Venture Partner

Atul Bindal

Atul Mohan Bindal is a Venture Partner at Unitus Ventures since 2016. Previously, he served as a Venture Advisor and Fund Advisor at the firm. He works with the investment team on investment decisions and with portfolio companies as they seek to establish a strong foundation and realize their growth potential. 

Prior to this, Atul served as Managing Director, Asia of Khosla Ventures Advisory Services and was responsible for providing venture-assistance, operational expertise and leadership inputs for the region. Previously, he was with Bharti Airtel for over eight years as a key member of the top-team that scripted and delivered the Airtel success story. Atul served as the President Mobile Services for India and South Asia at Bharti Airtel Limited since March 2009, where he ran the $8 billion, 160 million customers business. In his career, Atul worked in various leadership roles in marketing, sales and general management with companies such as American Express, Unilever and Shell, playing an instrumental role in creating memorable brands and shaping impactful businesses.

He received an MBA from IIM, Kolkata in 1984 and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi University. He is an AMP graduate from Harvard Business School.

Advisor

Bharti Gupta Ramola

Bharti Gupta Ramola is an advisor with Unitus Ventures. She is on the investment committee and guides the investment team on investment decisions and post-investment strategic direction for portfolio companies.

In her previous role at PwC, she led the firm’s Sustainability practice and was a member of the Global Diversity and Inclusion Council. With 30 years of rich experience, Bharti has been an active advisor on development of policies, institutional capacity and frameworks for private participation in key infrastructure industries and related financing markets.

During her career, she served on the boards of Basix , Pradan and Srijan, engaged in livelihood promotion and micro finance initiatives.

Director, Mission Investing at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

Geeta Goel

Geeta is responsible for leading the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s global Mission Investing function. The foundation has made catalytic program-related investments across its India-based microfinance, health and education initiatives, and its U.S.-based education initiatives.

Prior to this role, Geeta led the foundation’s Family Economic Stability initiative. She has represented the foundation on several investee boards, including that of Janalakshmi, Ujjivan, Micro Housing Finance Corporation and Swadhaar.

Before joining the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Geeta spent more than 12 years with the corporate finance group of PricewaterhouseCoopers in India, advising large Indian and multinational clients on joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, business plans, and valuations. She is an alumni of the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Lady Shri Ram College (Delhi).

Venture Partner

K. L. Mukesh

K. L. Mukesh is a Venture Partner with Unitus Ventures and a senior business leader with extensive experience in operations management across global geographies and setting up and scaling of television and healthcare businesses.

Mukesh is a mentor for startups and non-profits, former entrepreneur, manager of large global satellite television (DTH) operations. He managed operations and technology for DIRECTV Latin America, DIRECTV Japan. The operations include customer operations, field operations, loyalty and retention marketing, IT.  He also worked on the bankruptcy turnaround of DIRECTV Latin America, merger of DIRECTV Japan with SkyPerfecTV. Subsequently, he was co-founder of Akeso Healthcare – an outpatient facility with a diagnostic lab, treatment room for minor procedures, ultrasound – The business had 49 doctors, 180,000 registered patients.  The business got acquired by the Apollo Hospitals group. He was the CEO of Picolabs Division of Biosense. He is currently an advisor for Karmahealthcare (primary healthcare), Arera Technologies (Emergency Medical Response), Gyanpro (science education), Bempu (neonatal care).

Mukesh’s interests lie in improving access and reducing cost of primary healthcare with the help of technology innovations. Mukesh has an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and a Masters in Statistics from Indian Statistical Institute.

Venture Partner

Milind Shah

Milind Shah is a Healthcare Venture Partner with Unitus Ventures, working to find and support the firm’s investments in innovative startups in the healthcare space.

Milind was previously a senior executive with experience in diverse industries such as healthcare (Medtronic), specialty chemicals & adhesives (Henkel), telecommunications (3M) and petrochemicals (Shell). This includes 18 years of country/regional leadership roles, in the Indian Sub-Continent and Thailand, with strong competencies in growth strategy, market development, business model innovation and building organizations with strong culture & talent pipeline. His consulting firm, StratLead Advisors LLP, advises clients in developing & executing growth strategies and business models. The firm also provides executive coaching for development & evolution of business leaders.

Milind’s last corporate assignment was with Medtronic plc, a global leader in the medical technology industry, where he was the Managing Director (MD) and Vice President (VP), Indian Sub-Continent during the period 2004-16. Reporting directly to the CEO, Milind was also a member of Medtronic’s Global Executive Committee during the period 2012-15.

Having led the Indian Sub Continent’s business for Medtronic for more than a decade, Milind brings a deep understanding of the healthcare eco-system, a strong network of relationships amongst upper echelons of medical technology companies & hospital chains as well as hands on experience in developing & executing strategic plans, business model innovations and M&A. An acknowledged industry leader, Milind has chaired healthcare industry associations and led advocacy discussions with the government. As the Managing Director of Henkel Loctite India for 7 years, Milind has also been adequately exposed to different segments of the industrial economy.

An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, Milind is also an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Angel Investor

Padma Chandrasekaran

Padma Chandrasekaran is an angel investor passionate about investing in promising young startups. She has worked in senior and executive level positions for 18 years in the for-profit sector and for 8 years in the non-profit and research sectors in India and abroad. Padma’s private sector experience (1984-2003) saw her donning the hats of a developer, manager, executive officer and entrepreneur in the IT sector in India, US and the UK. She was a founding member of Sify Ltd and was part of the team that took it public on NASDAQ in 1999. She subsequently founded, ran and successfully sold off a web services software technology company.

Managing Director, Ceres Finance Ltd

Pascal Vinarnic

Pascal is an active member of the Unitus Ventures investment committee, guiding the investment team both on initial investment decisions and on strategies to realize maximum financial return and social impact from the portfolio.

In 1994, Pascal set up Fondation Demeter to support incipient and innovative non-profits develop alternative business models helping them in reaching financial self-sufficiency. For about 10 years Demeter focused upon Microfinance in India, Africa and Latin America. Demeter is now focused upon economic tools for the reinsertion of At-Risk Youth (ranging for handicapped to ex-convicts). As an illustration, Demeter is involved with a social incubator developing programs related to the economic integration of handicapped in Latin America; and with the first dedicated investment fund in NY targeting ex-convicts to help them start their business when they are released from jail. In parallel Demeter was one of the earliest members of the European Venture Philanthropy Association to promote alternative business models in the social sector.

In parallel to Demeter, Pascal has been running a US-focused venture capital and private equity business for 20 years now. He previously spent 10 years as a partner in Bain Capital’s London/Paris offices where he was Bain’s interface for European business.

Chairman and CEO, VidyaNext

Pradeep Singh

Pradeep Singh founded Aditi Technologies in 1994 after nine years in various management posi­tions at Microsoft, including General Manager of the Windows 95 mobile services group. He is also the founder of Talisma, a CRM software product company. Pradeep previously held engineering and marketing positions at Texas Instruments and McKinsey & Company.

Since founding Aditi, his focus has been on building world-class products and teams for software businesses worldwide. Among other honors, Pradeep has received IIT Delhi’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award (2006) and has been recognized as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum (Davos). He serves on the Board of Grameen Foundation.

Venture Advisor

Raj Nooyi

Venture Partner

Ravi Venkatesan

Ravi Venkatesan is a Venture Partner at Unitus Ventures.

He is also the Chairman of the Board at Bank of Baroda and the founder of Social Venture Partners India, a network of philanthropists across India committed to doubling the incomes of a million people. Ravi serves on the board of Rockefeller Foundation and Infosys Ltd. He is the author of an acclaimed book “Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere” published by Harvard Business Review.

is a recipient of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and Purdue University’s Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award. He was voted as one of India’s best management thinkers by Thinkers50 and is one of LinkedIn’s Top Global Influencers.

Ravi has a BS from IIT Bombay, an MS from Purdue University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.

Management Coach, Co-Founder of Infinumgrowth.com

Sridhar Rao

Sridhar is a management consultant, coach and co-founder of Infinum Growth Insights, a Bengaluru-based Management Consultancy and Training firm.

He is a Business Management veteran with over 35 years’ experience across Fintech, Telecom, Apparel, Textile, Paints and Agriculture Tractor Industries, with working experience in India, Indonesia and Western Europe.

Sridhar co-founded Novopay, a startup launched in 2013, in the fintech space and funded by Khosla Ventures and IDFC. Novopay works with leading private sector banks, offering banking and payments services through a large network of retail outlets across India. His last corporate stint was with Vodafone India for eight years, where he was the CEO of Kolkata/W.Bengal telecom circles, where Vodafone became the market leader during his six-year tenure.

Sridhar is currently the Managing Editor of www.infinumgrowth.com, an online magazine offering articles and short films, giving insights on Personal Growth and Business Development.

Sridhar is a Mechanical Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi and a MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

Venture Partner

Srikanth Iyer

Mr. Srikanth Iyer joined the Unitus Ventures upon formation in 2013 and leads the firm’s efforts to invest in the best education startups that have potential to serve low-income populations at scale. He is also Co-Founder and CEO of HomeLane, a home improvement services company.

As a seasoned information technology entrepreneur with over 23 years of experience, Mr. Srikanth brings experience in sales, operations and strategic depth to the table.  Previously, he was CEO of Pearson India, responsible for growing its revenue 30-fold in four years and making Pearson a leading player in Indian K-12 education. Mr. Iyer brings over 20 years of experience in IT entrepreneurship, including as Co-Founder of Edurite Technologies (eventually acquired by Pearson).  He holds a post-graduate diploma in software engineering from Harvard University (DCE) and a BE degree in Computer Science from R.V College of Engineering.

Srikanth has been a state level Table Tennis player for 4 years and is an avid sports fan who dabbles in squash, tennis and cricket.

Venture Partner

Sanjiv Rangrass

Sanjiv is a Mentor, Coach and an Angel Investor. He is an Independent Director on the board of Zetwerk – a manufacturing Unicorn and a Venture Partner in Unitus – a leading venture fund in India that supports early-stage tech startups. He is also a co-founder of TAC (The Agri Collaboratory) – a “non-compete” not for profit, Agriculture “Think and Do Tank” – helping build Digital Public Goods for Agriculture in Open Source, along with the Ecosystem and the Government.

His core passion is focusing on talent development, succession planning and mentoring. Several of his mentees have gone on to launch successful start-ups like Blackbuck, Zetwerk, Log 9, Vegrow, Absolute Foods, Capillary Technologies and Orange Health where he has personally invested as an angel.

Till June 2022, prior to his superannuation from ITC Limited, Sanjiv Rangrass was ITC’s Group Head for R&D, Sustainability and Projects. Prior to this, he was the Chief Executive of the Agribusinesses for ITC Ltd. He joined the Company in 1982 after completing his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur.

The first 27 years of his 4-decade journey in ITC were spent in various capacities in the Manufacturing & Engineering functions. He was the GM Manufacturing Operations and then a Member of the Executive Committee of the business. He also had a cross functional stint as General Manager, HR between 2001 to 2003.

In the last two years, he has had the overall responsibility of leading ITC’s Sustainability 2.0 initiative focusing on channelizing collective action across the organization on carbon and water neutrality, mitigating and adapting to climate change including Agri value chains and steering the organization’s transition to a Circular Economy. He has also transformed the R&D of ITC into 6 science platforms which will help the organization in focusing and channelizing efforts in the core areas of Health & Wellness, Beauty & Hygiene, Agro Forestry, Crop Sciences, Consumer & Sensory Sciences and Sustainable Materials & Packaging. As Group Head of Projects, he has guided the Central Projects Team in various Infrastructure Projects covering Factories, warehouses, commercial buildings and residences.

Interest in Agriculture, Agtech and leveraging digital for the farming community resulted in him working for and launching the Echoupal 4.0 platform which is now being launched as ITC MAARS. He has led the company wise initiative on harmonizing the Supply Chains across multiple divisions with Kearney as consultants and on Analytics in the Agri business with McKinsey. With his vast experience covering Production, Engineering, HR, Projects, Supply Chain, Agriculture and digital over 4 decades, he is sought for his inputs and advice by the industry and the startup eco system. He has also been a part of the team with McKinney which anchored and supported the Expert Group for the Finance Commission of India to make recommendations to double Agri Exports from India.

He has been a former Board of Governors for IIM Shillong and is an active member of the Pan IIT Council.