IvyCap's Imagine Series kicked off with Ashish Wadhwani moderating a panel of global experts ; Mr. Sandeep Kataria : CEO of Bata India Ltd , Moshe Porat : BizDev Founder & CEO at MESH Labs and Christian Trumm : Fintech Advisor of CT Advisor. The panel provided interesting insights on how consumers have changed their behavior in the last few months, and what trends are likely to continue across the globe: with a focus on the regions of India, Germany, and Israel. The audience raised a number of thoughtful questions.


Some interesting perspectives:


  1. One aspect of consumer behavior that will not change is “value for money” . The definition of value may have changed but not the core concept and that is what organizations should be cognizant of.
  2. Even during these WFH home days, fashion will still be important because of more video calling.
  3. Once safe travel opens up, people may travel more than before for personal reasons like seeing their families.
  4. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Logistics, Cost efficiencies are sample areas where disruptions will happen and investors will be looking at.
  5. Opportunities in fintech include areas that will facilitate convenience, combining omnichannel and retail, making fintech a facilitator, and blockchain.

Sandeep Kataria is the CEO of Bata India Ltd. He joined Bata in July 2017 as Country Manager of India after a successful career spanning 2 decades in consumer goods and telecommunications. Prior to taking over the charge of Bata India Ltd, Mr Kataria was at Vodafone India as chief commercial officer. The IIT-Delhi and XLRI Jamshedpur alumnus has also held top sales and marketing posts at Yum! Brands, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. His longest stint of more than 17 years has been at the consumer goods company, Unilever, where he was responsible for building and managing Indian and global markets. At Bata India Ltd, Mr Kataria has been tasked with the transformation of the footwear giant into a modern, contemporary brand for generations to come.In July 2019 Sandeep has been appointed President of the newly‐formed India region and is member of the Executive Committee.

High tech guy with more than 25years of experience in Israel high tech executive positions. 15 years as entrepreneur ( established 4 compaines ) + 2 exists. Established MESH as the 1st tech co working space and innovation centers ( 3 centers in Israel, 1 in China, 1 IIIC in India). Board member at Presentence and IAF( Israeli Airforce ) alumini & Number of startups. Managing 3 accelerators and active investor. Created more than 200 events, 4 tech employment fairs, 20 hackatons for teenagers and 1st datathon for based on data ( personalization of school ). Lecturing about innovation, establishing ecosystem, culture differences, Israel know how and more.

Chris Trumm is an accomplished FinTech Advisor who connects his clients with leading FinTechs, Banks & Investors from across Asia and Europe. Proficient in shaping strategy, business & ops models, Chris mentors and sits on the Advisory Boards of leading startups, accelerators and investors from across China, India and Southeast Asia. A popular speaker, judge and moderator, Chris has also hosted and organised FinTech Summit AsiaBerlin, the biggest conference on FinTech between Asia and Germany. A Key Opinion Leader in global FinTech, his true passion lies in spotting cutting-edge trends, and adapting them to local markets.

Ashish Wadhwani is the Managing Partner at IvyCap Ventures. He has over 25 years of experience in Venture Capital, M&A, and Strategy Consulting. During his career, Ashish has worked with companies across the investment lifecycle, from incubation to exit. Ashish has led and managed investments across technology, consumer and traditional industries. He has also led a NASDAQ listing. In addition, he has also worked on several M&A transactions. Ashish has also found and run his own ventures and has been a member of the board in several companies across the APAC region. Ashish is also currently serving as a board member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Singapore.