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Sidd Gandhi

Founder Operator turned VC

Sidd Gandhi is a versatile individual with a passion for learning, fostering connections, and venturing into the tech industry. With a background in deep tech, Fintech, and Web 3, Sidd has been involved in various roles ranging from entrepreneurship to investment and mentoring. He holds an Executive MBA from Cass Business School and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from Nagpur University. Sidd has contributed his expertise to several notable organizations such as Ganas Ventures, Brinc, growX ventures, Startup-O, and more. His career spans across roles like Venture Partner, Mentor, Investor, and Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer. Sidd's professional journey includes experiences at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Capco, Visa Europe, and Mahindra British Telecom.

Highlights

Jun 4 · linkedin

I participated in this impressive 2 day event BIT’24 Doha, Qatar put together by Ravi Tharoor and his Khaleej Times team, Bicky Carlra and his WeValue Consulting team, and supported by ourselves growX ventures and MENA FINTECH ASSOCIATION McKinsey & Company The Founders Majlis 237 Ventures and few others where we brought together innovators, thought-leaders and entrepreneurs from around the region and world to immerse ourselves into the Qatar startup ecosystem with Qatar Central Bank Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority DOHA BANK

I also had a privilege to moderate a panel on a topic which is very less understood and appreciate from outside - 'The Vital Role of Venture Capital in Driving Innovation and Growth'. Joining me were investors with focus across the stages of investments and category; Peter Schatzberg Awdesh Chetal Karan Teckchandani Sunil Sharma and it turned out to a real blast, thanks to their real practical insights!

There were many takeaways but here are some macro level highlights from the panel & overall event;

  • There has been so much learnings from Silicon Valley, Europe, China, India in the last 10-20 years of startup life cycle, so lets learn from all the good as well as from their mistakes that shouldn’t be repeated, and MENA region should play to its strengths. Lets remember that real value creation only happens as result of real businesses creating real jobs, revenues, profits and exits for everyone involved.

  • Enough capital is available from the top and going all the way to early stage, the ecosystem here is so early that the need of the hour is accepting those 1st time entrepreneurs that didn’t make it, and creating an ecosystem of supporting smart 2nd/3rd time entrepreneurs who have both the local and international knowhow building again in the region with a long term approach

  • According to Mckinsey’s research, MENA regions fintech startup’s revenue contribution forecast to overall financial services revenues has highest growth rate when compared with rest of the world, so this itself is an evidence of how new economy and startups will continue to create real GDP value

  • Cross border collaboration is a strength of this region and is also evident from the entrepreneurial talent influx in the region. This should catalyse the next wave that will see entrepreneurs building from the region for the world. We through our portfolio of B2B, Deeptech and emerging tech investments have been committed to cross border collaboration for a few years now, reach out to me if you want to know more

2nd day was even more exciting & personally satisfying where 14 selected startups from the ~88 that applied, pitched to the Doha Bank executives for potential POC's, collaboration in Bank's transformation agenda. Hopefully this will result in many joint value creation opportunities

More details on the coverage of the entire event by KT Events https://lnkd.in/gSBdt-kR

May 22 · linkedin

I am delighted to be speaking at the Khaleej Times KT Events Banking Innovation & Technology Summit 2024 in Doha on May 27th, where I’ll discuss the latest trends and innovations in the #Fintech & #VentureCapital sector. Excited to connect with fellow leaders and share insights.

growX ventures McKinsey & Company The Founders Majlis MENA FINTECH ASSOCIATION DOHA BANK Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority Qatar Development Bank

Register now at https://lnkd.in/deUzRsx6

#BIT2024 #FinTech #BankingInnovation #Qatar

Peter Hala Karan Awdesh Bicky Hirander Hiryan Akshay Kate Gaurav Nameer Ashish Alain Amit Tristan Michael Elena & more...

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Sidd Gandhi
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Location

Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates