Board of Directors

School Customer Helpline: 080-68455700
Student Customer Helpline: 080-68455777
Existing Customer: care@varthana.com
New Sales Enquiries: hello@varthana.com

Steve Hardgrave, Wholetime Director and Executive Vice Chairman

Prior to launching Varthana Finance Private Limited, Steve was a Senior Managing Director at Gray Ghost Ventures, which invests in early-stage social purpose businesses. There, he conceptualized and incubated the Indian School Finance Company. Steve began his career working with ‘at-risk youth’ and ‘marginalized communities’ in Los Angeles while in university. He later worked with a community foundation in Mexico, where he launched his own successful microfinance institution. After seven years in Mexico, he pursued an MBA at the prestigious Haas Business School at the University of California, Berkeley, to strengthen his entrepreneurial and investment skills. He then joined the nascent impact investment community as one of the first Investment Managers at Omidyar Network’s “Financial Inclusion” initiative, before joining Gray Ghost Ventures. In 2012, Steve left Gray Ghost and moved from the US to India to set up Varthana.

Brajesh Mishra, Managing Director and CEO

Brajesh has nearly two decades of experience in financial services with one of the largest banks in India – ICICI Bank – in retail banking, automotive finance, rural and agri-lending. Brajesh left ICICI to join ISFC, India’s only other specialist school finance company, where he held COO and CEO roles and was instrumental in implementing credit processes, product diversification, and fundraising.

Ankit Singhal, Nominee Director

Ankit has nearly 13 years of experience working with distinguished organizations (such as Royal Dutch Shell, KPMG, GIC – Sovereign wealth fund of Singapore and currently ChrysCapital). He specializes in private equity investing, with a focus on financial services and fintech. At GIC, he led financial services coverage for the Private Equity team in India and helped deploy over $1.5 billion in equity capital across nine deals, achieving a strong track record. At ChrysCapital, Ankit leads the financial services sector investment vertical. He graduated with a B-Tech degree(Hons.) in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2007 with a strong academic track record of 9.0 GPA, out of 10.0 placing him within the top 20 rank out of 335 students of the B-tech batch. He received an MBA from IIM Bangalore in 2011 with an excellent GPA of 3.54 out of 4, placing him with a 12th rank out of 353 students. He has cleared all levels of the CFA and CAIA (US affiliated) degree examinations.

Brahmanand Hegde, Independent Director

Brahmanand Hegde co-founded Vistaar Finance, an NBFC focused on micro, small, and medium (MSME) business financing, in 2010. He led the company and built a Rs.3000+ crore portfolio size. With a career spanning over 30 years before Vistaar, he worked with Bank of Maharashtra, ICICI Group, and Fullerton India Ltd. At ICICI, he established the agri and rural business financing vertical from scratch, growing the rural portfolio to ₹8,000+ crore within seven years, covering microfinance (MFIs), farmer finance, warehouse receipt finance, and more. During his short stint of 2.5 years with Fullerton India, he was responsible for piloting an innovative rural finance model including Microfinance, livelihood finance, MSMEs, and rural housing.

Gaurav Malhotra, Nominee Director/ Investor Director

Gaurav Malhotra is a seasoned investing and consulting professional with over 20 years of experience in financial services, specializing in equity and debt investments, business and portfolio strategy, M&A, and organizational transformation.

Gaurav joined Lightrock in August 2025. Prior to Lightrock, he led the Financial Services Equity business at BII and previously served as a Principal at BCG in India and as the Head of Corporate Strategy at Escorts Limited.

He holds a BE in Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Ravindra Babu Garikipati, Independent Director

Mr. Ravi is a seasoned technology leader and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience leading and building scalable businesses in both India and Silicon Valley, driven by technology.

He recently founded Davinta, a fintech startup focused on financial inclusion at the bottom of the pyramid, with a vision to build a digital-first platform that delivers microlending and microinsurance to the last mile.

As CTO at Flipkart, he led a highly talented team spanning Product Management, Engineering, Design and User Research, and Data Science, and executed the technology vision, strategy, and roadmap to democratize commerce through technology for hundreds of millions of Indians at scale.

Prior to Flipkart, he was President and Chief Technology Officer at 247.ai, a Silicon Valley AI/enterprise company, where he led global product and technology teams to build an omni-channel and multi-modal customer acquisition and engagement platform powered by AI.

He also serves on the boards of several companies in the financial services, edtech, and insurance domains, and actively invests in and advises startups in both India and the United States.

Nilufer Mullanfiroze, Independent Director

Ms. Nilufer Panthaki (also known as Nilufer Mullanfiroze) has extensive leadership experience across banks, NBFCs, and startups. She has honed her expertise in strategic product development, monetization strategies, growth initiatives, risk management, and corporate governance. Her career has been marked by a proven ability to build and lead cross-functional teams within diverse organizational cultures, driving results through strong governance and a relentless focus on sustainable growth.

She champions a customer-first approach and embraces a digital-by-design philosophy, ensuring businesses remain agile and adaptable to modern customer demands while staying ahead of evolving regulatory frameworks. Her expertise lies in building enterprises that excel in customer-centricity, maintain profitability, and ensure compliance in complex regulatory landscapes.

As a strategic leader with a strong track record in growth and risk oversight, she is well-positioned to contribute to board governance and strategic decision-making.

Sujatha Mohan, Independent Director

Sujatha Mohan is a distinguished leader in Banking Technology and Fintech with over three decades of experience. She has worked across various banking domains, both in building and transforming digital platforms. She has worked extensively in the areas of Retail Banking, Payments, Open Banking, Transaction Banking and SME Banking. She currently operates as a Technology Advisor, working with Banks, Fintechs, and Private Equity–backed Institutions on Digital Strategy and Execution. She also serves as an Independent Director at FinVu (Cookiejar Technologies) and IndoStar Capital Finance.

Most recently, Sujatha was Head of Digital Solutions Factory at HDFC Bank, where she led large multidisciplinary teams responsible for delivering and operating digital platforms and core applications across Branch banking, SME, and Retail banking. In this capacity, she was responsible for “Run The Bank”, “Change The Bank” and “Transform The Bank Initiatives.

Prior to HDFC Bank, she was Business Head – APMEA at FIS Global. Here she was overseeing the business lines for Payment processing and switching businesses. In this period, she was responsible for driving a new commercial model for Banks and Payment Networks. Earlier, as Head of Digital and New Initiatives at RBL Bank, she spearheaded the bank’s technology modernization and launched its API banking and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platforms. This positioned RBL as a preferred partner for Fintechs and Large Corporates.

Sujatha began her leadership career at Oracle Financial Services Software, where she led global product and implementation programs for Core Banking and Digital Solutions across multiple geographies.

Her contributions have been widely recognized, including the Women in Fintech Award, listing among Top Fintech Influencers, recognition by MEITY for National Fintech Policy work, and multiple awards from Asian Banker and the Indian Banks’ Association for transformational banking programs.

She is a strong advocate for India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), open banking, and responsible data- driven financial ecosystems.

Sandeep Aneja, Nominee Director

Sandeep is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kaizenvest, an education focused fund management firm, headquartered in Singapore. He is responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategy, growing operations across regions, driving the company's thought leadership and building the firm’s investor and entrepreneur networks across the globe.

He has 25 years of experience in private equity, investment leadership, consulting and operations management. His passion is to work closely with entrepreneurs who have a deep sense of purpose similar to one that led him to establish Kaizenvest. Under Sandeep’s leadership Kaizenvest has established itself as the only education sector focused fund manager with private equity and private debt funds across South Asia, South East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa.

Prior to founding Kaizenvest, Sandeep spent seven years working in the Silicon Valley. During his time there, he was a Partner at Outlook Ventures, a leading US-based venture capital fund, where he was involved in 11 investments and delivered superior returns to his investors. He also served as a board representative for the firm’s portfolio companies, providing active support in areas of sales operations, business development and product marketing leadership.

Sandeep sits on the boards of various education companies across the Philippines, Vietnam and India. He is also an established thought leader, having been frequently featured as a speaker on private equity, emerging investments, globally impactful trends and the importance of continuous research and innovation.

Sandeep holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.