Ruchira Shukla is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Synapses, a VC Fund focused on STEM-led investments in ClimateTech and HealthTech.

Previously, Ruchira was the South Asia Regional Lead for Disruptive Technology Investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group. She led IFC’s investments in early-stage technology businesses as well as VC Funds and represented IFC on the boards of several startups and LP advisory committees. Her investments include Upgrad, Blackbuck, Bizongo, Tata1mg, Medgenome, Byju’s, and several others. Also, as the Global Lead for the HealthTech business at IFC, Ms. Shukla led IFC’s investments and interventions in the HealthTech industry across emerging markets.

Ms. Shukla also ran IFC’s South Asia business in Technology, Media and Telecom, and has previously worked with organizations such as Boston Consulting Group and Lehman Brothers. She has over 25 years of experience across venture capital and private equity investing, strategy consulting, and investment banking across Asia, US and Europe. Her sector focus spans consumer internet, enterprise technologies, B2B eCommerce, HealthTech, Edutech and eLogistics, with a keen interest in business models that leverage emerging technologies such as Web 3.0, AI, IoT and blockchain to disrupt traditional spaces.

Ruchira studied at IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad in India. She also graduated as Palmer Scholar from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

She enjoys Indian classical music and herbal teas.

Amit is the Founding Partner of Singapore based Jungle Ventures that invests and helps build tech category leaders from South Asia. Under his leadership, Jungle has grown to become one of the largest venture capital firms in the region, currently managing over $600m in commitments since their inception in 2012.

Amit is passionate about creating companies that are built to last. This passion led him to start and scale Jungle Ventures to a regional venture firm investing across high growth tech sectors in India, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. The firm invests on a ‘high conviction early-growth stage investing’ model that has resulted in a >10x growth in portfolio valuation in the last 5 years, from $900M in aggregate valuation to over $10.5B. In 2021 alone, Jungle has coined 2 Unicorns and 3 of their portfolio companies are expected to list at the regional or global stock exchanges in the next 6-12 months.

Amit has spent 25 years in South Asia as an early pioneer and leader in the development of the region's Venture Capital and Startup industry. Amit was the Vice Chairman of Business Angels Network of South East Asia (BANSEA), held executive positions in sales and business development at Progress Software ($1.6 Billion NASDAQ listed software giant) and at Tata Infotech Ltd, India (Acquired by TCS for ~$259m) and found Ettamina Studios, a Singapore-India based animation studio. He is a Kauffman Fellow and currently a member of Singapore Government's Advisory Council on the Ethical Use Of Artificial Intelligence and Data.

Ilaria Chan is the Chairperson of the Board at the Tech ForGood Institute, a non-profit founded by Grab (Southeast Asia's leading superapp), to encourage and enrich dialogue on social, economic, and policy trends accelerated by the digital economy. She also serves as the Group Advisor on Tech & Social Impact for Grab, focusing on advancing diplomacy, thought leadership and social impact reach for the Technology Decacorn startup.

Prior to assuming this role, she served as a Corporate Finance executive and helped drive Grab's historical Series H fundraise - the largest in the history of Southeast Asia. Ilaria was formerly an Executive Director at the Sales &Trading division of Goldman Sachs New York where she was a top quartile performer at the bank, focusing on Asia Equities.

She is currently a global keynote speaker, a private investor, serves on the Board of Trustees of humanitarian organizations Care For Children and Emancipaction, an Operating Advisor to Owl Ventures (largest Education Tech focused venture capital fund in the world), an advisory committee member to Global SF's Women Empowerment Initiative, and serves on the advisory board of British real estate development firm Kinrise.

Ilaria holds a B.A. from Stanford University. She is also a freelance singer, concert pianist, food critic & restaurant judge, culinary school graduate, actress in musicals & play sand an avid scuba diver.

Shilpa Kulkarni is the Founder and Managing Partner of Panthera Growth Partners. She brings over 25 years of experience across investing and operating companies in technology and business services in US and India. She holds an MBA degree from Fuqua School of Management, Duke University, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Mumbai University.

Founder & Managing Partner, Playbook Partners, an Operator Driven Growth Venture Capital Platform for Digital Transformation in India.

Leader in multinational public companies, operated and invested in several Billion $ businesses. Past President at Reliance Jio (BSE:RIL), India’s largest conglomerate. Led the team of India’s largest digital platform business including ecommerce, fintech, media and telecom (0 to $100 Bn market cap in 5 years). Prior CEO India, and Global Leadership of Aimia Inc (TSX:AIM), world’s largest data-driven marketing company. Built a JV with the Tata group and sold the ecommerce business to Reliance Retail.

Founder of one of India’s leading family offices in tech venture investments, Pivot Ventures, with 80+ portfolio companies, 10+ unicorns / IPOs / exits (including InMobi, Myntra, Fractal, PolicyBazaar, Nazara, and others). Co-President, Harvard Alumni Association Club of Mumbai, and MBA University of Pittsburgh and University of Bombay.