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Our Team
We bring extensive experience as both early-stage investors and scale up executives.
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Managing Partner
Surya Mantha
Surya Mantha is a Managing Partner at Unitus Ventures.
Surya has over two decades of experience spanning, business operations, investing and management consulting. He has played leadership roles in startups as well as investment firms. At Unitus, Surya is responsible for all investment operations in India across Unitus’ focus sectors including fintech, med-tech, ed-tech, and employability, through the entire lifecycle of the portfolio.
Previously, Surya played leadership roles in several high-growth technology and media businesses including at Web18, Saregama (HMV), Sify and RealNetworks. He also spent several years in investment management roles, including impact investment at Omidyar Network and growth capital investing at Peepul Capital. As a member of the founding team of Omidyar Network India Advisors (ONIA), he led investments in the ecommerce, digital media, education and government transparency sectors. Surya started his career at Xerox Research in Rochester, New York.
Surya received a BS from IIT Kanpur, a PhD from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City and an MBA from the University of Rochester, NY.
Senior Partner
Srikrishna Ramamoorthy
Srikrishna Ramamoorthy is Senior Partner at Unitus Ventures.
Srikrishna is an experienced entrepreneur and early-stage venture capital and private equity capital investor in India. He heads the India operations for Unitus Ventures, having joined the fund as Partner to setup the India office in 2012.
Srikrishna received his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from R. V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru University.
Srikrishna’s goal is to retire to living in a campervan.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Dave Richards
Dave Richards is Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Capria and Unitus Ventures.
Dave is an experienced entrepreneur, operating executive, and global venture investor in early-stage startups and venture capital/private equity funds with a speciality in emerging markets. In 2012, he co-founded Unitus Ventures, now the leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses in India. Unitus Ventures is an affiliate of Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000.
Since 2005, Mr. Richards has been involved with the Unitus Group, helping to lead efforts to select and invest in entrepreneurs in many developing countries, and as an early venture capital investor in microfinance and other businesses serving low-income populations. He led the Unitus Labs incubator for 2 years including the successful incubation and spinout of two venture firms: Patamar Capital and Capria Ventures. He also led Unitus Investment Management, the General Partner of Unitus Equity Fund, a pioneering microfinance venture fund, was a board member of Unitus Capital, a leading Bangalore-based investment bank, and was on the investment committee for Patamar Capital.
Dave received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.
Dave enjoys working with ambitious, relentlessly-driven entrepreneurs who are innovating for the masses.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Will Poole
Will Poole is Cofounder and Managing Partner at Capria and Unitus Ventures.
In 2012, Will co-founded Unitus Ventures, now India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses. In 2015, Will co-founded Capria, a global investment firm advancing the next generation of local impact fund managers in emerging markets, specializing in the “missing middle” finance opportunity. Capria and Unitus Ventures are affiliates of Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in SE Asia and Latin America since 2000.
Will received a degree in Computer Science from Brown University.
Outside of work, Will is an avid tandem cyclist and photographer, and he likes to sail when it’s not raining.
Operating
Team
PR & Communication Manager
Atree Kundu
Atree manages Public relations and communication activities at Unitus Ventures.
Prior to joining Unitus, she has managed PR, communications, branding, and marketing communication for businesses of various scale and in various sectors, including the Government of Karnataka. She has worked closely with minds from leadership, management, marketing, operations, business, and other departments to provide strategic intelligence for desired communication outcomes.
She has completed her degree in Journalism & Mass communication and PGDC in Branding & Marketing communication from MICA.
Atree is a trained Manipuri dancer, loves traveling and trying hands-on different cuisines, learning about their culture and history.
Sr. Associate
Rhea Sthalekar
Rhea is a Senior Associate with Unitus Ventures. She focuses on deal evaluation and monitoring existing portfolios.
Prior to Unitus, Rhea worked with Kitara Capital and has worked on various PIPE and private equity deals across sectors, including an IPO of one of its investee companies in the healthcare space. She has a Masters in Commerce (Banking & Finance) from Sydenham College, Mumbai and is a CFA level 3 candidate.
Senior Investment Associate
Shivathilak Tallam
Shiv is a Senior Associate at Unitus Ventures. He focuses on deal screening, evaluation and portfolio management, with a particular focus on the FinTech or Financial Inclusion sector.
Shiv brings private equity investing experience to Unitus. Prior to Unitus, he worked with Lok Capital and has evaluated and invested in companies across FinTech, Financial Services, Healthcare and Agri. Previous to that he was with a boutique IB Sprout Capital and Deutsche Bank.
Shiv has an MBA in Finance from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management and received his Bachelor’s of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology.
One day, Shiv aspires to become a travelling nomad.
Director of Marketing
Shreyas Ghuge
Shreyas is Director of Marketing and leads Unitus Ventures’s branding and marketing activities.
Prior to Unitus, Shreyas led marketing for Jeeves Consumer Services and led the business’ acquisition by FlipKart. He comes with a global experience across USA and India with world’s leading FMCG and liquor brands.
Shreyas is an engineer with a post-graduate degree in marketing and communications from Iowa State University.
Shreyas aspires to win at eating. That’s it.
Digital & Operations Manager
Varsha Ravi
Varsha Ravi joined Unitus as a Digital & Operations Manager.
Prior to Unitus, Varsha worked at IIT Madras as a Graphic Designer and played a vital role in contributing to their increased social media presence. She has also freelanced as a illustrator and as a product stylist. Varsha brings fresh ideas, curious outlooks and her unique aesthetic style to everything she creates.
Varsha has completed her Master’s in Communication from M.O.P Vaishnav College and studied Bachelors in Visual Communication from Shasun Jain College.
Chief Financial Officer
Vikas Sarda
Vikas heads the Finance function for Unitus Ventures.
Vikas brings his expertise in cultivating sustainable business practices, developing policy frameworks and maintaining strong financial control. He has engineered the accounting processes, established policies and procedures and implemented systems.
Previously, he worked for Amba Research, a financial services provider and has also worked with other leading companies like Max New York Life Insurance and WNS Global Services.
Vikas is a Chartered Accountant and has a bachelors’ degree from Delhi University.
Vikas loves travelling and aspires to visit all countries at least once in his lifetime.
Director, Impact
Uma Sekar
Uma Sekar is the Impact and ESG Manager at Unitus Ventures. She manages impact and ESG compliance and reporting for the firm. She works with portfolio companies to define impact metrics and set targets that align with their strategies to scale the business.
Prior to this, Uma has designed and implemented an actionable impact assessment framework using collaborative approaches adapting logical frameworks for various organizations including Grameen Foundation, Initiative for Global Development and Dream a Dream. At Grameen Foundation, she defined organization wide, global impact metrics dashboard cross-cutting solutions applied to African, Latin American and Asian countries. Uma has also designed and conducted primary field research to understand from a gender lens the behaviors affecting choices between starting an SME and wage employment with the Institute for Financial Research and Management.
Uma holds a Master of Science in Financial Economics from Madras School of Economics and Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Accounting and Finance.
Uma aspires to visit at least 100 national parks around the world.
Investment Analyst
Shrey Agarwal
Shrey is an Investment Analyst at Unitus Ventures. He focuses on Finding early-stage companies with the potential to generate superior financial returns while impacting several lives, executing and closing transactions with suitable companies and monitoring existing portfolios.
Prior to Unitus, he worked with Equirus Capital as an Investment Banking Analyst in the BFSI Sector there he worked on several IPOs, PE fundraises for NBFCs as well as M&A deals.
Shrey has a BSc. Management in Finance and Economics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
Shrey ran a hedge fund with his friends for two years during his time in college.
