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Off Balance #37
🇩🇪 Aarish heads to Berlin with TOA24 🎙️ Shwetank Verma and Henry Goodwin, Partners at Leo Capital on Nothing Ventured ⚡️ Who really holds the power in the boardroom - hint, it's not who you'd think.
Aarish Shah
May 28, 2024
👋🏾 Hi friends!
As election fever ignites passions in the UK (not entirely sure what is going to get ignited across the Atlantic), tribalism and the fight for the hearts and minds of the population is underway.
Sadly, from my perspective neither of the main parties are really giving me much hope for the future instead trying to galvanise the country around either adding VAT to private school fees or conscripting 18 year olds into National Service.
It’s going to be an interesting 6 weeks, that’s for sure.
Thankfully, I’ll be spending at least one of those weeks far from the madding crowd attending TOA Berlin 🇩🇪
Actually, not just attending, I’ll be hosting their pitch competition, MC’ing a couple of the mornings and talking on a panel discussing Reimagining Work: The Future of Productivity and Value.
If you are thinking of heading over to join thousands of founders, investors, creatives and leaders - and of course l’il ol’ me - then enjoy a 30% discount on me - make sure you secure your place and book here 💪🏾
Look forward to seeing you there!
I’m well underway writing about all the things I’ve learned from the last couple of decades as founder, CFO and CEO, so sign up for early access to Off Balance - The Book and feel free to share with anyone else you think might enjoy it 😄.
Now let’s get down to business…
In this weeks Off Balance:
🎙️ Shwetank Verma and Henry Goodwin, Partners at Leo Capital on Nothing Ventured
⚡️ Who <really> holds the power in the boardroom?
Talking the India Advantage with Leo Capital 🇮🇳
In the latest episode of Nothing Ventured, I spoke with Shwetank Verma and Henry Goodwin, Partners at Leo Capital, a VC fund investing in early stage, technology centric opportunities investing anywhere from $500K – $2M in early seed rounds or pre-Series A rounds in India, South East Asia and now the Nordics.
Prior to joining Leo, Henry worked at various law firms in London and in Asia, ultimately as Partner and Head of Asia for Taylor Vinters and then as Partner at PwC Legal International setting up their TMT specialist team in Singapore. He worked with Octopus Ventures as their Venture Partner for SE Asia before joining Leo Capital as Europe lead where he is now launching their Nordic fund.
Shwetank is a Co-Founder of Leo Capital and prior to founding the fund, founded MyHealthMate which he exited to Ambicare Clinics. He also worked in the corporate innovation space with MetLife Asia in Singapore, where he led open innovation and partnerships with startups.
Top takeaways:
1️⃣ Stimulating the Early Stage Ecosystem in Singapore: Henry shared the concerted effort by the Singaporean government to stimulate the early stage tech ecosystem between 2010 and 2020. The incentives and the introduction of capital into the system have been pivotal in fostering growth and innovation in the region.
2️⃣ The India Advantage: Shwetank explored the India Advantage, emphasising the vast talent pool in India and the potential for Indian diaspora to create global impact.
3️⃣ Expansion into Europe and Nordics: Henry and Shwetank discussed Leo Capital's expansion into Europe and specifically the Nordics in late 2023. They emphasised the importance of a global mindset and the strength of talent in the Nordics.
Beyond this, we spoke about:
🇸🇬 How Singapore is stimulating the early stage ecosystem.
🇮🇳 Talent in India is now global.
📈 How loss making startups can now list on the Indian stock exchange.
🌍 Launching in the Nordics and how smaller markets bring global mindsets.
🚀 Why becoming an entrepreneur has gone from shame to game on in India and the diaspora.
If you have any feedback on the podcast or the newsletter, just reply to this mail or ping me online!
(If you are trying to connect with me on LinkedIn, maybe read this post I wrote and make sure to start your request with “Off Balance” and, importantly, tell me why you’d like to connect 💪🏾)
Now let’s get into it.
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