the huge opportunity in India they launched CashKaro.com in April 2013. Swati is an alumnus of the London School of Economics and has worked at Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years before embarking on the path of entreprneurship. In this episode we...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 136
Anish is the Co-founder and CEO of Open , a neo-banking platform which provides business banking services to SMEs and startups. With over 17 years in the fintech industry, Anish has a rich entrepreneurial background. In 2001, he co-founded his first startup, iFuturz Wireless, focusing on mobile value-added services. In 2007, he founded CashNxt, a plug-and-play mobile payment and financial inclusion platform for semi-urban and rural markets, which was later acquired by a Latin American company. I...
Jul 26, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Edul Patel is the Co-founder & CEO of Mudrex , a crypto exchange platform on a mission to democratize investing, with its primary goal being to make crypto investing easy and accessible to all. The company has raised over $22M from Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Tribe Captial, QED Investors and Arkam Ventures. Edul brings with him over 10 years of experience deep-rooted in finance, entrepreneurship, and building tech-driven applications. Previously Co-Founded Niffler, which was acquir...
Jul 17, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 134
Navin Honagudi is the Managing Partner at Elev8 Venture Partners , an India-focused $200M Growth-stage fund. Elev8 focuses on Series B and C rounds of financing in hyper growth companies. He bring 18+ years of experience investing in early and growth stage technology firms and also held the positions of Co-founder and Partner at Kae Capital. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (1:48) How Naveen entered venture capital (2:24) Comparing entrepreneurs: 2000s vs. today (4:45) Indian VC landscape &...
Jul 10, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 133
Sanket Shah is the Founder of invideo, an AI-powered video creation platform for creators, boasting over 25 million users worldwide. As a trusted leader in the industry, InVideo serves customers in 190 countries and has raised over $52 million from investors including Tiger Global, Peak 15, RTP Global, Titan Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures. Prior to InVideo, Sanket founded MassBlurb, which was acquired by Mobikon in 2016. . . . Episode Notes: Introduction (2:00) How to discover your superpower...
Jun 14, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Ashok is the Co-founder and CEO of IDfy, an online fraud detection and identity platform that provides background verification services to banks and financial institutions. He started his career in semi-conductors, building high-speed network processors. His MBA degree took him away from Engineering and into the world of Business Strategy. He worked with British Telecom in London for 5 years before deciding that his heart lay in creating value grounds-up. The company has raised over $54M from In...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 131
Rajiv Srivatsa is a Partner at Antler India , one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms. Prior to Antler, he co-founded Urban Ladder, an omni-channel furniture and decor retailer started in 2012. The company raised over $100M from SAIF Partners, Kalaari, Steadview, Peak XV Partners, Trifecta Capital and Ratan Tata. In November 2020, the company was acquired by Reliance Retail. Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo, and before that at Infosys. He i...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 130
Shwetank Verma is the co-founder of Leo Capital, a venture capital fund investing in companies inIndiaand South East Asia. Recent investments include CoLearn (edtech), WayForward (mental health), CoverGenius (Insurtech) and IndiaGold (Digital Gold). Leo Capital is backed by institutional investorsfrom Singapore and Silicon Valley. Prior to Leo Capital, he led Open Innovation for MetLife Asia and was a part of the senior management team of LumenLab, MetLife's innovation consultancy. At LumenLab, ...
Apr 25, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Prayank Swaroop is a Partner at Accel, and joined the firm in 2011. He focuses on cybersecurity, developer tools, marketplaces, and SaaS investments. Some of the investments led by him are - Aavenir, Bizongo, Maverix, OnsiteGo, Securden, Slintel, Skeps, and Zetwerk. Prior to Accel, he worked at Adobe and Standard Chartered Bank in India and Singapore. He held positions across engineering, product marketing, pre-sales, and product management. He has an integrated master's degree in Mathematics an...
Dec 08, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Priya Saiprasad is a General Partner at Touring Capital , a fund investing in enterprise-focused AI powered global startups. She co-founded Touring after 13 years in venture capital, M&A and enterprise technology. She was most recently a Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where she led investments into category-defining software companies including Pixis, Vendr, Observe.ai, CommerceIQ, Sendoso and Skedulo. Previously, Priya was at Mayfield Fund focused on early-growth investments, and a foundi...
Dec 05, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 128
