investment team

b2b

consumer

fintech

"The biggest risk of all is not taking one." - Mellody Hobson

origins

Aakanksha is an investment banker turned growth stage investor turned early stage investor at Venture Highway. She brings 10 yrs of experience in Indian investing & financial services domain.

At VH, Aakanksha leads investments and portfolio management across sectors like FinTech, Supply Chain, B2B and ConsumerTech.

Prior to VH, Aakanksha was a VP at IvyCap Ventures, a Series A/B focused Venture Capital firm in Mumbai, where she held multiple board positions.

Her journey of being an investor began with an internship at Samara Capital, a mid-market PE firm. She started her professional career as an investment banker, where she worked on M&A / capital restructuring mandates for banks & insurance companies in the US and Europe.

Aakanksha did her MBA from IIM Lucknow and under-grad from SRCC, Delhi University. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

why seed investing

I chanced upon the investing world quite accidentally, and ended up falling in love with it.

My tryst with investing began with my MBA internship at a PE firm. I loved the aspects of having small teams with flat hierarchies, working directly with seasoned founders, evaluating diverse sectors and having meaningful ownership cum responsibilities. By the end of those two months, I knew this was it.

Fortunately, I landed a VC role straight out of campus. VC offered the best of PE, and more, since I got to work in the dynamic tech ecosystem. Tech has revolutionalised the way we operate on a day-to-day basis, and will continue to do so for many years. I want to be a part of that journey, right at the very cusp of it. That is what keeps me going!

My favourite part of the job is working with founders, who I believe are the smartest & the bravest lot. I get inspired everyday by their drive, motivation, passion, vision and sheer resilience.

inspiration

Roger Federer and Cristiano Ronaldo

other interests

football, global politics, movies, surveying ott content

relationship

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