Ajay Hattangdi is the Chief Operating Officer for InnoVen Capital Group where has overall executive responsibility for driving the Group's international expansion, and Chief Executive Officer responsible for leading the Group's business in India. Ajay is widely recognized as the pioneer of the venture lending segment of the corporate finance industry in India. He has worked with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to introduce the concept of venture lending for over a decade since founding Citigroup India's venture debt business in 2005. At that time, Ajay had the added responsibility of being the head of strategy for the Citigroup's corporate & investment bank in the country. Ajay worked with Citigroup India for over 12 years before leaving to establish SVB India Finance, Silicon Valley Bank’s non-banking finance company focused on venture debt in 2008. SVB India Finance was re-branded InnoVen Capital India following a buyout of the business in 2015. Ajay is on the advisory board of Mumbai Angels which is among the largest angel groups in India and a founding steering committee member of the Association of Indian Angel Groups, a collective of accredited angel investor groups in India. He is a regular speaker on the angel and venture capital circuit. In 1998, Ajay co-founded PRAJA Foundation, a voluntary Mumbai-based non-profit committed to re-establishing accountability and transparency in public governance. Ajay has a Bachelor’s in Commerce from Sydenham College, a Master’s degree in Banking & Finance from Mumbai University, as well as an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His other interests include playing squash, a staple diet of food shows, and an ongoing attempt to understand modern physics.