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Nishant Rao

Investor

Founding Partner at Avataar Venture Partners · McKinsey India Expert Advisory Board at McKinsey & Company

Gurgaon, Haryana, India

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3,274 people in our graph share verified history with Nishant — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Sanjeev KumarunlockedNishant: together at Avataar Venture Partners (2025–2026)
×3Nishant: together at Avataar Venture Partners
Nishant: together at Freshworks
×3Nishant: together at Ariba Inc.

About

Nishant Rao focuses on B2B technology and SaaS sales and marketing, with experience scaling consumer internet and enterprise software companies past $100M+ in revenue. His prior roles include Global Head of Strategy and MD for India & SE Asia at LinkedIn, Global COO at Freshworks, co-founder of the call-center company Epicenter, strategy advisor at McKinsey, and product/engineering roles at Ariba and Microsoft. He holds an MBA from MIT and a Computer Science degree from UT Austin.

Contact· self-published, not guessed

Invests in

Enterprise SoftwareSaaS

Experience

  1. Avataar Venture PartnersFounding Partnercurrent2019 — presentGurugram
  2. Safe SecurityBoard Membercurrent2025 — present
  3. CredCoreBoard Membercurrent2025 — present
  4. Infinite UptimeBoard Observercurrent2025 — present
  5. LambdaTestBoard Membercurrent2024 — present
  6. interface.aiBoard Membercurrent2024 — present
  7. InsuranceDekhoBoard Membercurrent2022 — present
  8. AmagiBoard Membercurrent2021 — present
  9. CRMNEXTBoard Member & US CEOcurrent2019 — presentNoida Area, India
  10. SenseBoard Membercurrent2020 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
  11. Capillary TechnologiesBoard Membercurrent2019 — presentBengaluru Area, India
  12. RateGainBoard Membercurrent2017 — presentGurgaon, India
  13. Zeta IndiaBoard Advisorcurrent2019 — presentBengaluru Area, India
  14. McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey India Expert Advisory Boardcurrent2016 — presentGurugram, Haryana, India
  15. India VC Ecosystem (Accel, SAIF, Sequoia, Blume, Lightspeed, Lumis etc)Advisorcurrent2017 — presentGurgaon, India
  16. Emiza Inc.Board Membercurrent2017 — presentNew Delhi Area, India
  17. PeopleStrongBoard Advisorcurrent2017 — presentGurgaon, India
  18. IBMBoard Advisorcurrent2015 — presentIndia
  19. Confederation of Indian IndustryAdvisory Board Member, National Committee on Skill Developmentcurrent2015 — presentGurgaon, India
  20. SirionLabsCEO & Board2017 — 2019Gurgaon, India
  21. FreshworksChief Operating Officer2015 — 2017Chennai Area, India
  22. Internet and Mobile Association of IndiaChairman2015 — 2017Gurgaon, India
  23. Internet and Mobile Association of IndiaGoverning Council / Board Member2013 — 2017Gurgaon, India
  24. LinkedInManaging Director, LinkedIn India & extended parts of Asia2012 — 2015Gurgaon, India
  25. LinkedInDirector, Business Operations -- Head of Global Sales Strategy2011 — 2012Mountain View, CA
  26. TechCrunchBoard Member, TechCrunch India2013 — 2014Mumbai, India
  27. McKinsey & CompanySenior Engagement Manager, Associate Principal2007 — 2011Greater Boston Area
  28. Ariba Inc.Senior Software Engineer & Development Lead2001 — 2005
  29. Epicenter TechnologiesMember of founding team2001 — 2005
  30. Microsoft CorporationSoftware Development Intern2000
  31. National InstrumentsSoftware Engineering Intern1999

Skills & more

Internet of Things (IoT)CybersecurityProduct Management51Business Development54Cross-functional Team Leadership23Business Strategy90Entrepreneurship25Go-to-market Strategy26Sales Management18Competitive Analysis12Market Research13Sales Operations7
+12 moreChange ManagementSales GrowthStrategic PartnershipsStart-upsOutsourcingGlobal Business DevelopmentSales EffectivenessBusiness Operations ManagementDevtoolsLeadershipMentoringManagement

Languages English · Hindi · Marathi

From Nishant's professional profile.

Colleagues at Avataar Venture Partners

Abdool Fareed Soreefan
General Partner at Avataar Venture Partners
Amit Kumar
Head - Finance COE at Avataar Venture Partners
Anirudh Singh
Partner at Avataar Venture Partners
Arjun Vikas
Director at Avataar Venture Partners
Dinky Sanghvi
VP Finance at Avataar Venture Partners
Frida Schain
Investment Manager at Sciety
Ganesh Nayak
Fundraising and Capital Markets at Avataar Venture Partners
George Thangadurai
Operating Partner at Avataar Venture Partners

Frequently asked questions

Who is Nishant Rao?
Nishant Rao focuses on B2B technology and SaaS sales and marketing, with experience scaling consumer internet and enterprise software companies past $100M+ in revenue. His prior roles include Global Head of Strategy and MD for India & SE Asia at LinkedIn, Global COO at Freshworks, co-founder of the call-center company Epicenter, strategy advisor at McKinsey, and product/engineering roles at Ariba and Microsoft. He holds an MBA from MIT and a Computer Science degree from UT Austin.
Where does Nishant Rao work?
Nishant Rao is Founding Partner at Avataar Venture Partners.
What does Nishant Rao invest in?
Nishant Rao invests in Enterprise Software, SaaS.
Where did Nishant Rao go to school?
Nishant Rao studied at MIT Sloan School of Management (MBA, Strategy); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MBA, Strategy & Marketing); The University of Texas at Austin (B.S., Computer Science).

Same school

Shared employers