Hitesh Sachdev is a veteran banker with ICICI Group. He has spent more than 20 years at ICICI Bank building and leading diverse verticals including Innovation, Fintech, Private Equity and Investment Banking. Presently, Hitesh heads the Startup Engagement and Investments team at ICICI Bank. He has played an instrumental role in setting up the Innovation team and executing cutting-edge technology projects for ICICI Bank in collaboration with startups. Hitesh leads the Startup Investment Fund at ICICI Bank. The Fund invests Bank’s own capital into promising startups. Currently, the Fund has made more than 20 investments into startups including Open, CarDekho, Refyne, Kredit Bee, Fingpay, EQL Fintech and Credgenics. Hitesh is a mentor and guides founders actively on domains including Payments, Digital Lending, SaaS, API Banking, Banking applications of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Blockchain. Hitesh is Director and Chairman of the Board of Indian Banks’ Blockchain Infrastructure Company (IBBIC): India’s first blockchain based banking consortium. Hitesh conceptualized IBBIC in early 2018 and since then he has been the primary evangelist of the IBBIC consortium in India and overseas. Hitesh has been instrumental in bringing together 18 private, PSU & foreign banks to participate in IBBIC as founding members as well as shareholders. Prior to this, Hitesh has played a pivotal role in setting up a private equity fund called Emerging India Fund (EIF) and has successfully led the investments in sectors including Agri-business, Logistics, Education and Healthcare. Prior to setting up EIF, Hitesh led the investment banking practice at the Bank where he specialized in M&A and PE fundraising for mid-market enterprises and executed multiple M&A and private equity transactions. Hitesh has received several Awards and has been an active Keynote Speaker and participated alongside reputed Panelists at many marquee events.