Mumbai: Gemba Capital enhances its advisory board with the addition of Somak Ghosh, a seasoned banking and investment management expert. With over 30 years of experience spanning corporate and development banking, venture capital, private equity, infrastructure finance, and corporate strategy, Ghosh is poised to bring invaluable insights to the table.
Ghosh began his career in 1993, spending a decade at prominent firms like ICICI, Reliance, and Rabo India before joining Yes Bank as Group President in 2004. At Yes Bank, he led the bank’s Corporate and Development Banking Charter and was recognized as a Professional Co-Founder for his pivotal role in establishing one of India’s most successful mid-sized banks. By the time he departed in 2012, Ghosh managed over ₹40,000 crore of the bank’s assets and contributed to over 50% of its profits.
Driven by a passion for the startup ecosystem, Ghosh established the SEBI-registered Contrarian Vriddhi Fund in 2013 and made seed investments in 12 startups, including Pratilipi, Progcap, Signzy, Squadstack, and Minjar.
In addition to his role at Gemba Capital, Ghosh serves on the Investment Committee of Motilal Oswal Real Estate Fund. He earned his MBA from FMS (Delhi) and is an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University in the USA.
On joining the advisory board at Gemba Capital, Somak Ghosh stated, “I always wanted to contribute towards the development of the startup and fintech ecosystem in India. This engagement with Gemba Capital is an effort to help the ecosystem with my experiences and learnings. I have known both Adith and Govind for a long time, and I look forward to adding strategic value to Gemba Capital and their portfolio companies.”
Gemba Capital founding partner, Adith Podhar commented, “Ghosh brings a vast wealth of experience across BFSI and Venture Capital domains. The Fund will seek his advice on governance and strategic decisions. With his expertise and mentorship, we will add real value to our Portfolio Companies since fintech is a core investment focus for our Fund-II. We are super elated to have him as part of the Gemba Capital family.”
Gemba Capital has already invested in over 50 startups, including Plum Insurtech, Grip Invest, Wint Wealth, Zuper, Navadhan, Volt Money, Click Post, Showroom, Strata, and Kredmint. The firm recently received a SEBI license for its second fund of $30 million, which aims to invest in seed and pre-seed stage startups across Fintech, Consumer Tech, and B2B platforms.
