Venkat is a Partner with Aavishkaar and co-manages the Aavishkaar Frontier Fund (AFF). He joined Aavishkaar in 2013 – to raise and manage AFF. He focuses on the Funds activities in Indonesia, and is a member of the Board on the Indonesian investments. Venkat is also actively engaged in the operations of the Technical Assistance Facilities which are working alongside AFF. In addition to this he is actively engaged in the startup eco-system in India and Indonesia. Prior to joining Aavishkaar, Venkat has executed multiple M&A transactions, project finance & special situation deals as a senior investment banker across a range of buy/sell side transactions. In his past roles, spanning over 25 years, he has been involved with a variety of business situations from start-ups, project financing, infrastructure, private equity, fund launch and new business development as well as an experience as a CEO of growth stage companies. Venkat earned his PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and also has a Bachelor of Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS-Pilani)