Speakers Speak
Pearl Agarwal
, Eximius Ventures
Sushma Kaushik
, Aavishkaar Capital
Lavanya Ashok
, Trifecta Capital
Nupur Garg
, WinPE
Rochelle D’Souza
, Lighthouse Advisors
Sushma Kaushik
, Aavishkaar Capital
Lavanya Ashok
, Trifecta Capital
Pearl Agarwal
, Eximius Ventures
Nupur Garg
, WinPE
Event Speakers
Lavanya Ashok
General Partner, <br>Trifecta Capital
Lavanya Ashok
General Partner, <br>Trifecta Capital
Lavanya Ashok is a General Partner at Trifecta Capital and joined in 2020 to lead the launch of the firm's growth equity investing business. In the past two years, the firm has set up a $250mm growth equity fund and made investments in ten category leading tech companies. Lavanya has 17 years of investing and investment banking experience. She was previously Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Principal Investing, deploying funds from GS’ balance sheet and USD 8 Bn global private equity fund in India. Earlier in her career, Lavanya also worked at SPO Partners, a value-investing-oriented hedge fund in California managing USD 10 Bn, and Goldman Sachs investment banking in New York.
Lavanya earned a BS in Economics and Finance summa cum laude from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 where she was among the top 1% of students in her graduating class, and an MBA in 2010 from Stanford University where she was a Barrett Fellow and President of the South Asia Students’ Association.
Lavanya is passionate about investing, books, dance, yoga and meditation. When not at work, she can be found outdoors with her husband and twin toddlers.
Nupur Garg
Founder, <br>Winpe
Nupur Garg
Founder, <br>Winpe
Nupur Garg is a leading investor in private equity and venture capital and an expert advisor to large institutional investors. She is the founder of Winpe (https://winpeforum.com), an initiative to enhance gender diversity in the investing ecosystem.
Nupur serves as Chairperson of the board of Kids Clinic India Limited and an independent director on the boards of companies including Edelweiss Real Assets Managers Limited, Kerala Infrastructure Fund Management Limited and SIDBI, the Indian development finance institution. She is an independent member of the investment committee at the Fund of Funds managed by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the quasi-sovereign wealth fund sponsored by the government of India, and an advisor to and a member of the investment committee for the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) investment funds mandate given by the Dutch government for investments in SMEs in frontier markets across 75 countries. She has served as an external expert on the investment committee for the INR 10,000 crore Fund of Fund for Start-ups for investing in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Nupur advises select fund managers on a confidential basis on matters related to institutionalization, best practices and governance. She also mentors female entrepreneurs across various platforms.
Nupur is recognized as a thought and industry leader with a long list of recognitions that include the HerPower Award 2023, BW VC World Most Influential Women 2023 and 2022, Forbes W-Power list of Self Made Women 2020, India’s top 10 Women Leaders in Finance (AIWMI 2019), Vedica Women’s Alliance’s Women Leader in D&I 2022, Women Empowerment Entrepreneur Award 2019-20 and the Business Excellence and Innovative Best Practices - Academia Award 2019.
Prior to starting her entrepreneurial journey, Nupur led the private equity and venture capital funds business in the region for IFC and is widely credited with establishing IFC’s brand and credibility as one of the most respected institutional investors in this space. Under her stewardship, the portfolio doubled in size and returns, moving from a negative IRR to delivering gains for the first time in its history.
Nupur is a CA and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, with executive education from Harvard Business School.
Nupur loves to spend time with her mother, husband and 8-year-old son, travel to new places, read and do 1500-piece puzzles.
Pearl Agarwal
Founder & Managing Director, <br>Eximius Ventures
Pearl Agarwal
Founder & Managing Director, <br>Eximius Ventures
"We aren't just your mentors or advisors, but peer investors & friends whom you can call when things are going well, but most importantly when they are not."
An investor with the heart of an entrepreneur, Pearl started Eximius to help early-stage founders dedicate their time where it's needed the most by removing the biggest thorn in the flesh: cumbersome fundraising processes. She is the co-founder of DotReview and has also spent around 10 years in investment roles in the US and UK, facilitating multi-billion dollar mergers, helping companies raise capital, and more.
Pooja Sarkar
Senior Assistant Editor & Podcaster, <br>Forbes India
Pooja Sarkar
Senior Assistant Editor & Podcaster, <br>Forbes India
Pooja Sarkar has been a financial writer for over a decade and works at Forbes India as Senior Assistant Editor. Pooja writes on global private equity funds, Indian deals ecosystem and financial investigative stories. As a financial journalist she actively champions the cause of women participation in the Indian financial ecosystem.
She also hosts a business & economics podcast called From The Bookshelves of Forbes India.
Rochelle D’Souza
Managing Director, <br>Lighthouse Advisors
Rochelle D’Souza
Managing Director, <br>Lighthouse Advisors
Rochelle D'Souza is Managing Director at Lighthouse Advisors. Prior to Lighthouse Advisors, she was a Manager at SBI Capital Markets, Investment Banking Division, where she focused on equity capital market transactions.
Rochelle earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics & Communication from Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE) and an MBA from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research. She is also a CFA Level III candidate.
Sushma Kaushik
Partner, <br>Aavishkaar Capital
Sushma Kaushik
Partner, <br>Aavishkaar Capital
Sushma is a Partner at Aavishkaar and brings with her over 18 years of diverse experience in the field of early stage investing, small business incubation and consulting across sectors. Sushma has worked to identify, manage and exit large number of companies and has worked closely with several inclusive business entrepreneurs. She has been an active representative on the Boards of several early-growth stage companies. She started off with an entrepreneurial venture in engineering design services and moved on to roles in investments. She has extensively evaluated transactions covering debt and equity structures. While at Ashoka- Innovators for the Public, Sushma got to work with social entrepreneurs in the Housing for All initiative. She has worked closely on building collaborative partnerships in market based solutions for the low-income populations. Sushma has completed a strategic leadership program at the prestigious Harvard Business School, she is an engineering graduate from RVCE, Bangalore and has an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.