Rajesh Raju is a Managing Director at Kalaari Capital, based in Bangalore, India. He is a pioneer in investing in the technology sector in India, and his expertise in investing in retail, fintech and edtech makes him a sought-after speaker and advisor. He currently serves on more than 15 company boards and has founded or steered a number of organizations including the India Alumni Club of the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business, TiE Hyderabad, TiE-ISB Connect, Hyderabad Angels and CEO Clubs of India.

Rajesh earned a Mechanical Engineering degree from BITS-Pilani, and then went to the United States for a master’s degree in Industrial Systems Engineering from Marquette University. He worked at Sybase, earning the internal President’s Award multiple times and eventually becoming Director of Strategic Alliances.

After earning an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, he entered the financial services sector. He worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch, equity research at Robert W. Baird & Co., and private equity at Peepul Capital.