Abhishek Prasad

About Abhishek Prasad

Managing Partner at Cornerstone Ventures - India’s Frontier Enterprise SaaS Fund investing in B2B tech enablers of consumer businesses (AI applications), and tech enablers of Enterprise and SME businesses (verticalized BI solutions, and applications of core technologies for Enterprise). Having built a prolific SaaS portfolio with 20 investments from Fund-I ($50 million), he is now building Fund-II ($150 million) that\'s focused on \'Next Generation Enterprise Technologies\'. Winner of 40-Under-40 AIF Professionals Award - 2020!Brings 23 years of experience in investment management, portfolio management, financial management, organization development, growth enablement from go to market partnerships to setting up operations in new geographies countries. Was heading investments at Reliance’s GenNext Ventures Fund ($250 million) prior to starting Cornerstone Ventures. Has invested in new age emerging technologies including IoT/M 2 M, Energy Management, Visual Computing, etc. and has significant strategy and operating experience in Consumer Goods and Industrial Products. He is experienced in working with start-ups in India, Israel, and US, and has held several board roles in investee companies. Abhishek has helped several large organizations / Enterprises formulate their investment thesis, including themes, stage of participation, co investments approach, and venture builder models, while having also led M&A teams in the past. He has led large investment teams and also been a mentor to several startups at the Jio GenNext accelerator program, and NASSCOM’s Incubation programs, among others. In his personal capacity he makes a angel investments in areas he is passionate about.Abhishek has helped large global MNCs enter emerging markets such as India, Middle East, China, Russia and Africa, across the various consulting roles he has held at organizations such as IBM, Accenture Consulting, and Boston Analytics. Additionally, he has worked as a part of the brand management team at Unilever, and also as a technology consultant with Infosys Technologies at the beginning of his career. One of the most exciting phases of Abhishek’s journey was setting up a venture of his own, which he grew to a turn-over of over Rs 150 Cr annually with over 300 staff in less than 3 years. As the key founder, he was the CEO, and built the company from a green field venture to a fully functional commercial unit andeventually a successful exit! He is an MBA from IIM Bangalore, and an Electronics Engineer by education.

Experience

1. Investor

   novio

   Mar 2022 — Present · Mumbai, IN

   Empowering millions of DSA (Direct Sales Agents) to operate digitally and scale their business capabilities, product offerings, and customer engagement, by bringing limitless relationships across the BFSI value-chain!

Education

• RV College Of Engineering

  Bachelor of Engineering, Electronics and Communications

• Wirtschafts University (Business & Economics), Vienna, Austria

  MBA Exchange Semester, International Marketing, Negotiations, Project Management & International Business Strategy

• National Public School, Indiranagar, Bangalore

  CBSE, Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Computer Science

• Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

  PGDM (MBA), Marketing and Strategy

• Harvard University

  Members of Leader Excellence at Harvard Square

Skills

• Business Strategy
• Business Development
• Competitive Analysis
• Strategic Partnerships
• Leadership
• Product Management
• Business Planning
• Strategic Planning
• Analysis
• E-Commerce
• Business Analysis
• Consulting
• Sales & Marketing Management
• Marketing Strategy
• Sales
• Forecasting
• Venture Capital
• Private Equity
• Portfolio Management
• Deal Sourcing
• Due Diligence
• Exit Strategies
• Valuation
• Strategy
• IT Strategy
• Management
• Management Consulting