Venture Capital Support

Chetan has over 20 years of experience across the financial services sector’s markets, geographies and asset classes. At Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity), he spearheads Business Development for multiple strategic business units (IB, Private Markets, Consulting, Corporates, and Banking). During his almost seven years journey at Acuity, Chetan has been responsible for partnering with clients in these segments to transform and build business efficiencies through tailor-made and proprietary solutions, enabling them to save millions of dollars.

Prior to Acuity, Chetan was on the Board of Directors at CRISIL US, an S&P company, and Director and Head of Financial Research, Business Development, Americas. In his 13+ years 'journey at CRISIL, Chetan managed multiple roles, including setting up and leading the Equities practice in Indian markets, wherein he successfully launched India’s first independent equity research service provider, and setting up and heading CRISIL’s first international offshore operations in Argentina. Prior to CRISIL, Chetan worked with ING Bank and Citibank in multiple roles. He has featured consistently in media including on CNBC-TV18 and Bloomberg, and his views on Indian stock markets are covered widely by all leading financial publications.

Chetan is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (the equivalent of a CPA) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds an MBA in Finance from NMIMS, India. He is also a Company Secretary (with a degree in Corporate Law) with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He passed CFA Level 2 examinations.

Pratap leads the Private Equity and Venture Capital practices at Acuity Knowledge Partners, responsible for managing and developing client relationships and overseeing multiple accounts. He has extensive experience in managing direct investments, primary fund investments, FoFs and complex secondary transactions. Over the last 14 years, he has been involved in more than 5,000 Private Markets deals.

Sumit heads the Consulting & Private Equity vertical at Acuity Knowledge Partners. He also oversees the China Delivery Centre. Sumit is responsible for strategy formulation and implementation, innovation and business development, in addition to providing oversight to delivery groups. He has more than 18 years’ experience across diverse lines of services, including private equity, consulting, market research, investment banking, and commercial banking. In his previous roles at Acuity Knowledge Partners, Sumit was instrumental in setting up the Investment Banking vertical and multiple other services. He also led the business turnaround of a subsidiary company as its COO. He is a chartered accountant and a national rank holder in the foundation level of ICAI.

Pedro Armstrong is a Managing Director at Acuity Knowledge Partners and leads business development efforts in the Americas for the Corporate and Commercial Banking, Buy-side, and Sell-side segments. He is responsible for managing key client engagements and works in partnership with capital market firms to provide customized solutions across research and analytics support, origination and lending support, and marketing and compliance support. He has been with the organization for 12 years, serving in various roles across Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, and now the US. Prior to joining Acuity Knowledge Partners, he was a Central Bank Regulator at the Central Bank of Barbados. Pedro, who is a British Chevening Scholar, holds a Master’s degree (honors) in Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, City University, London.

Marie Filotti heads APAC Business Development at Acuity Knowledge Partners and is based in Hong Kong. She joined the firm in 2018 after 13 years in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, mainly at Nomura (previously Lehman Brothers), and also worked on the corporate side, having run Investor Relations at a China-based ASX-listed gas company. She uses her experience in the industry to advise our clients on best practices in implementation of engagements across all sectors. Marie holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters in Finance from Sciences-Po Paris.

Adrian leads Business Development across Investment Banking, Private Equity and Consulting clients in EMEA and APAC. He has 20 years’ experience working in the financial services industry, having spent 13 years working in Equity Capital Markets for Rothschild and RBS, before moving to Acuity Knowledge Partners in 2013. He has a deep knowledge of financial markets, having originated and executed over USD50bn of ECM transactions across a wide range of sectors, products and geographies. He has extensive experience working with and advising the majority of Investment Banking coverage and product groups, and leading global Private Equity firms. Adrian holds a MA (Hons Oxon) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.