A Team with 100+ Years of
Collective Experience

Venkat is the founder of Veda. He is an investment banking veteran with 30 years plus in the industry. He has been one of the pioneers in the Indian Venture Capital & Private Equity Industry having been closely associated with its evolution and growth since the early 1990’s.

Veda is Venkat’s second innings as an entrepreneur. He co-founded Mantra consultants a boutique investment bank in the late 90’s which was eventually acquired by Ernst & Young in 2001.

Venkat has anchored several key client relationships and crafted multiple landmark transactions across industry segments during this three-decade career. He has now transitioned into a more strategic role at Veda, guiding the team, donning the hat of a brand ambassador and plotting the firm’s next moves.

He has scripted and directed India’s first docu film on the history of Indian Venture Capital and Private Equity “Ventures Adventures” which has been well acclaimed by the industry and the ecosystem. He is also a regular speaker on entrepreneurship, PE/VC and M&A trends and his views and opinion are often sought by the media.

Venkat is a connoisseur of test match cricket, has dabbled with cricket broadcasting in his early days, a pet lover and horse racing enthusiast. His yet unfulfilled ambitions include penning a movie script and leading home a derby winning racehorse. He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Check out the Venture Adventures podcast here!

Sivaraj brings close to 20 years of expertise in leading PE and M&A opportunities, with a focus on Consumer, Tech Services, and Healthcare sectors. Prior to Veda, he honed his skills at Deloitte and EY in their Assurance and Advisory practices. Sivaraj is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

When he’s not busy crafting deals, you can find Sivaraj exploring his passion for cooking or delving into books on Astronomy or enjoying long drives.

Gana as he’s fondly in the industry, joined the team in 2010 and comes with close to 2 decades of expertise in Investment banking, having extensively worked on Private Equity and M&A deals with deal value totalling to over US$ 2 Bn across sectors including Pharma, Healthcare, Telecom & Industrials.

His prior stints including being part of the corporate strategy team with telecom major Aircel and with the Lead Advisory practice at Ernst & Young.

Gana is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. A sports enthusiast, Gana’s other interests include watching offbeat movies, and listening to film music (an ardent fan of Ilayaraaja).

Abinandan has close to 2 decades of experience across investment banking & technology and worked on over 100 transactions across business cycles. He currently leads Veda’s Bangalore practice and covers Technology, New Age, Consumer, Pharma and Industrial segments where he has been involved in many marquee transactions.

Prior to joining Veda, he worked with Broadstripe, USA as part of their Corporate Development/M&A team. He also had a brief stint with Flipkart group in their M&A/venture investments team focusing on consumer tech. He has a BE in computer science from PESIT, an MBA from Washington University, USA and has completed the CFA program from CFA Institute, USA. He is also very passionate about sports & music and can be seen playing a sport or playing an instrument during his free time. He also teaches finance, investment banking and investing across various prestigious institutes.

Atul has over 18 years of experience in leading and managing fund raising and advisory transactions particularly in the consumer and new-age sectors. Prior to joining Veda, he worked with JM Financial’s investment banking business and KPMG’s Transaction Advisory business.

Atul completed his MBA from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Atul is a cricket enthusiast and can engage any other cricket lover on a lively debate on the game.

Rajan has close to 2 decades of experience in investment banking. He has led several transactions across Healthcare, Pharma, Industrials, Infrastructure and Business services space, including marquee deals for market leaders in the segment.

Prior to joining Veda, he worked with Big4 firms, PwC and Ernst & Young in their Assurance and Transaction Advisory practices. Rajan is a CFA® Charter holder and a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Rajan is an adventurer and loves to explore the world and its myriad facets. He also plays his guitar and drums to unwind after a long day at work!

Mahesh has over 16 years of investment banking experience across sectors and roles.

Prior to joining the Bangalore office of Veda, Mahesh was a Director with Ernst & Young, where he advised on several PE / M&A transactions in the healthcare and related sectors. Before that he also worked with investment banking teams of Kotak Group, UBS, and Malabar Capital Advisors.

He has completed CFA program from CFA Institute, USA and holds a post graduate diploma in management from SDM-IMD, Mysore.

Mahesh is a native of Udupi where he did his schooling and college. When he is not busy crafting deals, he loves to spend time at the beach, reading up on current affairs, geopolitics/economics, investing trends, watching sci-fi movies and playing some casual sports.

Abhinay has over 10 years of investment banking experience across Consumer & Retail, Food & Agri, Healthcare and Industrial sectors. He has advised on several marquee growth private equity and digital-first venture capital deals as well as domestic and cross-border M&A transactions. Prior to joining Veda, he worked with Motilal Oswal’s investment banking division.

Abhinay completed his Masters’ in Finance from London Business School, where he was a Graduating Student Award Winner for the Class of 2017. He also has an MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai and B.E. from CEG, Anna University, Chennai. Abhinay loves to travel and watch sports.

Anish has over 12 years of investment banking experience across Technology , Business Services and Consumer segments. Prior to joining Veda, he worked with KPMG’s Corporate Finance practice , leading transactions in the Technology vertical . He has also worked with Wipro Technologies in their M&A team focusing on IT services deals across digital transformation , Cloud & Analytics , Enterprise software.

Anish is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has completed the CIMA program from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

An avid sports enthusiast , Anish loves to unwind by playing racquet sports or engaging in football/cricket banter.

Ajit has over a decade of experience in investment banking after spending 2 years of his initial career in credit rating. He has extensive experience across PE, M&A and structured financing transactions in sectors including Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Business Services and Logistics

Prior to Veda, Ajit worked with PwC in their Corporate Finance and Investment Banking team covering Industrials and Logistics and ICRA where he was part of the Corporate credit ratings team.

Ajit is Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary and did his Bachelor of Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. He is an avid foodie, travel enthusiast and sports aficionado, having played competitive cricket during school and college.

Nikhil comes with over a decade of investment banking experience across VC, PE & M&A deals primarily for new-age, technology, fintech, consumer-tech, enterprise tech/SaaS, healthcare and edtech businesses. He started his career off in equity research and then moved to Invesment banking with Moody’s where he provided offshore assistance to their clients. Over his career, Nikhil has also worked with IndigoEdge primarily on new-age deals.

Nikhil holds an MBA Degree from A.P.J School of Management and did his Bachelor of Commerce from Delhi University. In his past, he has been a National level Hockey player and still has a passion for sports. More particularly, he loves to watch and play cricket, among other sports. He finds joy in spending time with his daughter, playing games or reading to her.