GCV Powerlist 2020: 5 Indians among top 25 venture capitalists in the world

Several Indians featured in the top 25 of the Global Corporate Venturing (GCV) Powerlist 2020 released on Thursday. Shankar Chandran, Managing Director, Samsung Catalyst Fund topped the list among Indians as he shared the fifth spot on the power ranking with his colleague Francis Ho. 

Jeffrey Li, Managing partner, Tencent Investment emerged as the most powerful leader on the list securing the top spot. Li has been a managing partner at Tencent Investment and a general manager at Tencent M&A, subsidiaries of the largest internet company dominating China’s artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise, automotive, and security industries for the last nine years.

Apart from Chandran, prominent Indians to feature in the top 25 of the list include Rajeev Misra, global head of SoftBank Vision Fund, Nagraj Kashyap, Head, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), Arvind Purushotham, Global head of venture investing for Citi Ventures, Girish Nadkarni, President of Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures. 

GCV compiles its annual Powerlist of the top 100 heads of corporate venturing units out of more than 2,000 venturing companies globally. The organisation uses a series of metrics to select the list along with strategic and leadership measures, such as thought-leadership, vision, and motivational abilities. 

The list which comes out at a time when companies, ventures, and markets are recovering from the shock of lockdown focuses on innovation, disruption, and adaptability. "Even as Covid-19 has greatly impacted our economy, it has revealed immense opportunities to not only grow but also meet critical needs. The pandemic didn’t change the rules – agility and creativity are more crucial than ever. Instead, it has created a crucible where some technologies will flourish, and it’s our job to decipher which those are," said GCV Leadership Society’s chairman Young Sohn. 

Here are the top 25 leaders on the GCV Powerlist 2020

1. Jeffrey Li: Tencent Investment
2. Maggie Wu: Alibaba Innovation Ventures
3. Amy Banse: Comcast Ventures
4. Larry Illg: Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures)
5. Francis Ho and Shankar Chandran: Samsung Catalyst Fund
6. David Krane: GV (formerly Google Ventures)
7. Wendell Brooks and Anthony Lin: Intel Capital
8. Barbara Dalton: Pfizer Ventures
9. Anja König: Novartis Venture Fund
10. Rajeev Misra and Marcelo Claure: SoftBank Vision Fund
11. Gen Tsuchikawa: Sony Innovation Fund
12. Nagraj Kashyap: M12 (Microsoft Ventures)
13. Quinn Li: Qualcomm Ventures
14. Geert van de Wouw: Shell Ventures
15. Lisa Lambert: National Grid Partners
16. John Somorjai: Salesforce Ventures
17. Jacqueline LeSage Krause: Munich Re Ventures
18. Bill Taranto: Merck Global Health Innovation Fund
19. David Hayes: BP Ventures
20. Annabelle Long: Bertelsmann Asia Investments
21. Arvind Purushotham: Citi Ventures
22. Girish Nadkarni: Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures
23. Carole Nuechterlein: Roche Venture Fund
24. Robert Coppedge: Echo Health Ventures
25. Barbara Burger: Chevron Technology Ventures