As a Portfolio Associate on the India team, Ms. Uma’s focus is on working with potential investees in the Water sector and managing current investee relationships. Ms. Uma Hemachandran comes to Acumen Fund with a background in marketing services. She started her working career with leading advertising agencies in India such as Grey Worldwide, J. Walter Thompson & Ogilvy. She subsequently went on to work with a dotcom startup to set up an auction portal. The experience of working for a startup led her to start a services business offering third party logistics and franchisee services for clients such as DuPont and Asian Paints. Ms. Uma holds a Masters in English Literature and has a Post Graduate diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Mr. Arindom Datta did his graduation from St. Stephens’ College, Delhi and has a MBA degree with specialization in Finance and Strategy from IIM (K)

Mr. Arindom has over 17 years of experience in Cooperative Banking, Rural Finance, Microfiance and Agribusiness having worked earlier in NABARD, IDBI Bank and CARE India.

Now he handles the Rural and Microfinance banking and advisory portfolio for Rabo India finance and projects in Agribusiness, rural cooperatives and microfinance for Rabobank Foundation.

Mr. Elliott Klass is the Investment Analyst for South Asia with the Grassroots Business Fund, a not-for-profit social venture fund based in Washington D.C.

GBF had been a part of the IFC until July, 2008 and is focused on providing funding for, and technical assistance to small and growing businesses with large social impacts in order to help these businesses to scale up their operations, achieve sustainability, and attract socially minded investors.  GBF is based on the belief that business solutions have a large role to play in improving the lives of the billions at the base of the economic pyramid. Mr. Elliott is responsible for reviewing potential investments for GBF across India and has experience vetting businesses with regard to market potential, financial sustainability, scalability, and social impact.

Mr. Elliott is a holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Ms. Reddy has extensive experience in screening, appraisals and monitoring of the venture capital and private equity deals and investments. Currently, she is responsible for Fund structuring and investments into early stage, India focused private equity investments in the rural supply chain of the NEF focus sectors.

Ms. Reddy has versatile operational exposure to investments and legal areas of the venture capital industry. She was involved due diligence, investments, structuring the deal and monitoring activities of the Investee Undertakings. In addition, she has worked on legal functions of the venture capital process such as investor reports, contribution agreements, term sheets and share subscription agreements for Investee undertakings.

Ms. Reddy holds dual Bachelors degree in Science and Law from Osmania University, India. She is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in 'Intellectual property' from the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University, India.

Aditya joined AVMS as Investment Manager in 2008. He is responsible for conducting and co-coordinating end-to-end deal cycle including screening & scouting investment opportunities, company/industry analysis, commercial & financial due diligence, deal structuring, valuation analysis, company negotiations, deal closure, post investment monitoring. Prior to Aavishkaar, he worked with Frost & Sullivan to set up their Indian investment banking division. His other professional repertoire includes working with Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered Bank and Bharat Petroleum.

He holds an Associate degree from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Bachelors in Commerce from the University of Madras, India. He also has attended an executive programme on private equity education organized by the Indian School of Business.