People behind the capital

Rahul co-founded Trifecta Capital in 2014 and established it as a partner of choice for the financial needs of leading startups. He has devoted his career to working with technology startups and helping them scale both as an operator and as an investor. He was part of the pioneering set of VCs who established the investing ecosystem in India in the mid-2000s. He has demonstrated strong new economy investing experience. He also has a keen interest in architecture/design, house music and kickboxing.

26 years of investing and operating experience across various sectors including in tech, media and telecom.

• Previously, M.D., Canaan Partners, a USD 5 Bn global venture capital fund, and Founding Director of Clearstone Venture Partners, India.

• Served on the Boards and invested in successful companies such as BillDesk, Games2Win, Equitas (Listed), Naaptol, Near, LoyltyRewardz and MediAssist.

• Start-up experience in two start-ups in Silicon Valley and Hutchison Telecom (Vodafone) across emerging markets.

• Exited the entire India portfolio of Canaan Partners to JP Morgan at an attractive IRR.

Portfolio relationships

Arzooo, Bank.Open, Bharatpe, Bizongo, Blowhorn, Box8, Builder.ai, Cashify, Chalo, Clairvolex, CreditMantri, Cure.Fit, Dehaat, Furlenco, Goqii, IdeaForge, Infra.Market, Innoviti, Intello Labs, Ixigo, Kitchens@, Knowlarity, Leverage Edu, Livspace, Loconav, Magicpin, Mobikwik, Myglamm, Nephroplus, Ninjacart, Practo, Quikr, Rivigo, Seclore, Securens, Servify, Shuttl, Urban Company, Urban Ladder, Vayana, Vinculum, Zivame, Zoomcar

Education

MBA, Kellogg, Northwestern University (2000)
BA Economics, St. Xaviers College (1993)

Nilesh co-founded Trifecta Capital in 2014 and established it as the leading financing and advisory firm serving leading Indian startups. He has devoted his career to financial management, operating finance, global investing and scaling tech businesses. As an entrepreneur, he has delivered large outcomes to investors across the past 15 years. He also has a keen interest in travel, rock music and cinema.


• 30 years of investing, corporate finance and underwriting experience in tech, consulting, and financial services.
• Previously, M.D. (Ventures and Acquisitions), Accenture plc, a USD 44 Bn global technology and consulting company.
• Deep operational experience in building several large businesses at AV Birla Group, JM Financial Group and the Hero Group, and creating successful exits like Zenta (acquired by Accenture plc).
• Experience in Structured Finance and Ratings at ICRA (a Moody’s Associate) and Debt Fund management at JM Mutual Fund.


Portfolio relationships:
Big Basket, Blackbuck, Cardekho, Cars24, Chaipoint, Dailyhunt, Fab Alley, Healthians, IDfy, Industrybuying, OneAssist, Paperboat, Pharmeasy, Playshifu, Plum, Sharechat, Sigtuple, THB, Turtlemint, Zolostays

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Education:

Master of Management Studies, BITS Pilani (1990)
Cost and Management Accountant (CMA) (1994)

Lavanya brings deep life cycle growth equity investing experience to the firm. She has deployed funds, mentored portfolio companies through their journey and created healthy exit outcomes for investors in both India and the US. She joined Trifecta Capital to build out its late-stage equity platform, to consolidate its position as the financing partner for the new economy. She also cultivates a deep interest in fitness, yoga and mindfulness.

• 15 years of growth equity investing and investment banking experience.
• Previously, M.D., Goldman Sachs Principal Investing, a senior member of a 12-person team deploying funds from GS’ balance sheet and USD 8 Bn global private equity fund in India.
• Lifecycle investing experience including investments in Pepperfry, Azure, Cytecare and successful exits in Mahindra & Mahindra, Max India, and TVS Logistics.
• 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.

Education

BS, Finance & Economics - Wharton, U Penn (2004)
MBA - Stanford GSB (2010)

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Abhishek brings in a combination of an operating and an entrepreneurial background to the firm. He has extensive experience in scaling marquee venture capital backed start-ups in India and SEA. He is also an active angel investor and has backed 15+ high quality founders of early stage businesses with capital and strategic advice.

• 21+ years of experience across Credit, Technology and Operations
• Previously, acted as Senior Vice-President & COO for Paytm's lending business. Before Paytm, Abhishek was part of the Group Leadership for Advance Intelligence Group, a Softbank-backed BNPL Fintech business based out of Singapore.
• Abhishek also co-founded Goals101 (acquired by M2P Fintech), a Fintech venture providing transaction behavior analysis for financial institutions in India, SE Asia, and the Middle East
• Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Abhishek was part of the India Leadership team for Mentor Graphics - Silicon Valley based automation firm.

Portfolio relationships
‍Stashfin, Cogoport, Eupheus, Log9, Ergos, Rooter, Bluestone, Moneyview, and StockGro.

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Education
‍Punjab Engineering College - Computer Science (2000)
Harvard Business School (2014)

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Deepak has been a career banker, and worked with the start-up ecosystem closely for two years at RBL. Here, he understood the pain points as well as the perspectives of the CFO/Finance function.

He has built a trusted connection with over 100 CFOs during his time at Trifecta Capital. He launched a comprehensive advisory solution customised for startups, to solve issues around both the stock and flows of capital.

• 20 years of banking experience across Citi, ING Vysya, IDFC Bank and RBL Bank covering both Assets and Liabilities with expertise in Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Commercial banking as well as focused on new-age economy coverage in the last role with RBL bank.
• Took up the challenge of moving to ING Vysya bank from Citi to build the Retail franchise in Western India (Wealth & Branch Banking) - No. 1 region in the country.
• Part of the startup team of IDFC Bank to launch and set up the Transaction Banking business from inception.
• Set up the Liabilities business at RBL Bank pan-India from scratch, with a focus on the new-age economy - contributing to 30% of the balance sheet of Commercial Banking in two years.

Portfolio relationships
‍Livspace, Bizongo, Cuemath, Servify, Vedantu, Blackbuck, Rivigo, Chalo, Dehaat, Infra.Market, Sharechat

Education
‍MBA, MET Institute of Management Studies (1997-99)

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Saurabh has been involved in the startup ecosystem since his graduation. During this period he set up companies in the healthcare, food-tech and e-commerce domains. He is a prolific risk-taker and revels in exploring new segments for business opportunities.

Having been a serial entrepreneur, Saurabh brings the unique “founder's perspective” to the table. He specialises in standardising the operations of a company and using technology as a catalyst to achieve scale. On the personal front, Saurabh loves spending time surrounded by nature and adventure sports such as skydiving and white water rafting.

• 13 years of technology, entrepreneurship and investing experience in health care, food, e-commerce domains
• Previously at Nvidia, Clove Dental (Founding Team), Crispy Tokri (Founder), Intellinovate (Founder)
• Built Clove Dental, which is India's largest dental clinic chain today. Spearheaded various verticals including operations, finance and IT. Instrumental in building SOPs to standardise operations - a critical aspect in healthcare.
• Led the development of Clove's Patient Management software which serves as the backbone of Clove's seamless operations today.

Portfolio relationships
‍Aquaconnect, Atomberg, Blowhorn, Cure.fit, Dehaat, Entri, FabAlley, Farmley, Gigforce, Globalbees, GOAT, IDfy, Leverage Edu, MagicPin, Mylo, OneAssist, Pharmeasy, Playshifu, Rivigo, Seclore, Sharechat, Shopkirana, Slurrp Farm, Tapzo, Urban Company, Vayana Network, Waycool, Zepto, Zivame, ZoloStays.

Education
‍IIT Varanasi (2008)
IIM Ahmedabad (2011)

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