Gaja Capital

Viplove brings over seven years of experience in transaction advisory and private equity, spanning multiple sectors and geographies. At Gaja Capital, he is responsible for investor relations. He began his career in the advisory/diligence domain with PwC, subsequently moving to the investment front office at HCL Technologies. Viplove then joined the investment team at the Scottish National Investment Bank in Scotland. Viplove is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Ishu has over 10 years of experience in secretarial compliance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and law from ,University of Rajasthan. She is a Fellow member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. Prior to joining Gaja Capital, she was associated with Birla Precision Technologies Limited as the company secretary and compliance officer, and Universal Autofoundry Limited as the company secretary and compliance officer, and Road Infrastructure Development Company of Rajasthan Limited as the manager in CS functions.

Kaustubh has six years of buy-side investment experience, including 3 years of private equity experience focusing on Technology, IT Services and Allied sectors. Prior to joining Gaja Capital, Kaustubh worked at Creador Advisors and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He has completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and graduated with a Bachelor in Science, Mathematics from University College London.

Shivam has six years of experience in private equity and financial services. At Gaja Capital, Shivam focuses on enterprise software, financial services, education, and consumer sectors. He started his career with Citi, where he worked with Markets and Ventures businesses. He has been engaging deeply with the start-up ecosystem through his content and community initiatives and then building an early-stage venture for Indian retail investors. Shivam holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and MiM from CEMS. He is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay and has completed two levels of the CFA program.

Mukund has four years of experience in leading product design and development of cutting-edge software products. He started his career at Microsoft as a Software Engineer, guiding and delivering features within Microsoft PowerPoint and Office 365 Mobile that gained widespread global adoption. He holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Indian School of Business and a B.E. in Computer Science from BITS Pilani.

Rajat has four years of experience in technology and financial services. He started his career at Adobe as a software developer. After completing his MBA, he joined Axis Capital in the Investment Banking division, where he looked at ECM, PE and M&A Advisory for the Indian Automotive and Education sectors. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has completed the CFA Program. He is a Software Engineer from IIT Bombay.

Faiz brings over five years of experience across M&A, venture capital, and private equity. He began his career in Deloitte's Corporate Finance team, working on M&A and PE advisory mandates. He later joined the investment team at WaterBridge Ventures, where he focused on early-stage investments across consumer and financial services sectors. Faiz graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has completed the CFA program, and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Arijit has three years of experience in technology and financial services. He started his career at EXL Analytics as a tech consultant. From there, he joined HSBC Markets, working with the FICC teams in the US and Europe on strategies around Fed rate hikes on instruments like T-Bills, TIPs, and FRNs. He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and has completed both the CFA and FRM programs. He is a chemical engineer from IIT Roorkee.

Siddharth has over three years of experience in finance and investments across venture-backed companies. He previously led three venture debt investments at Blacksoil Capital and was also a founding member of a venture-backed startup. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and has finished the CFA program. He also has a BBA from NMIMS, Mumbai.

Ayon Banerjee is a seasoned business leader and former Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he led the firm's Transformation (TURN) practice in India and was a core leader of the Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT) practice. Ayon has served as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Persistent Systems and President at ANSR. With nearly three decades of operational and advisory experience, Ayon has incubated and scaled global businesses across the US, Europe, and Asia. Before BCG, Ayon held senior executive roles at Tech Mahindra, Motricity, and Nokia Siemens Networks, as well as leadership positions at HP and Cisco Systems in the US. He holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, and an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Gopal Jain is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. He is also a co-founder of the firm and has been a Director of the firm since 1999. He is responsible for managing overall operations and strategy of the firm. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He served as a member of the SEBI Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee and Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association Executive Committee. He also leads Gaja Gives, the firm's corporate social responsibility program that focuses on supporting social enterprises and non-government organizations in the fields of education, sports and entrepreneurship. He has over 26 years of experience in the financial services industry with the firm.

Upendra Kumar Sinha is the Non-Executive Chairman of the firm. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree in science from Patna University. He also holds a bachelor's degree in law from Patna University, Bihar. He joined the Indian Administrative Services in 1976 as an officer of Bihar cadre. He has been a joint secretary (banking) and joint secretary (capital markets) in the Ministry of Finance, chairman of the working group on foreign investment in India; and chairman of SEBI. He has also been the chairman and managing director of UTI Asset Management Company Limited and chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in India. He has over 38 years of professional experience.

Ranjit Jayant Shah is the Executive Vice-Chairman of the firm. He has been a director of the firm since 2006 and is a seasoned investment professional in the private equity industry. He is responsible for managing overall strategy, new initiatives, and investor and stakeholder relations of the firm. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan, United States of America.

Imran is a founding member of the Gaja Capital team and has over 22 years of experience in private equity, pharmaceuticals and technology services. Imran has co-led investments in the education, consumer and software clusters. Imran also contributes to team formation and development and strengthening Gaja Capital's proprietary deal development capabilities. He holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a master's degree in software engineering from BITS-Pilani.

Arindam Bhattacharya is an Independent Director of several public companies, advisory board member of not-for-profits and academic institutes, angel investor in and mentor to start-ups, and Senior Advisor and Emeritus Partner of Boston Consulting Group. He currently serves as an Independent Director on boards of Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Holdings and Investments Ltd, Bajaj Housing Finance Ltd, InfoEdge Ltd., and Lemon Tree Hotels. He also chairs the advisory board of Indian School of Development Management, and is a member of the advisory boards of WISH Foundation, Oxford India Center of Sustainable Development at Oxford University, School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California San Diego, and Munjal School for Global Manufacturing at the Indian School of Business. He has over 35 years of experience in industry, consulting and as a university researcher. He has co-authored two books: Globality (2008) and Beyond Great (2020).

Shailesh is an experienced accountant and an independent board member of a number of leading Indian companies. He is also the Chairman of DHC (Desai Haribhakti) one of India's leading accountancy and advisory firms. He is actively involved with several prominent financial institutions in India, including the NSE, CII, IMC and ASSOCHAM. Shailesh is a CPA.

Shital Mehra is an independent director of our Company. She holds a bachelor's degree in arts from the University of Bombay, Maharashtra, and a diploma in hotel management from National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, New Delhi. She has authored two books on leadership and business etiquettes. She is also a director on the board of International School of Corporate Etiquette & Protocol Private Limited, Masas Consultants International Private Limited, Human Capital for Third Sector, Hunt Consulting Services Private Limited, and Barefoot International Private Limited. She has 20 years of experience as a corporate trainer and executive presence coach.

Manish Sabharwal is a non-executive director of our Company. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the Wharton School, Pennsylvania, United States. He is also the Executive Vice-chairman and co-founder of Teamlease Services Limited, a member of the Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and the managing trustee of the New India Foundation. He was a member on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India. He has over 25 years of experience in the human resource industry.

Prithvi Pal Singh Haldea is a non-executive director of our Company. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani. He is the chairman and whole time director of Praxis Consulting and Information Services Private Limited (creator of Prime Database and watchoutinvestors.org). He has served as a member/special invitee on various boards/committees constituted by the Ministry of Finance, SEBI, BSE, Postal Life Insurance and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Previously, he has been on the board of directors of Central Depository Services (India) Limited, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited, Nucleus Software Exports Limited and UTI Asset Management Company Limited.

Aseem is an experienced technology leader with experience across business strategy, sales & marketing, product development, and M&A, based in Silicon Valley. He is currently CEO at Immersa, which he co-founded to bring data intelligence to every user in their flow of work. Earlier, Aseem was Senior Vice President at Adobe responsible for leading go-to-market strategy for a US$3 billion SaaS business. Prior to Adobe, he spent more than a decade at Oracle, leading business planning, M&A, and post-merger integration of Siebel, PeopleSoft, and Agile Software. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi and a master's degree in manufacturing systems from the University of Texas, Austin.

David is Chairman of SparkBeyond, an innovative AI-based research engine, and University Entrepreneur in Residence at Arizona State University. David has spent 20 years as the CEO of four companies across tech and media sectors. As CEO of McGraw-Hill Education (2014-17) he led the development of digital offerings. As CEO of UBM plc (2005-14) he built its global events and exhibitions business with a presence across India, ASEAN, China and the USA. As CEO of Symbian Ltd (2002-05) he led the development of the first smartphone OS. Before his CEO roles, David spent 4 years as CFO and COO of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, 4 years with the private equity group Apax, and 5 years with Bain & Company.

Mr Patel is Chairman International and Senior Partner of Private Equity at Apollo Management, with responsibility for helping to build and develop Apollo's international businesses. He was formerly Head of Europe and Managing Partner of Apollo European Principal Finance based in London, and joined Apollo Management in 2010 as Head of International Private Equity. Previously, he was a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and co-head of European and Indian private equity for the Principal Investment Area (PIA). He started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1983 and spent 17 years in PIA in New York and London, and was President of Greenwich Street Capital from 1998-2003. He serves on the Board of Overseers for Harvard University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. He received his AB and SM engineering degrees magna cum laude from Harvard College and his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.