ESV - Arthya Angel Fund

Ganesh Balakrishnan is a serial entrepreneur and consumer marketer who has launched and built multiple consumer brands. He co-founded startups such as Aurm (a safety deposit locker startup), Think9 (a brand incubator), Flatheads (a casual footwear brand), Momoe (a mobile payments app) and Windsleeve (a retail analytics firm). Ganesh was the co-founder and CBO at Flatheads, India's first all-day work sneaker brand. He is recognized widely for his entrepreneurial spirit, honesty and never-say-die attitude as a pitcher whose pitch went viral on Shark Tank India Season 2. Ganesh is an IIT Bombay B.Tech and IIM Bangalore MBA graduate with 10+ years each in entrepreneurship and corporate leadership across strategy, marketing, and P&L roles at Honeywell, Bain & Company, and Ingersoll Rand. A TEDx speaker, he frequently speaks on entrepreneurship and marketing, and conducts workshops at NID Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, and IIM Trichy.

Sureel is a seasoned technology leader with 18+ years of experience, based in Boston, US. His work spans across Data centers, Multi-cloud Architecture & Implementation, DevOps, Big Data, Application Architecture, QA, Systems Engineering and building AI/ML platforms. Sureel has worked with several large corporates like Disney, Marriott, Nike, Abbott Labs, Novartis, AIG, Google, Verizon, Reed Elsevier. Sureel is an MS from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Sudiip Maathur is a senior M&A and corporate development professional with over 20 years of experience across investment banking, strategic acquisitions, and business transformation. He specializes in end-to-end M&A execution, including target identification, valuation, deal structuring, due diligence, and post-acquisition integration. He has led multi-million-dollar transactions across India, the UK, USA, Europe, and Australia, working closely with boards, investors, and management teams to drive strategic growth and value creation. His sector expertise spans IT services, technology, telecommunications, and enterprise software. Sudiip holds an MBA in Finance & Strategy from IIM Lucknow and a Certificate in Strategy & Blockchain from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, bringing deep expertise in financial modeling, enterprise valuation, and strategic deal execution.

Aravind has over 18 years of experience across Food, Personal care, Consumer health & QSR industry. He has held leadership positions at J&J across Malaysia, Singapore & India. His expertise spans Growth & Market-entry Strategies, Brand Building & Consumer Thinking, Sales Acceleration & Channel Strategy. Aravind is also a Subject Matter Expert for McKinsey and has driven client engagements across the Consumer sector. Aravind is an engineer and an MBA from IIM Bangalore.

Aditya is a seasoned fund manager, enterprise leader, and entrepreneur with 18+ yrs of experience. He has covered and invested in multiple sectors including Food, Consumer Tech, Education, Health-tech, Retail, etc. His investments ($1-100M) have spanned from Angel funding, Series A to Pre-IPO, and control buyouts. Aditya is also a food-tech expert, having supported the building of FreshMenu throughout its journey. Aditya is an engineer from NIT Calicut and MBA from IIM Bangalore.

Ravi has 20+ years of experience in Financial Services and Analytics. He has led business-critical initiatives like large technology transformation projects, implementing enterprise solutions, and organizational redesign for startups and midsize companies like Capital One, Deutsche Bank, Nomura Securities, Greendust, ESDS & Finance Ministry. Ravi has led multiple funding rounds for Greendust and ESDS and worked for funding of over $100 MM. Ravi is a B.Tech from IIT Delhi and an MBA from Weatherhead School of Management Cleveland, USA.