CFA Society India hosts inaugural Private Markets Conference at Bengaluru

2024 marks a milestone with ~US$ 60 billion invested across 1,595 deals

Large headroom for expansion with US$ 600 billion needed in growth stage funding

Bengaluru: CFA Society India successfully hosted the inaugural edition of its Private Markets Conference on March 1^st, 2025, in Bengaluru. The conference theme builds upon the success of the six highly successful Annual Fintech Conferences held in Bengaluru over the past few years.

Sandeep Gupta, CFA, CIPM (Conference Chair, Director, CFA Society India and CEO of Accred Alts) spoke about the need to broaden the annual conference theme in Bengaluru to go beyond just Fintech and highlighted the vast potential for private investments across sectors as only 900 out of 9,000 active growth stage companies have been able to garner the requisite investor support.

Supported by the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) as an Ecosystem Partner and PrivateCircle as a Delegate Partner, the conference brought together over 200 private market professionals, including CFA charterholders, investment experts, and wealth managers. Co-hosted by CFA Institute, the conference delved into a diverse array of sub-topics, including the VC ecosystem, impact investing, route to IPO, role of incubators, exit through secondaries and venture debt.

In his opening remarks, Rajesh Sehgal, CFA (Chairperson, CFA Society India and Managing Partner, Equanimity Investments), reflected on the Society’s 20-year journey, highlighting its growth to 2,600 members, the successful execution of 65 events in FY 2025, and the invaluable contributions of its volunteers.

Sachin Naik, Director, CFA Institute, shared that globally, there is significant interest in Private Markets. To  enhance professionals’ expertise , two specialist certification programs on “Private Equity” and “Private Markets Alternative Investments” have been curated.

The panel on VC Ecosystem consisting of Sanjay Swamy, Founder and Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners; Som Pal Choudhury, Co-Founder & Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund; Nitin Sharma, Partner, Antler; and Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Partner & Founder Ideaspring, Capital, discussed how funding availability for startups had improved to $14 bn in 2024 after a dip over the previous two years. The froth in valuations had dissipated except for AI startups, which are now in high demand.  The guidance for startup founders is to focus on growth, and not just valuations. Capital should be an outcome of business success, not the goal. Cash flow is the best measure of success and unit economics are important.

The second session on impact investing had Varun Malhotra, Partner, Quona Capital; A B Chakravarthy, Co-CEO, Upaya Social Ventures; and Karuna Jain, Co-Founder & Partner, Enzia Ventures; moderated by Ram Venkatramani, CFA, CIPM, Director, Impact Investing, AVPN. The panel highlighted that impact investing has now reached mainstream amounting to $1.571 trillion globally. Access, affordability and quality are key factors for selecting startups that can create sustainable and scalable outcomes.

Mandar Barhate, CFA, Global Head of Valuations & Portfolio Monitoring, Alpha Wave Global moderated a discussions on the IPO journey along with co-panelists Satyakam Naik, Chief Financial Officer, BlackBuck; Amit Jhunjhunwala, Chief Financial Officer, Accel; Abhilash Padival, Director – India Investment Banking, BofA. The panel discussed how IPOs are permanent capital, unlike  private capital, which haveexit tenures requiring liquidation and return of funds. A record number of IPOs have been witnessed recently, and sustainable growth and profitability have become an important prerequisite for companies looking to go public.

The second half of the conference featured a deep dive sessions on venture debt. Nikhil Chandna, Investment Director, Innoven, was moderated by Jolly Balva, CFA. The panel emphasized how venture debt has become an important part of the startup funding mix. With its unique product profile of lending accompanied by warrants, it has emerged as a win-win solution. It is expected to grow 3-5x in the next few years, with investors increasingly recognising it’s value. The session covered the nuances of it as a product, as an asset class and its industry evolution.

The session Incubators led by Anand Sri Ganesh, CEO – NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore was moderated by Sandeep Gupta, CFA, CIPM. Incubators provide startups with essential strategic support and mentorship and investor connections. They also lend the credibility of leading academic brands which support startups in fundraising.

The last session was a panel discussion on exits through secondaries, offering valuable insights from Zerin Rahiman, Director, IndigoEdge; Alok Gupta, Partner, Head of India, Foundation Private Equity; and Nitesh Aggarwal, VP – Innovations & Investments, Baldota elicited by Krishna Saraswati, Founder, Private Circle as the moderator. The panel elaborated on how secondaries provide exit opportunities for GPs, LPs and funds reaching the end of their lifecycle.