Jury Member
Sonali Mehta-Rao
Founder, Ahaana Ventures
SOUTH ASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
Sonali Mehta-Rao
Sonali Mehta-Rao is an early-stage impact investor, startup advisor, and leadership coach with over a decade of global entrepreneurial experience in social business innovation. She is the Founder of Ahaana Ventures, which offers entrepreneur-centric investing, coaching, and capacity building to underrepresented social and eco-entrepreneurs (women, minorities, and indigenous founders) in South Asia.
With over a decade of global entrepreneurial experience, Sonali Mehta-Rao has built expertise in early-stage investing, startup advisory, and leadership development. She founded Ahaana Ventures to provide entrepreneur-centric investing, coaching, and capacity building to underrepresented social and eco-entrepreneurs in South Asia.
As Co-Founder and president of Mela Artisans, Sonali created a sustainable global market for Indian artisans, leading the company to its first one million dollars in revenue and Series A financing. She has also held leadership roles as India director of the global fintech company Tala and as co-founder and chief growth officer at Awaaz.De, where she expanded access to finance for more than ten million low-income, rural women across India.
Sonali is an Acumen Fellow, an Unreasonable Mentor, and a professional advisor at MIT’s Kuo Sharper Center for Entrepreneurship. She is also a visiting impact entrepreneur at the Stanford Center for Social Innovation and serves on the Investment Committee and Alumni Advisory Council for the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University.