Entrepreneurship: Startups to Make Change Happen

Evening Discussion
Registration 6:00pm
Discussion 6:30pm
Close 8:30pm

China and India account for 37% of the global population, and both are seeing enormous growth opportunities and a thriving startup scene. Big changes are taking place in India’s ecosystem in innovation and technology, driving growth in sectors such as fintech, consumer goods, travel, medical and health, agriculture and education. China continues to play a leadership role in the global startup ecosystem, and Chinese investors are looking at India’s startup sector with renewed interest. Hong Kong with its rapidly growing ecosystem and its proximity to Shenzhen, known for advanced manufacturing and robotics, can play an important bridge between India and China’s Greater Bay startup ecosystem. The evening discussion will showcase founders and investors from the entrepreneurial ecosystems in India, Hong Kong and China, who will compare and contrast the different stages of development of entrepreneurship in each market, and identify learnings and areas of potential collaboration as well as discuss their own entrepreneurial journey.

Mausmi Ambastha is Founder and COO of ThreadSol, one of the most awarded startups in the Apparel domain using AI in textile industry. Her company has presence in 15 countries with over 85-strong clients. She has been awarded Gracehopper’s Celebrations Entrepreneur of the year 2013, TIE Women in Entrepreneurship 2015 and CNBC’s Young Woman Entrepreneur Award 2017.

Vani Kola is Managing Partner of Kalaari Capital, one of India’s leading early-stage venture capital firms.  She is listed as one of the most powerful women in Indian business by Fortune India. Having been a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, she now works with first-time entrepreneurs to build strong global companies, with a focus on technology companies. To date, Kalaari Capital has funded more than 50 companies in India.

Srikumar Misra is Founder of Milk Mantra New age & high growth food venture in India and is the 1st VC funded agri-food startup. It has disrupted the $50 billion dairy category by leveraging brand capital, functional innovation & technology. He is widely featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, FT Asia Fastest Growing Company and is a case study at Stanford University for its fund raise and at IIM for its disruptive marketing.

Saurabh Srivastava is one of India’s leading entrepreneurs, investors and institution builders. One of India's most respected IT leaders, he is Founder of NASSCOM and Co-Founder of Indian Angel Network, the world’s largest angel investor network with over 100 portfolio companies and 470 investor members globally. Mr. Srivastava has a Master’s degree from Harvard University.

Miles Wen is Founder and CEO of Fano Labs, one of the leading AI startups based in Hong Kong and founded in 2015. Fano Labs are specialist in speech and natural language processing technologies and data analyzing service. Their AI Intelligence Customer Service answers customers’ product-related questions by speaking in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English or in mixed languages. It is the first Hong Kong startup invested by Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm of Mr. Li Ka-shing, the leading investor in some of the most innovative companies and disruptive technologies, including Facebook, DeepMind, Skype, and Siri.

Alan Rosling is an entrepreneur and strategic advisor with a deep engagement with India over 35 years. He is Chairman of Griffin Growth Partners and co-founded Kiran Energy after leaving the Tata Group, where he was the first non-Indian Executive Director of Tata Sons, charged with internationalization of the Group. Mr. Rosling served as Special Advisor to the British Prime Minister in the  Policy Unit. He was educated at the University of Cambridge. (Moderator).