With more than 15 years of experience in Private Equity and Corporate Finance, Nikhilesh’s expertise spans debt and equity financing, portfolio management and value creation at SMEs. Nikhilesh previously founded the M&A Advisory practice at Taipan Partners focusing on consumer and tech sector deals across Southeast Asia, and also led M&A deals for Masan Group.

Nikhilesh has played a key role in driving successful fundraising rounds, and runs the overall business operations for Validus Group, forging strategic partnerships with the likes of Visa, Temasek Holdings’ Vertex Ventures and joint ventures with key MNCs such as TTC Group in Vietnam.

Nikhilesh holds a Bachelor of Engineering and an MBA in Finance. He is a regular speaker at FinTech and SME conferences in the region. He has been recognised as one of the Top 10 FinTech Leaders at Singapore FinTech Awards and has also received an Innovation Leadership Award from The Asian Banker.