Aakash Kapoor
- SEA
“People who make a dent start with a belief that they can. They go long - on others and above all - on themselves. And they care, deeply.”
Backstory
I did not plan to be in venture capital. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Dinner table conversations at home were mostly about my father’s automobile parts business. My parents let me join those discussions so long as I was doing well at school. No question was out of bounds and nothing felt impossible. This nourished and nurtured my curiosity.
Growing up in a small town, just outside of the sprawling city of Delhi, there was a stillness yet a restlessness in me. The sense of community and values was juxtaposed with big city dreams and aspirations. The former taught me the value of relationships and the latter pushed me to aim high.
In my school years, I was saving up and investing in the stock market. In the last year of college, I raised seed capital for my startup. With a team of 40, we built a product used by tens of thousands. We made a ton of mistakes along the way. My biggest lesson – purpose and alignment trump the will to succeed. After two years of building, I decided to take a short detour, which turned into a three year stint in investment banking in Hong Kong and Singapore. Serendipitously, I landed up at Sequoia Southeast Asia – now Peak XV.
This is an exceptional place. I wake up every day with incredible energy and don’t feel like I am doing a ‘job’. I always tell people, “I am a founder. I’m just in the business of investing.”
It’s the ultimate privilege.
On the lookout for
I get incredible joy in pursuing audacious goals with authentic people.
The best founders and leaders are bold. They are ambitious. They chase big ideas – big markets, big missions. If you are not a bit nervous by the scale of your ambition, you are not doing yourself justice.
The best founders are authentic. They tell it as it is. They care – for their teams, for their customers, for their products. They reflect and think deeply about the problem they are solving. Authenticity also leads to self-awareness. While they dream big, they acknowledge their limitations and actively try to fill the gaps. They are humble. They change their minds. They learn.
If you resonate with the above, I would love to talk. If you are chasing big markets in payments, fintech, consumer, SaaS or Web3, I would love to talk.
Get in touch with AakashPersonal Side
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Press & Media
Current Companies
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0xPPL is a social network for crypto natives.Partnered In
2022
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Airalo is the world’s first eSIM store that solves the pain of high roaming bills by giving you access to eSIMs (digital SIM cards).Partnered In
2019
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Aspire is the all-in-one finance operating system for growing businesses, helping companies pay, manage, and earn smarter.Partnered In
2021
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Astro is Indonesia's first and fastest-growing on-demand platform for groceries and essentials.Partnered In
2022
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BUD is a user-generated metaverse platform designed to unleash the creativity of Gen Alpha and Gen Z with easy-to-use no-code tools.Partnered In
2022
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Ethlas is a Web3 gaming company that builds games, gaming infrastructure and tools for Web3.Partnered In
2022
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Flint is the home for crypto-natives to grow their wealth stablecoins, envisioning itself to be a comprehensive solution for all wealth management in cryptocurrency, making crypto interactions simple and accessible.Partnered In
2022
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Flip is a fintech-based payment platform in Indonesia that has served more than 7 million users and hundreds of companies and SMEs.Partnered In
2019
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GudangAda is a B2B e-commerce application that connects wholesalers and retailers throughout Indonesia.Partnered In
2020
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Momos is a restaurant management platform that helps manage guest feedback, launch surveys, and drive sales with outbound marketing.Partnered In
2021
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Qoala is an InsureTech company leveraging big data, machine learning, IoT, and blockchain to revolutionise Indonesia's insurance landscape.Partnered In
2019
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StepN is a Web3 fitness gaming app that uses blockchain technology to reward users for their fitness activities.Partnered In
2022
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A FinTech platform that enables businesses to seamlessly send and receive cross-border payments.Partnered In
2020
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Triple-A enables customers to send and receive payments, boost revenue, and optimise costs.Partnered In
2023
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WATI helps companies have personalized conversations with customers at scale with an easy-to-use customer engagement software that’s built on WhatsApp Business API.Partnered In
2021
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Zenyum is a dental care brand that combines customised services with cutting-edge tech to create ‘Smile Cosmetics’.Partnered In
2019