Chief Executive Officer
PhD (EECS), University of California, Berkeley

Nickhil has a track record of successfully bringing technology products and services, across consumer mobile video, computer aided design and semiconductor design for manufacturing software, to market. Before joining GenePath as CEO, he was instrumental in the founding, financing and leadership of Vuclip, Praesagus, and Timbre Technologies, leading them all to successful acquisitions and creating more than $1.2B in value for his stakeholders across these companies. In addition, Nickhil has also been an investor and advisor to more than 40 startups over the years, including flutter.io (acquired by Google), Blend, Mezi (acquired by American Express), Viewics (acquired by Roche), Jombay, Climate.ai and Shoptimize. Nickhil has received numerous awards, including the IEEE Best Paper Award, the UC Berkeley Innovator Award and the College of Engineering Pune’s Lifetime Achievement Award, amongst others. He is also one of the founding members of the Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership. Nickhil has to his credit 60 patents and more than 20 journal and conference papers. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. 

Founder & Chief Scientific Officer
PhD (MCDB), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Nikhil has over 18 years experience in the fields of Molecular Biology, Proteomics and Molecular Diagnostics. He was a core team member of HandyLab (acquired by Becton Dickinson), a highly successful microfluidics based molecular diagnostics startup in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He founded GenePath Diagnostics with a view to bringing state-of-the-art in vitro diagnostic tests to the Indian medical community and to develop novel high quality affordable molecular diagnostic tests and platforms for the developing world. At GenePath Diagnostics, Nikhil leads a highly multidisciplinary team of clinicians, scientists, counsellors, bioinformaticians and engineers to develop and offer clinical grade molecular diagnostic tests. He has several publications in international peer-reviewed journals and also has a number of granted patents and active patent applications in the US and in India. Nikhil is frequently invited as a speaker at national and international conferences and as a reviewer for international peer-reviewed journals. In addition to founding GenePath Diagnostics, Nikhil is the founder of I-SHARE Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to innovate solutions for healthcare access, research and education. He is also the managing partner at Phadke Hospital in Pune, India – a specialty women’s and children’s hospital that has been in continuous operation since 1945. Nikhil obtained his PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Co-Founder, Saama Capital
Ex-President of SVB (IN, CN)

Ash Lilani is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Saama Capital, an independent direct equity fund investing in India. Previously, Ash served as the President of India and China markets for Silicon Valley Bank, where he founded and headed SVB Global, SVB’s global market entry strategy, vision, network and activities including investments and banking. In this role, he set the strategy and oversaw the operation of SVB Financial Group’s international subsidiaries in London, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Mumbai, Beijing and Shanghai. Ash serves on the Boards of the US-India Business Council and Vittana, is a charter member of TiE, a network for U.S. and Indian entrepreneurs, and was a founding member, Director and Treasurer of the U.S-India Venture Capital Association. He also works with several boards of Saama portfolio companies including Sula Wines, One97 Communications, Genesis Colors, Shaadi.com, Vistaar, Shubham Housing and Snapdeal. Ash also mentors young entrepreneurs and CEOs in Silicon Valley and India. Ash holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Bangalore University and a M.B.A. from Philadelphia University.

Investment Professional / Director 

Since 2012, Chris has invested globally in a diverse range of industries including food & beverage, payments, lending, and consumer technology in businesses at the seed stage all the way through series A. He serves on the boards of the parent companies of Blue Tokai, Voylla, Quikwallet, Jugnoo, and Stashfin, among others. He is also on the boards of Kirloskar Integrated Technologies and Kloudq.

Earlier, Chris was a Principal with Centerview Partners and an associate and analyst with Merrill Lynch in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. During his eight years as an investment banker, Chris advised on transactions valued over USD 100 billion in a diverse set of industries including consumer, healthcare, metals & mining and technology.

Chris attended Brown University, from where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with an ScB in Applied Math/Economics and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.