Dr. Apoorv Sharma, BTech, MBA, PhD with over 20 years of experience, is co-founder & President of Venture Catalysts - Asia' first integrated incubator. He is a PhD in Incubation from Amity University, Noida and is an engineering graduate from HBTI, Kanpur. He also holds a diploma in Mentor Studies from Berkley Institute of Management, University of California, USA. Apoorv has been associated with the startup ecosystem in India since early 2000 after his return from Europe. Since then, he has been instrumental in establishing over a dozen incubators/accelerators in India. Before founding Venture Catalysts, he played a vital role in establishing and nurturing incubators/accelerators/incubation funds and family office funds like VentureNursery, Amity Innovation Incubator, Somaiya Incubator (RIDDLE), Mata Vaishno Devi University Incubator, Indian Angel Network Incubator, JSS Incubator. He has been awarded the prestigious Best Incubator Award by the President of India for outstanding performance of the JSS Incubator. Apoorv has wide experience in curating, incubating and mentoring more than 100 startups in varied sectors. He is also known for generating good returns and generating exit opportunities for investors by raising the next round of investment for the incubated startups. Some very successful startups like OYO Rooms, Beardo, PeeSafe, Coutloot, Innov8, SUPR, Fynd etc have been curated, mentored and seed sourced by Dr. Apoorv.
Prof. Dr. Balvinder Shukla is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership and Vice Chancellor at the Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India. He has total Experience of 33+ years in Research, Academics and industry.
Prof.Dr. Manoj Joshi is Professor Strategy & Entrepreneurship at the Amity Business School and Director, Centre for VUCA Studies, Amity University, India.