Advertise on podcast: Bangladesh Angels

Mr. Thompson has been active in the start-up venture space for over 25 years as a builder of companies, angel investor, angel group leader and fund manager. In 2017, Mr. Thompson integrated all these roles into Valhalla Private Capital. In his capacity as Chairman and CEO of Valhalla Private Capital & Managing Partner of Old Kent Road Financial, Mr. Thompson has personally invested in 110 start-up companies and funds. Mr. Thompson oversees direct investing for 125 angel members and 5 funds under management for a total of over $225 million (CDN) in deployed capital. Valhalla Angels has led its 125+ members to collectively fund over 250 companies for over $70 million dollars since 2003. While most of these investments are in Canada, several of the investments including the funds have been placed globally in 8 additional countries to date. For these efforts, Mr. Thompson was named the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) 2018 Canadian Angel of the Year and was awarded Startup Canada’s investor of the year for 2015. In addition, he has been asked to share his knowledge and first-hand experience of the startup ecosystem through formal speaking and instruction engagements in 28 countries over the last 3 years.  Mr. Thompson spends a lot of time in the European ecosystem because of his ownership in an English Football League (EFL) club. Since 2018, Mr. Thompson has been a 25% owner of Peterborough United Football Club (PUFC). We will hear from him on: His personal background and how he has come to be in this space Initial vision, strategy and evolving operating model of VA, including the overview of Base Camp His thoughts on key models/businesses within his portfolio   His thoughts on the South Asian/SE Asian ecosystem and its comparison with the ones he is working with Advice for aspiring founders, investors from Bangladesh

On this episode, Naushad UzZaman discussed cybersecurity, distortion of public opinion, and the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis to combat them. Naushad holds a PhD along has over two decades of experience in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing, and has applied expertise in both academic research and social enterprise that comes from time spent at leading firms such as Nuance, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Bosch - and now at Blackbird.AI. Naushad is responsible for the development of Blackbird’s Narrative & Risk Intelligence Platform, and along with his team, has built a unique series of scalable AI and network analysis modules that detect rare risk signals of threats. The real-time AI-powered narrative detection and risk intelligence platform is used by leading enterprises, Fortune 500’s, and large government organizations, globally. In this session, we learned about: Naushad's personal background and how he came to be in this space His career, key companies he was part of, and experience building teams, products, and businesses Deep dive into how Blackbird AI was founded and built Thoughts on Bangladesh and how to connect the ecosystem with NRBs like himself

Craig D’Cruze is a multifaceted entrepreneur with a passion for investing. In his 25+ years in equities markets, Craig has developed his outlook that emerging technologies will alleviate the largest hurdles facing the human race. Prior to joining Inverted Ventures Craig lead teams of between 22 and 70 people as an award-winning Executive Chef for companies like Marriott Hotels International, Delta Hotels, and The University of Calgary. Cost control, budgeting, creativity but most importantly team building, mentoring and growth. Craig has always been fascinated with numbers, finance, P&L, and cost effectiveness. His attention to detail gives him the ability to read between the lines when analyzing innovative investment ideas. These factors have led Craig to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer for Inverted Ventures and is responsible for leading the research team on early-stage venture capital investments and cryptocurrency portfolio development. We heard from him on: His personal backgrounds Story of IV & overview of its main activities The economic make-up of Western Canada including the key components of its innovation ecosystem (a 30000 feet view) The process of setting up a family office, asset allocation, management Discussion on a few portfolio companies in which he has invested

Mainul Mondal is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Member of the Board of Directors of Ellipsis Health. As a skilled healthcare IT business leader, Mondal has deep experience in the technology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail and defense sectors. In 2020, he was selected as a Milestone Maker by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center and he serves as a member of the World Economic Forum – working to improve the state of the world by engaging leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. Previously, Mondal helped launch the ClearStreme initiative with the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. Prior to founding Ellipsis Health, Mondal was a Rockefeller Fellow at the Public Health Institute. He has presented lectures, ran workshops, and has been a guest speaker at leading universities including Stanford University, the University of California, and the Indian Institutes of Technology.

Tahasin Alam is a VC-backed CTO and Co-Founder of Belong Health. He also has two major startup exits under his belt: one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States acquired his first startup, and his next startup went public in just 3.5 years - a testament to his strategic prowess and dedication to innovation. ​As an experienced entrepreneur with over 23 years in healthcare, Tahasin is skilled at building and scaling tech-enabled healthcare companies, with notable success as a founding team member or co-founder in the healthcare space. ​Startups that he has been a part of have received funding from top healthcare venture capital firms like Bain Capital Ventures, Maverick Ventures, and NEA, among others. This demonstrates the value he provides to the healthcare industry and the quality of his work. ​ ​In addition to his entrepreneurial achievements, Tahasin possesses extensive domain expertise in health insurance and healthcare delivery. He has been instrumental in helping launch the modern primary care model and has been a driving force behind advancements in population health management. His expertise and experience in healthcare have made him a leading expert and a valuable resource in the ever-changing healthcare landscape. ​We heard from him on: ​- His personal background and how he came to be in this space ​- Going through his career, key health-tech companies he was a part of, experience building teams, products, businesses ​- Current role and the venture studio model for health ​- His approach to advisory work ​- His plans for Bangladesh and emerging markets

IQ is an entrepreneur & technology leader, currently the Cofounder of Fenix, and previously CTO of Circ (acquired by Bird). He leads Engineering, Product, Data & Design teams, and has been advising startups in different stages and sectors (including mobility, e-commerce and fintech), with focus on tech architecture, processes and teams. He spent most of his early career in the Valley, working for VMware, Facebook and Illumio. He then moved to Dubai and built the in-house engineering team for Careem (the leading ride-hailing provider, and now a super-app, in the MENA region), scaling the tech team to 250+ engineers. He then went to Lyft in Munich, to lead the Autonomous Driving team working on AI/ML for AVs.IQ has several patents, and has participated in tech innovation and exponential business growth in multiple markets & verticals. He went to Stanford University for graduate school, where he got an MS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Computational Math. We will hear from him on: - His personal background and how he came to be in this space - His work with Careem, experience building the team from scratch, key inflection points in the tech/business - Taking an exit, building your own company, selling it - His approach to angel investing/advisory work - How Bangladesh & Pakistan tech entrepreneurs/ecosystems can work together

Tasnia Huque, she’s Principal at Javelin Venture Partners - a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups from a wide variety of industries like cloud, data, enterprise software, education, auto finance, retail, and digital media.At Javelin, Tasnia is focused on new deals and portfolios across the future of work and consumer internet. She also supports the Partners across several other categories, including proptech, fin-tech, B2B SaaS, and web3. She has also worked in technology and capital advisory, directly or peripherally, for over a decade.

Imran Khan is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Verishop, a socialcommerce company with a mission to create a more joyful shopping experience for itscommunity. In addition, Imran is also the founder and CEO of Proem AssetManagement, an investment firm that focuses on the technology space. Prior to co-founding Verishop, Imran served as Snap Inc.’s Chief Strategy Officer,where he oversaw the company’s corporate strategy, revenue generation, businessoperations, and partnerships. Under his leadership, Snap’s annual revenue run rateincreased to $1.6 billion from zero in less than four years.Previously, Imran was a Managing Director and Head of Global Internet InvestmentBanking at Credit Suisse where he advised on more than $45 billion worth of InternetM& A and financing transactions. Before joining Credit Suisse, Imran held the role ofManaging Director and Head of Global Internet Research at JPMorgan Chase.We will hear from him on:- His personal background and journey to get to Verishop- Experience in his roles as a financier, operator, and investor- How he sources, onboard, and supports brands through Verishop- The operating model behind a fully remote company- Future of retail and e-commerce in America- Advice for Bangladeshi founders

Mohammed Ridwan and Nayeem Zen, co-founders of Pluto Card.Mohammed Ridwan is the Co-founder, COO & Chief Product Officer. His core expertise is in go-to-market strategy development and building payment & artificial intelligence infrastructure software products. He has successfully led many strategies & execution of multiple software & payment products with large cross-functional teams of 30+ members. Ridwan will be sharing his expertise in go-to-market strategy development and building payment & artificial intelligence infrastructure software products.Nayeem Husain Zen is the Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer of Pluto Technologies. He has served at various senior positions as a software engineer and technical leader at multinational technology companies such as Shopify, Square, and Uber. Nayeem also brings in a wealth of fintech experience, having been a core part of the early engineering team at Square’s Cash App - one of the largest consumer payment apps in the US. Nayeem will be sharing his expertise in technical design, strategy and architecture, product delivery, engineering leadership, and data security and compliance.We will hear from them on:- How the Pluto team built a product that meets customer needs through user research, rapid prototyping, and iterative design.- Strategies for building partnerships with other companies, including approaches to identifying potential partners, negotiating deals, and managing ongoing relationships.- The importance of customer experience and how Pluto built a trusted and valued brand that puts customers first- What Pluto does to cultivate a culture of teamwork- Their thoughts on driving innovation and growth in Bangladesh's fintech space

Sasha Mirchandani is Managing Director and Founder of Kae Capital and Co-founder of Mumbai Angels. Kae Capital is a pioneer of early-stage investing in India, focused on tech startups, and has been investing in India for 10+ years. Founded in 2012, and based out of Mumbai and Bengaluru, Kae is a sector-agnostic fund that invests in pre-seed to pre-series A stages. Kae has a portfolio enterprise valuation of $8.52 billion, having invested in over 79 startups, with a portfolio mix of B2B and B2C startups. Some of the marquee names are Tata 1mg (health tech), @Zetwerk (manufacturing tech), Porter (logistics tech), 1K (B2B retail tech), and Wysa (health tech).Previously, Sasha was at BlueRun Ventures as Managing Director for the India operations. Before joining BlueRun Ventures he was CEO and Founder of Imercius Technologies. Earlier he was at Mirc Electronics (Onida) where he was Head of Corporate Affairs and new business. His investments include Inmobi, Healthkart,1Mg, Myntra, Porter and Fractal Analytics. Sasha sits on the Boards of Zee Entertainment, Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited, Nazara Technologies Limited, Healthkart and Mumbai Angels Venture Mentors among others. Previously he was on the Boards of Fractal Analytics, Myntra and Ador Welding.Sasha completed his Business Administration from Strayer University and MMDP program at IIM, Ahmedabad. He is a Charter Member at TiE Mumbai and was inducted into their 2019 Hall of Fame as an Outstanding Angel Investor. He is also the Past President of the Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO) Mumbai.We will hear from him on:- The early-stage investing landscape in India and how it has evolved- The key factors that investors look for in a startup before making an investment- How to build a successful startup in today's competitive market- Common mistakes that startups make and how to avoid them- The future of early-stage investing and the opportunities it presents- His thoughts on Bangladesh’s Startup Ecosystem

Patricia Sosrodjojo is General Partner at Seedstars International Ventures, an early-stage VC fund focused on emerging markets. The fund has invested in over 30 countries across Latam, Africa, MENA, CEE and Asia, backing ventures working to solve key societal challenges such as access to financial services, commerce, healthcare, and education. The fund is part of the Seedstars Group, founded in 2012 in Switzerland with a network covering over 90 countries.  Patricia has over 15 years of investing and management consulting experience across Asia Pacific and the U.S. Prior to joining Seedstars, she was a Venture Partner at AC Ventures, an early-stage VC in Indonesia, where she led portfolio management and value creation platform for the fund. Previously, Patricia was an Executive Director at Falcon House Partners, an Indonesian private equity fund, where she invested in high-growth companies in the consumer space. Earlier in her career, Patricia worked in the private equity arm of Lehman Brothers as well as global consulting firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and L.E.K Consulting.  An advocate for greater diversity and inclusion in the investment sector, Patricia is active in the startup community and has been involved in initiatives on gender lens investing and impact investing. She holds a BA in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University and an M.A in Economic Development from The Fletcher School, Tufts University. 

Robin Butler is a Partner at Sturgeon Capital, a London-based VC investing in early-stage startups in nascent venture ecosystems. ​Robin has spent the last 10 years living, working, and studying in emerging markets, including a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern History, 9 months living in Iran learning Farsi, and the last five and a half years working for Sturgeon Capital in Central and South Asia. This somewhat eclectic, atypical background for a VC brings a different perspective on the opportunity set in the countries where Sturgeon invests, as well as a passion for delivering a positive impact through our portfolio investments. ​Robin is responsible for the deal sourcing, due diligence, and investment side of the business at Sturgeon, spending two-thirds of his time traveling. ​We will hear from him on: ​-His role in accelerating the digital transition in emerging markets such as Bangladesh ​-The future of digital transformation and its impact on businesses and society ​-The role of venture capital in promoting digital transformation ​-The cultural understanding of investment decision-making & his strategies for making successful early-stage investments