Bharat Fund

Shyam Menon is a co-founder and general partner at Bharat Innovation Fund, bringing over 25 years of experience in technology investing and ecosystem development across the US, Middle East, Europe, and India. He has co-founded multiple venture funds managing over $100 million in assets and previously held positions at the World Bank, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and several venture and industrial firms. His focus areas include deep science, climate technology, and artificial intelligence.

Kunal Upadhyay is co-founder of Translation Endeavors and co-founder of IIMA Ventures, which he established in 2007. He has led India-focused investment funds and platforms including the Bharat Fund, Infuse, and IIMA Ventures' Seed-fund, with combined assets exceeding $100 million focused on climate-tech, deep-tech, and inclusion-focused early-stage companies. He has also established accelerator and ecosystem platforms supporting entrepreneurs and has advised the Asian Development Bank on early-stage climate investments across emerging Asia.

Sanjay Jain is Director of Digital Public Infrastructure at the Gates Foundation, where he leads initiatives to develop inclusive digital systems in partnership with governments and technical partners. Previously, he held roles at IIMA Ventures and the Bharat Inclusion Initiative focused on digital innovation and inclusion in low- and middle-income countries. His career includes work as Chief Product Manager at the Unique Identification Authority of India on the Aadhaar system, contributions to the design of UPI, involvement with the India Stack through the iSPIRT Foundation, and leadership on Google Map Maker.

Som Pal Choudhury is Co-Founder and Partner at Bharat Innovation Fund, a Pre Series-A/Series-A fund focused on deeptech and IP-driven startups in India, and serves on the boards of PlayShifu, FireCompass, and the US-India Science & Technology Endowment Fund. He co-founded the TiE Matrix Forum, chairs the Global MatrixSummit, and sits on a MeitY committee for the Design Linked Initiative grant scheme for semiconductor startups. Previously Managing Director of Analog Devices India, he spent nearly two decades in Silicon Valley in roles at NETGEAR, an early M2M/IoT startup, and Cadence Design Systems, and holds an MBA from the Wharton School and engineering degrees from IIT Kharagpur and North Carolina State University.

Saras Agarwal is a venture capital and private equity professional with 15 years of experience investing in companies across platforms, financial services, SaaS, e-commerce, deeptech, and sustainability sectors. He previously served as managing partner at Earth Fund and held investment roles at Bharat Fund and VenturEast. Agarwal has held board positions or observer roles at multiple companies including Setu, Kaleidofin, Riskcovry, Manch Technologies, Mymobiforce, Bandhoo, Seclore, and Kissht.

Hemendra Mathur is a venture capital and private equity professional with 29+ years of experience investing across early-stage and growth companies, with prior roles including Venture Partner at a deep-tech fund and Managing Director of a private equity fund focused on food and agribusiness supply chains. Since 2016, he has worked at the intersection of startups, government, and policy, focusing on developing policy frameworks and platforms for scale in rural India across agritech, climate, and food systems. Earlier in his career, he spent 12 years in management consulting and investment banking, advising corporations and the Government of India on strategy, M&A, and policy frameworks in the food, agribusiness, and consumer sectors.

Snehitha Nukalapati is a member of the investment team at Bharat Innovation Fund, with experience in financial modelling, company valuation, and research across investment banks, private equity funds, and transaction advisory firms. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Accounting and Finance from Christ University, Bangalore, and has cleared CFA Level 1.