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30th percentile
97th percentile
Former 500 Startups partner now leading Saka Ventures with 70+ seed investments
Credibility
Portfolio Scale · 98th percentile
- Led investments in 70+ startups across Saka Ventures and 500 Startups.
- Partner at 500 Startups (500 Global), a recognized VC firm, from 2012 to 2016.
- Publicly identified as an active angel investor with investments across India and the US.
- Over 13 years of investing experience, spanning roles at 500 Startups (2012), AngelList India, and Saka Ventures.
- Member of the Investment Committee at AngelList India, evaluating and backing early-stage Indian startups.
Relationship Matrix
Founder score
- 92%Probability of being accurate (92%)Current founder and Managing Partner of Saka Ventures.
- 80%Probability of being accurate (80%)Founded Startup Weekend India and served as Country Coordinator.
- 75%Probability of being accurate (75%)Past founder of Teknatus Solutions and BlockHack.
- 60%Probability of being accurate (60%)Co-founded companies with other team members across multiple ventures.
Investor score
- 92%Probability of being accurate (92%)Active GP and Managing Partner running Saka Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund.
- 88%Probability of being accurate (88%)Partner at 500 Startups.
- 85%Probability of being accurate (85%)Publicly identified as an active angel investor with investments across India and the US.
- 82%Probability of being accurate (82%)Led investments in 70+ startups across Saka Ventures and 500 Startups.
- 80%Probability of being accurate (80%)Over 13 years of investing experience, spanning roles at 500 Startups.
- 78%Probability of being accurate (78%)Member of the Investment Committee at AngelList India, evaluating and backing early-stage Indian startups.
- 55%Probability of being accurate (55%)Portfolio company ZipDial was acquired (undisclosed value) while Pankaj was a partner at 500 Startups.
- 45%Probability of being accurate (45%)Portfolio company Shiprocket reached significant scale and is a notable exit/growth story in the Saka/500 portfolio.
What you likely need
You'd get the most from Festival events that put you in the room with institutional LPs, US-based Series A/B fund partners, and YC-connected co-investors who can accelerate Saka Ventures Fund II. Roundtables and dinners focused on cross-border India-US deal flow and AI/FinTech investment theses would sharpen your public positioning while generating warm syndication relationships. Tactical sessions on fund operations and compliance would help you close the infrastructure gaps that institutional LPs scrutinize before committing capital.
Would you attend these IRL Festival events?
We will tune and customize your Founder Festival experience to make sure you get invited to the events that would be most valuable to you.
- fundraisingA dinner for emerging-market fund managers raising Fund II, where you can pressure-test your Shiprocket and Headout exit narrative with institutional LPs actively allocating to India-focused vehicles
- introsA closed roundtable with partners from Bessemer, Accel India, and Lightspeed India to build a formal syndication pipeline for your best cross-border SaaS and FinTech portfolio companies at Series A/B
- introsA YC alumni co-investor dinner spanning W12 and S21 batch founders and scouts to formalize a YC-friendly deal-sharing channel that differentiates Saka Ventures to inbound YC applicants
- positioningA dinner for India-US cross-border AI and FinTech investors to workshop and publish investment theses, giving you a high-credibility venue to increase your Substack and LinkedIn publishing cadence
- tacticalA tactical workshop with fund formation attorneys and institutional LP relations leads on SEC Form D compliance, fund reporting standards, and portfolio outcomes letters that pass LP due diligence
- hiringA happy hour for sub-10-person VC funds to swap notes on hiring their first analyst or associate, with warm intros to candidates from the 500 Startups and YC talent networks
- positioningA 500 Startups alumni investor roundtable to co-author a cross-portfolio outcomes report benchmarking exits like Shiprocket and Headout, building shared LP credibility across the 500 network
- introsA mixer for India-focused seed funds and US Series A leads actively co-investing in B2B SaaS and FinTech, designed to surface your top Saka Ventures portfolio companies to the right follow-on check writers