Founder and Managing Partner

• Apr 2017 - Present

Key sponsor and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Singapore domiciled Decacorn Capital, a cross-border, technology venture funding initiative which curates best-in-class disruptive innovations from key startup destinations across the world. @Decacorn, we don't belong to any country, region or ethnic group. Our faith is "Humanity", believe is in "Disruptive Innovation" and trust the prowess of "Technology" to make our planet shades better than what we inherited. The World is our Oyster!In its current avatar, Decacorn has 33 investments spread across USA, Israel, Singapore, Estonia and China with 9 listing/liquidity/exit events in just 4 plus years of vintage and more are on the anvil. As a consequence nearly a third of its portfolio today is listed, although Decacorn invests only in Private (Unlisted) Technology Start-ups.Debneel spends his time mostly between Singapore, Jerusalem, London and the Bay Area where he seeks to invest in technology start-ups attempting to solve hard problems in large markets, that offer instant gratification and a clear path to monetisation. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with nearly three decades of experience in tech venture building and then investing in technology startups, preceded by a decade in corporate and investment banking. Debneel endeavours to surround himself with tribesmen who aspires to chase 'hard thing of hard things' and that often results in magical outcome!

Startup Mentor

• Mar 2016 - Present

The FinLab is a pioneering incubator / accelerator joint venture between SGInnovate (SGI) and United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB). With wide connections in ASEAN, Greater China, FinLab provides startups an unparalleled access for growth and expansion.Initiatives like FinLab fulfil the upstream curation and deal flow for Decacorn (www.Decacorn.vc). The FinLab is a pioneering incubator / accelerator joint venture between SGInnovate (SGI) and United Overseas Bank Ltd (UOB). With wide connections in ASEAN, Greater China, FinLab provides startups an unparalleled access for growth and expansion.Initiatives like FinLab fulfil the upstream curation and deal flow for Decacorn (www.Decacorn.vc).

Co-Founder

• Dec 2011 - Jul 2015

Co-founded a seed stage sector agnostic venture capital initiative approved for nearly 6x co-funding from Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS). Notable early stage startup investments in the venture incubator included Luxola (www.luxola.com), ArtofClick (www.artofclick.com), Tradegecko ( www.tradegecko.com), Zumata (www.zumata.com) and GushCloud (www.gushcloud.com). In 2015, Luxola was acquired by Sephora (a Louis Vuitton Company), and GushCloud by Yello Mobile of Korea. Both deals are counted among the top multibagger exits in the Singaporean start-up ecosystem. Later that year, Debneel exited the venture incubator by selling his entire founding shares to a Los Angeles based VC.

President & CEO

• Dec 2001 - Jan 2011

Set out from Singapore in 2001 as the Founding CEO of 3i Infotech Asia Pacific after relocating from India. Over the next 10 years the business spread across 12 countries in the region having more than 175 customers. Revenue grew at a CAGR of of 45% while net profits at 54% over the next 9 years, entirely by organic means, with zero debt and on back of a small initial investment of about USD 1 million. The company achieved a peak valuation of $75 million by end of 2010, thus generating phenomenal 75x return on equity.

Chief Financial Officer

• Sep 1999 - Nov 2001

Information Technology Company with market cap of US$500 million - Listed in Bombay and National Stock Exchanges of India. Changed name to 3i Infotech in 2004, prior to IPO.(Symbol: 3iinfo); As the first CFO of the company, oversaw initiatives during the formative years, right from naming of the company. Managed strategic divestment of stake to overseas investor by ICICI Bank Obtained Export Oriented Unit (EOU) - 10 year tax free status for the Company. Set up subsidiaries in the US and UK as part of globalization strategy of the Company Commenced US-GAAP audit with the aim of US listing of the Company Prepared for NASDAQ listing. Supervised first 5 Acquisition of the Company in India, US and Middle East

Executive Management Program

• Apr 2000 - Sep 2000

Vice President

• May 1991 - Aug 1999

NYSE listed second largest bank in India with assets in excess of US$ 100 billion. (Symbol: IBN); A Banker specializing in project financing, corporate banking and investment banking, with in-depth exposure to financial structuring and fund raising by way of initial public offerings as lead managers for different industry verticals. As a nominee director, sat on the Board of several public listed companies that availed financial assistance from the Bank. As Vice President, played a key role in the Major Client Group (MCG) at ICICI that dealt with large premium customers across capital intensive sectors and was deeply involved in the 'Millennium' project, selecting consultants and vendors to roll out enterprise wide technology platform for whole sale banking at ICICI.Climbed up the ranks and files of the bank starting off as a probationary officer in 1991 to become Vice President before being seconded to ICICI Infotech (later came to be known as 3i Infotech)