India’s Largest Angel Network

An engineer by training, Ajai Chowdhry is one of the six founder members of HCL, ’s leading Technology and IT Enterprise . HCL, ’s original IT garage start-up founded in 1976, is today  Rs.22,287 crores Global Enterprise .

Ajai took over the reins of HCL Infosystems, the flagship company of the group, as President and CEO in 1994. He was appointed the Chairman of HCL Infosystems in November 1999. Under Ajai’s stewardship, the company’s turnover has grown to Rs. 12,445 crores for the last 12 months from Rs. 400.6 crores in 1994. Employing 6100 people, it has emerged as the country’s information-enabling powerhouse.

Ajai, son of an IAS officer, has been a key force in driving the growth of HCL Infosystems. The credit of setting up HCL's overseas operations, starting with in 1980 goes to him. During this tenure he extensively covered South Asian Markets including , , Hong Kong, , and the People's Republic of , expanding business operations, which paved the way towards enhancing HCL's core competencies in bringing the best international technologies to the domestic market.

 Driving the thrust on IT, Telecom and Imaging, Ajai perceives the role of his company as that of enabling information. Credited with providing momentum to key IT phenomena - within the company as well as in the industry - he has constantly added newer and cutting edge technology skills to the company's portfolio. Under his leadership, several new projects have been undertaken in the company that have had a lasting impact including – pioneering HCL into digital lifestyle by getting into IT retail, building technology capability for convergence at the time when convergence of IT was merely a slogan, creating an extensive Systems Integration business, spearheading the company wide Quality movement and driving a vision of “IT for the masses” are some examples. A great believer in manufacturing potential of , Ajai has relentlessly advocated the cause of manufacturing in to many non-Indian MNCs, Industry bodies and Government. An absolute stickler for customer focus, he himself spends significant time personally listening to customers.

Having an exceptional knack of picking up emerging technology trends, Ajai sensed opportunity early in the telecom & imaging domain and today HCL Infosystems is poised to exploit this opportunity to offer a rich bouquet of technology solutions to its customers. Gifted with a pedant sense of entrepreneurship Ajai has been enlisted among ‘'s Most Powerful Brand Builders’ and has been adjudged among ‘India Inc’s Most Powerful CEOs’ by The Economic Times.

It is a recognition of his stature and visionary ability, that Ajai was invited to be part of the IT Hardware Task Force set up by the Prime Minister of India, to give shape to the country's IT strategy. Ajai has tirelessly championed the cause of improving the PC penetration in the country. He has worked closely with the Government to take the cause of ‘IT for the masses’ agenda forward and is on several Government committees on IT and Hardware. Recently, he chaired the committee to draft the Eleventh Five Year plan for electronics hardware in . Ajai is also the chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) National Committee on Technology and innovation. He has chaired the CII’s National Committee for IT, ITES & E-Commerce, where he actively encouraged the deployment of IT in Indian SME sector (Small & Medium Industry), to increase their productivity and to make them globally competitive. Actively involved with various industry forums, Ajai has recently been nominated as a Member for the esteemed ‘India Design Council’, a task force set up by the Government of India to constitute the National Design Policy.

 Understanding the potential of the integrated use of technology, he is aggressively advocating an Integrated Systems approach to Homeland security. He has worked extensively towards creating awareness on this front through Media, Industry platforms & Government interactions. Ajai is a key member of the task force set up by the CII to advice the Government of India on Internal Security & Chair’s the Sub-Group on “Technology for Internal Security”.

In cognizance of his contribution in championing the cause of the domestic Indian IT market, Ajai has recently been conferred the DATAQUEST ‘IT Person of the Year 2007’ Award.  Ajai has earlier been awarded the 'IT Man of the Year' title by The Skoch Consultancy and 'Best IT Man of the Year' by The Foundation of Indian Industry and Economists. He has also received ‘Corporate Ratna - IT Industry of the Millennium’ Award by Wisitek Foundation and ‘Electronics Man of the Year - 2006’ Award by EFY for his pivotal role in HCL’s breakthrough innovations.

Ajai has a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering, and attended the Executive Program at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, US.

His pride and passion for his country very well reflects in the creation of HCL Mindia^TM, a forum to salute the prowess of the Indian Mind. His affection for music is well known and has lead to the birth of HCL Concert Series. Ajai is an avid reader and is fond of Jazz and the fine arts. He and his wife Kunkun live in New Delhi .

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services
• High end BPO Services
• Leading edge technology in ares such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services
• Education

Ajay has founded Equirus Capital, which today has operations in Mumbai ,Bangalore and New York with 20 investment professionals and good domain expertise in technology, financial services, engineering , infrastructure and life sciences.  The group is well positioned to assist various companies for their M&A, private equity raising and structured finance requirements and alternate investment advisory.  Ajay is an established investment banker and has been associated with lot of landmark transactions during his days with DSP Merrill Lynch and as a co-founder of boutique investment bank.  Among the prominent deals include are sale of India World to Sat yam Info way for Rs. 5,000mn, US$ 30 mn private placement of Venture Infotek with Warburg Pincus, AirFreight PE deal with Bankers Trust, STAR TV's strategic investment in Hathway Cable and more recently further investment by Chryscapital in Hathway, Sale of Sharekhan to Citiventures, Investment by ICICI Ventures in Topsgrup. Ajay has a first degree in engineering and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services
• High end BPO Services
• Retail
• Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services
• Media & Entertainment
• Education

Ajay Lavakare is the Executive Chairman and founder of RMSI Pvt. Ltd, one of India’s leading geospatial information services and solutions companies. He established RMSI in 1992 as a joint venture with Risk Management Solutions (RMS), California, USA.  
Ajay is also senior vice president and managing director of RMS. From 2006 to 2009, he spent three years in California developing a new business initiative for RMS, focused on creating a range of data services, products and solutions to help insurance and reinsurance companies improve the quality of their exposure data used in catastrophe risk modeling.
Prior to founding RMSI, Ajay worked in Tokyo with Kumagai Gumi Ltd., a leading Japanese architecture/engineering/construction company.
Ajay has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (New Delhi, India) and a Masters degree in Structural Engineering from Stanford University (California, USA).
Ajay is a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Delhi chapter. He speaks Japanese and his other interests include travelling, tennis, entrepreneurship, and Indian & Western classical and jazz music. He lives in New Delhi with his family.

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services
• HIgh end BPO services
• Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Retail
• Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services
• New Media

Ajit Deshmukh co-founded Wizarth with Jiten Apte, with a shared dream of creating a full service investment bank focused on cross-border transactions. The idea for this new business was born when Jiten and Ajit sold their prior IT services company, Y-Point Technologies. Ajit currently serves as the Managing Director of Wizarth. Additionally, he has helped build the European business relationships of the company. Finally, Ajit has been the lead in closing several of the most important deals closed by Wizarth. He brings to the table over a decade of industry experience in numerous functional areas, including international management, finance, business development and technology. Prior to starting Wizarth, Ajit has started and successfully exited Y-Point Technologies, an offshore IT services firm, and Ace Infotech, a firm focused on Data Warehousing services to fortune 100 and other leading multi-national clients. While running Ace Infotech, Ajit has also taught Data Warehousing at premier Management institutes in Mumbai. Prior to starting his entrepreneurial career, Ajit was initially employed at Citigroup, and later became an IT consultant during which time he worked on projects for the US Defense Department. Ajit has taken a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from the National Center for Software Technology in Mumbai.

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services
• High end BPO Services
• Leading edge technology in ares such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services
• Retail
• Media & Entertainment
• New Media
• Education

Mr Khandheria has over 15 years of experience in building telecommunications businesses. Mr Khandheria has invested in several successful companies, including Advanced Fibre Corporation (AFCI). He has also been an active angel investor for the past four years. Besides investing, Mr. Khandheria has built successful global businesses for large corporations, such as Harris Corporation, ItalCable, and small companies including ConvergeLabs, where he was the founder and CEO. He currently advises several large successful companies including U T Starcom, Hughes Software Systems, and ipUnity. He was also one of the founders of a successful telephone company in India.

Ajoy has an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and an electrical engineering degree from M.S. University, Baroda, India.

Areas of Interest:

• Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Consolidation opportunities in domestic IT products and services

In 1999 Algy Williams (50) set up Babel Media, the leading services company to the interactive entertainment industry. For the past 20 years Algy has worked in video games, graphic design, television animation, special effects and post production.

Under Algy’s leadership, Babel has grown from three employees on the South Coast of the UK to the current headcount of 400 (FTE) in Brighton, Montreal, Delhi and Los Angeles . He has been a leading advocate of the outsourcing business model to the games industry and continues to shape the outsourcing agenda with international publishers, hardware manufacturers and mobile carriers.

Babel works for almost every major company in interactive entertainment including Sony, Sega, Microsoft, Disney, LucasArts, Nokia, Warner Bros, Vodafone, Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard. The company has been voted Best Games Outsourcing Company in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

In June 2008, Babel Media was sold to Quatrro BPO Solutions, led by Raman Roy. Algy remains on the Board of the Company and is a significant shareholder.

Prior to Babel, Algy set up Labyrinth Productions in 1993, from which he produced a major CD ROM game called “Drowned God” for Time Warner Interactive as well as educational and themed entertainment installations. Previous to Labyrinth, Algy was Managing Director of CAL Ltd, one of Europe's leading television design and post-production companies working for the BBC, Channel Four, Amblin Entertainment and numerous international advertising agencies.

Algy holds degrees in English and History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. He is married with two children.

Motivation for joining the India Angel Network

I opened the Babel India office in 2004. Since that time, I have always been fascinated by the country, her people, the rich history and culture, and the phenomenal opportunities arising from India’s meteoric financial development.

 Having sold my business to Quatrro, I would like to leverage my experience of building fast growth, early stage companies with my expanding network of Indian friends and associates. I cannot think of a richer vein of investment opportunities than in India, and I would welcome the chance of being involved with young Indian companies in a financial as well as a mentoring role – as they develop they will be keen to expand internationally and I believe that I can help them do so.

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and Services
• High end BPO Services
• Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Retails
• Construction oppertunities in domestic IT products and services
• Media & Entertainment
• New Media
• Education

Alok is a first generation entrepreneur, now in the venture capital business. Alok heads up venture operations for Canaan Partners in India, with focus on internet, technology and BPO space. Alok is also a founding member of Band of Angels India - an organization comprising successful entrepreneurs looking to invest in seed stage businesses. Prior to this, Alok cofounded JobsAhead.com, a leading job portal which was acquired by Monster.com. Alok is an active charter member of TiE Delhi. Alok is a computer science graduate from IIT Delhi and, postgraduate from UC, Berkeley.

Areas of Interest:

• IT products and services
• High end BPO services
• Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunications and embedded domains
• Internet, Wireless, Mobile

Amal heads up the UK business of Imperial Tobacco, one of the leading global tobacco companies. UK is Imperial Tobacco’s home market where it has a market leading position with yearly local profit of over Rs. 4800cr (at £600m, it is over 20% of Imperial’s global profit). Prior to UK, Amal was the head of Imperial’s Netherlands business and was also a director of various international subsidiaries.

Amal graduated from IIT Kharagpur and did his post graduation degree from IIM Ahmedabad. In his very successful career spanning over c25 years, Amal has held various senior sales and marketing and IT roles in ITC, NIIT, Pepsi, Gillette and now Imperial Tobacco and worked in India, Australia, Netherlands and UK.

Before immigrating with his family to Australia in 2000, Amal was the head of oral care business (Oral B) of Gillette for India and neighboring countries.

Amal has key strengths in his ability to negotiate large commercial arrangements/ deals, his ability to test robustness of ideas and proposals, his commercial acumen and thorough understanding of business processes & culture in different parts of the world and also his ability to help teams set strategic direction and enhance performance.

Areas of Interest:

I am a 54 years old italian retired Coca Cola bottler, with 15 years experience in the soft drink industry in Italy. Since I sold the bottling company to Coca Cola USA in 1995, I started up a financial company in the microfinance sector, whose name is CreSud (www.cresud.it), registered under the italian law. Our job is to provide financial resources to microcredit organizations (MFI) in the world, in form of loans and equity. I am also a writer, and I am starting up a small Publishing House in connection with a major publisher in Italy (Giunti Editore), planning to translate in italian Indian and Chinese authors. In the next few years I will spend some time in India, based in Mumbai, where I intend to invest in the publishing sector. I also intend to invest in different sector in India.

Area of interest :

• IT Products and services
• High end BPO services
• Leading edge technology in areas such as telecommunication and embedded domains
• Media & Entertainment
• New Media