Meet select team members

• Mario Aquino   in 

  Mario has 20 years of investment, business building and entrepreneurial experience in big data and advanced analytics. He brings a wealth of experience in digital innovation, fintech, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. As FutureLabs Ventures' Managing Partner, he leverages his expertise to build scalable, next generation digital ventures and tech investments.

  Prior to FutureLabs, Mario was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he founded McKinsey Solutions and McKinsey New Ventures in Asia-Pacific. While leading McKinsey New Ventures, Mario invested, built and scaled a portfolio of 20+ fintech, consumertech, healthtech, and energytech start-ups that have become global players in their fields. During his tenure, he also spearheaded the growth of McKinsey New Ventures' team to over 500 professionals in Asia-Pacific.

  Mario was also the Managing Director and board member of risk analytics firm Moody's Analytics in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; where he was instrumental in making a number of transformative acquisitions and internal investments within financial technology and advanced analytics. During his nine years stint at Moody's Analytics, the firm grew into a US$1 billion revenue company.

  Previously, Mario was a financial analyst at Lehman Brothers in London, focusing on high-tech and high-growth sectors.

  Mario obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business and Finance at Milan's Bocconi University summa cum laude, before obtaining his MBA at University of Chicago Booth, Graduate School of Business in 1999.

  

  Mario Founding Partner & CEO

• Usman Lodhi   in 

  Ex-FoodPanda, ex-Rocket Internet, seasoned professional and serial intra/entrepreneur with 15+ years’ experience in digital consumer, telecommunications, software and infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia.

  Business leader and entrepreneur with 15+ years experience in digital consumer, telecommunications, software and infrastructure sectors in Europe and Asia.

  More than 10 years leadership experience in establishing and growing new digital businesses (in corporate and start-up settings) across South-East Asia, leveraging technology, ground-breaking strategic partnerships and data-driven execution.

  •	SVP & Group Head of Indosat’s Digital Strategy & Investments, launching corporate ventures like PayPro and Eureka.ai (raised US$ 20M Series B in Feb 2020)
  •	Director & Venture Partner.of an Indonesia-based award-winning tech-accelerator, IdeaBox
  •	Managing Director of FoodPanda Indonesia (Rocket Internet, SEA)
  •	Co-founder & Managing Director of a EasyTaxi Indonesia

  
  Demonstrated success in delivering customer and shareholder value through product innovation, building high impact teams and unlocking new revenue streams.

  

  Usman Venture Partner / EIR

• Gautam Barua   in 

  Experienced Strategist, Venture Builder, Investor. Based in Silicon Valley.

  Gautam is a seasoned investment, strategy, and corporate venture building entrepreneur and adviser, committed to addressing the world's most pressing needs.

  Over his 20+ year long career, Gautam has amassed a track-record of building businesses, driving growth through organic & inorganic initiatives, and leading new business creation from planning to launch & go-to-market. A specific area of Gautam’s interest and focus has been identifying and pursuing new business opportunities in ESG and decarbonization, healthcare, and technology.

  His successes stem from a combination of cross-functional capabilities - Product Management, venture financing, and team building – that he developed in roles at several of the world's most pioneering organizations.

  His career profile include:

  •	Leadership roles at Noble.ai and Zymergen, respectively a Silicon Valley Start-up pioneering the creation of science-based AI tools for research & innovation; and a Pre-IPO synthetic biology firm, which secured $800M+ in funding.
  •	Co-Founder and Member of the Board, California BioEnergy.
  •	Advisor to McKinsey Ventures, with a focus on establishing a strong network of VC and start-up relationships in Silicon Valley – as well as help grow the expanding group of McKinsey Ventures’ portfolio companies.
  •	Principal at Medley Capital, a firm Gautam helped scale to $1.2 billion in senior lending to middle-market private companies. Focused on cleantech and sustainability investment opportunities.
  •	Senior Manager & Product Lead at AOL and Zyng Networks
  •	Management Consultant at McKinsey

  
  

  Gautam is a Harvard Business School grad (1997) with distinction.

  

  gautam Venture Partner

• Patrik Sandin   in 

  Serial Venture Builder, Investor and tech advisor with 25+ years experience across Europe and Asia Pacific..

  Prior to to becoming a Venture Partner at FutureLabs, Patrik was a serial entrepreneur with a track record of co-founding a corporate finance boutique, Sweden’s first venture studio in Stockholm, an innovation consultancy in Shanghai, and most recently a foresight & strategy AI startup.

  Patrik’s career profile include:

  •	Director of Ventures & Growth, ERICSSON
  •	Co-Founder, SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY (Shanghai)
  •	Founder & Senior Partner, T2L INNOVATION AGENCY
  •	Senior Consultant, BAIN / EY / ACCENTURE

  Patrik is an expert in value proposition design, business model innovation and ecosystem co-creation for disruptive solutions. He focuses on the application of exponential technologies for 10x growth, at the intersection of sustainability and venture building.

  

  Patrik Venture Partner

• Cesare Tagliaferri   in 

  20 years of experience in technology & financial services. Founded and managed a startup, run teams of quants at ANZ, built their new Global Markets Pricing and Risk Management Platform

  Expert in enterprise platforms & software development, cyber-security, UX, UI, and AI automation

  Started programming computers in primary school and never stopped.

  Strong experience also in Blockchain and Data Science

  •	CTO, distributed network analytics startup
  •	Led development of trading system for Coal & Iron Ore for international Bank
  •	Director & co-Founder, early-stage venture -- built software platform: design, dev, UX on web and mobile
  •	Director, Calypso Technology APAC
  •	Head of Central Quant Team, ANZ Bank
  •	Regional Head of CDS, Murex APAC

  
  Cesare holds a INSEAD, MBA; Supélec Grande École, Automation & Computer Science.

  

  Cesare Venture Partner-Tech

• Kaiesh Vohra   in 

  Entrepreneur and IT strategy consultant with deep CPO and CTO experience, and over 16 years of hands-on experience in building companies from the ground up, scaling them 10x and advising corporate long term strategy.

  Kaiesh has recently been advising blockchain and artificial intelligence scale-ups on their product design and go to market. He has previously bootstrapped an enterprise SaaS company, launching it successfully into the market and brought it to profitability in under 12 months, generating a 33x ROI for himself and his co-founders.

  His products are used by millions of consumers daily and powers global brands like Citi, MetLife, Nissan, Ducati, Daimler, MG Motors, CBRE, and DHL.

  Kaiesh holds a first class honours degree in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh, and serves as an advisor to multiple venture funded technology start-ups.

  

  Kaiesh External Venture Partner

• Simas Ceckauskas   in 

  Simas has scaled startups and founded and sold his own company. He has experienced both the corporate and the start-up world and today finds himself most effective somewhere in the middle, as a corporate venture builder.

  He has built new ventures for consulting firms PwC and BCG, as well as leading corporates such as ING, Standard Chartered, and Maxis Telecom. He specializes in B2B SaaS and multisided platform business models.

  Prior to becoming a Director at FutureLabs, Simas served as the Chief Commercial Officer of a new B2B SaaS venture at the Boston Consulting Group.

  With citizenships in the United States, European Union, and Australia, and having lived in seven countries, Simas views himself as a global citizen. He has a deep appreciation for the perspectives that different cultures bring and looks for the best ideas globally to build new ventures.

  Simas holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Master in Finance from ESADE, a Master in International Management from the University of Sydney, and two bachelor degrees from Boston University.

  

  simas Venture Director

• Sheetal Khullar   in 

  Results-driven business strategist and sustainability leader with a strong background in business development and a passion for building ventures that create shared value and deliver impact.

  With more than a decade of leadership experience in developing sustainability solutions for businesses in the decarbonization, food tech, renewables, e-commerce, telco and social sectors, Sheetal brings extensive experience in ESG Policy & Reporting, Sustainable Value Chains and Carbon Markets.

  •	Strategy & GTM Head, Sustainability focused start up SE Asia
  •	Fund Raising Lead for E-learning focused venture SE Asia
  •	Global Sustainability Advocate, Impact Consulting
  •	Former President, Tabitha Foundation
  •	Advisor to several ventures and scale ups

  
  

  Sheetal holds an MBA from Institute of Management Studies, India with further education in sustainability strategy and management from Harvard Business School and Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

  

  Sheetal Growth Lead & Sustainability Expert