The rest of the 50 (in alphabetical order): Adit Swarup, partner, Rakuten Ventures
Adit Swarup is a Singapore-based partner at Rakuten Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Japan-headquartered e-commerce firm Rakuten. He joined the corporate in 2013 as a Japan-based associate at its legal department, where he restructured the turnaround industry and capital markets, having had transaction experience in deals worth more than $2.5bn.
The CVC unit hired him in 2014 to focus on investments in the US, Asia-Pacific and Europe, before assigning him to a Singapore-based post in 2016.
The latest promotion to partner in September 2018 came soon after Rakuten Ventures co-led a $50m series A-plus round for China-based e-commerce platform Black Fish. Prior to this, Swarup had been a principal at the same Singapore-based office and was in charge of early-stage investments outside Japan.
Currently, Swarup focuses on artificial intelligence (AI), consumer technology and digital media, and he oversees early to growth-stage investments globally, targeting IT startups. He has helped Rakuten Ventures with more than 10 investments and now serves as a board member at mobile commerce platform Carousell, online visual technology developer ViSenze and AI-based vehicle services provider Galaxy.AI.
Before joining Rakuten, Swarup was a Canada-based associate of corporate recoveries and restructuring at a boutique advisory firm in 2013, having come from an India-based analyst role of institutional sales at asset management firm DSP BlackRock Investment Managers and financial services firm FirstRand Bank.
Swarup started his career as an analyst of consumer electronics global marketing at electronics maker Panasonic in Osaka, Japan.
Swarup earned his bachelor of commerce, with a concentration in finance and economics, from McGill University.
