Raaj Rayat

Never bet against the underdog. I come from three generations of economic migrants, so I've always felt like "third-culture kid" is a bit of an understatement. It's always led me to resonate with the underdogs and the outsiders. I believe you can't match the energy and hustle of a person on the come-up. This applies equally to rap music, stand-up comedy, and entrepreneurship. It's the invisible force that drives creative destruction.‍

I love the audacity of entrepreneurship to the point that I dropped out of my law degree to go and be one of the first employees at Lendable, a FinTech startup that uses data science to expand access to financial services in emerging markets. Scaling Lendable from a "few crazy people in a co-working space" to now having a presence across 5 continents taught me about the hustle it takes to build something from nothing and the importance of culture and values in guiding the ship.‍

I'm most curious about the intersection of worlds. My curiosity has taken me on a winding journey through the lands of philosophy, law, data science, startups, investing, and across continents. Often the best insights come from seemingly unrelated domains.‍

Always be giving. It was instilled into me from an early age that a key ingredient for a good life is service to your community. When I was growing up, my mum volunteered to support single mothers, and my family has always been active contributors to their community. I've always tried to exemplify this by allocating some of my time to paying it forward, whether as a student mentor at uni, promoting mental-health at cohealth, or as an advisor to social-impact startups at Somo. I'm looking forward to contributing in any way I can to the ANZ startup ecosystem.‍

Outside of work, I love a good adventure. It's my dream to visit all 190+ countries. I'm desperately looking for a climate-friendly way to make this happen. I'm also a massive comedy nerd and a total cinephile, always scouring Mubi for exotic cinema.