User:Prakashprashanth/sandbox



= Prashanth Prakash =

Prashanth Prakash (born 29th May 1965) is an Indian Venture Capitalist, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist.

He has won admiration from several quarters for his stellar constellation of professionalism, integrity, values, leadership ability and passion.

He is an active champion of an inclusive and forward-looking India that creates opportunities for all her citizens. His yeoman contributions to the up-liftment of individuals and institutions have been consistent, comprehensive, multi-dimensional, and most importantly, characterised by his personal involvement and steadfast dedication.

Since 2004, he has played a key role as a venture capitalist in nurturing Karnataka’s – and India’s – startup landscape. Prakash has played a foundational role in shaping some of the most successful and category-defining startups from India which include Flipkart, Ola, Freshworks, Bookmyshow, Swiggy & Bounce among many others.

Early Life
Prashanth Prakash was born to Patternahalli Mariappa Prakash originally from Chikkaballapur District in Karnataka.

Personal Life
He is married to Amita Prashanth, who is a Graduate from Bangalore University with her core areas being Psychology and Economics.

She is trained both in preprimary Montessori training and Elementary Montessori Training at Indian Montessori Training Centre. She has a Masters in Inclusive Education for Children from the University of Northampton. She is the Chairperson of Prayag Montessori & AIRAA Academy- a CBSE school with a Montessori based Elementary curriculum for students from grade 1-6. She has 20 yrs experience working with Pre Primary and Elementary children. She is currently working along with Sikshana foundation & United ways - NGO to help Govt schools start a Montessori based curriculum as foundations from 3-8 yrs. Prashanth and Amita have two Children

Education
He completed his Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering from Bangalore University & later graduated with a Masters from the University of Delaware, USA - in Computer Science. He also has

Career
He moved back to India in the mid-1990s thanks to the nudging by his inventor father PM Prakash and his educationist wife Amitha.

As an Investor and Serial Entrepreneur
He Founded Visual Reality one of India’s first animation companies in 1995 always ahead of the curve, Later as his second company Prashanth co-founded NetKraft in 1997 which was one of India’s first internet-based companies and established it as one of the leading offshore solutions companies focusing on the retail and healthcare verticals,.

A pioneer in the venture capital world, he co-founded Erasmic Ventures in 2004, one of the earliest seed-funds that invested in technology startups much before they acquired global attention. Later, Erasmic morphed into Accel India in 2008 which was one of the earliest global venture funds that entered India.

His primary focus is on Digital first consumer brands, B2B, Agritech and SaaS. He has led investments in 35+ Indian technology start-ups and serves as a Board member in 30+ companies.

Member, National Startup Advisory Council, Govt of India
As a Member, National Startup Advisory Council, Govt of India Prashanth is playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of the Startup Ecosystem of India, pioneering a National Incubator Capacity Development Program and spearheading many other initiatives..

The Central Government nominated members National Startup Advisory Council representing various stakeholders such as founders of successful startups, veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, leading people from the Venture Capital fraternity, persons capable of representing interest of investors into startups, persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators, representatives of associations of stakeholders of startups and representatives of industry associations.

Chairman Vision Group for Startups, Govt of Karnataka
As the chairman of Karnataka’s Vision Group for startups, he has been an important bridge between the two worlds - of Startups & Entrepreneurs / Investors and the State government in helping evolve enabling policy framework to build Karnataka as a robust startup ecosystem.

He was instrumental in conceptualising the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission a Section 8 organization designed to function as the knowledge bridge between the Government of Karnataka and industry with a view of accelerating the growth and investments of the IT, BT and S&T sectors in Karnataka and to Support Start-up Policy Facilitation, support Innovation framework through Centres of Excellence, Technology Business Incubator’s, New Age Incubation Network’s and Common Instrumentation Facilities’; support Industry connect & Enterprise connect programmes for Start-ups, Design and Implement Digital research Hub, Provide implementation support for Karnataka Investment Authority (KIA) & Support ELEVATE companies through effective mentoring & acceleration programs. He also pioneered the creation of the Beyond Bengaluru Grid – a Clustered approach for Entrepreneurial Development in Karnataka with 6 Clusters – Hubballi-Belagavi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Tumakuru, Shivamogga and Kalaburagi

Member, Sustainability Task Force, Startup20
As a Member of the Sustainability Task Force, Startup20 he is focussing on setting up mechanisms to accelerate startups addressing critical SDG gaps in sectors of common interest of all other nations. The Engagement Group aspires to create a global narrative for supporting start-ups and enabling synergies between start-ups, corporations, investors, innovation agencies and other key ecosystem stakeholders. India's own startup ecosystem stands today as the world's third largest with 107 unicorns, more than 83,000 registered start-ups, and an ever-expanding innovation ecosystem to support them.

Advisor to Chief Minister of Karnataka (Strategy and Planning)
Recognising Prashanth’s significant contribution, in May 2021, he was appointed as an advisor (strategy and planning) to the Hon’ble Chief Minister. Working closely with the BBMP, he helped conceptualise Bengaluru Mission 2022 an ambitious project with a vision to reinvent Bengaluru city by 2022, in coordination with the Government of Karnataka and BBMP. The Mission was anchored around four broad pillars to realize its vision of improving citizens' lifestyles - Better Commuting, Swachha Bengaluru (Clean Bengaluru), Hasiru Bengaluru (Green Bengaluru) and Digitally Available Citizen Services.

As a Philanthropist: Setting A Personal Example In Social Service & Philanthropy
Looking beyond the startup world, Prashanth has been a passionate social sector evangelist, keen to give back to the society, he has generously borrowed lessons and learnings from the startup world to bring disruption, efficiency and large scale impact in the society.

Working with a diverse set of stakeholders– the government, NGOs and the private sector – he has been evangelising the idea of social entrepreneurship. Rallying their support, he has pushed for scale thinking and use of technology platforms to solve some of the toughest problems India is facing from education, healthcare to environment.

Building The Future Through Education
Since early 2000s, Prashanth Prakash has worked closely with multiple institutions to improve the quality of education in government schools and anganwadis.

Keenly aware that any big impact in education can only be done via government schools, in 2006 he joined hands with the NGO Sikshana Foundation to ensure quality education in government schools. In 2007, he became the foundation’s chairperson. Sikshana envisions improving the learning levels of students in government schools – with special focus on girl child - through measures that not only addresses issues like lack of motivation but also factors in all the necessary 21st century skills like ICT skills throughout their learning journey.

Their programme called Prerana – or the “motivational model” – has evolved into a large flagship model. Like in the startup world, once the idea was incubated with the right product/market fit, it has been scaled up. Under Prakash’s chairmanship, the initiative first started as a pilot in 10 schools. Prakash leveraged his experience in the startup world to help the foundation build a model that is both sustainable and scaleable with sharp focus on outcomes. He has not only funded Shikshana’s programmes but has also tapped into his network of entrepreneurs and philanthropists to channel CSR funds into the foundation.

Today, Prerana has been adopted by the Karnataka Education department which now runs it as their own. It has been implemented in over 50,000 government schools impacting 3 million students in six states Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

In the last few years, Shikshana has also forayed into providing digital skilling to the youth with its program called Kalika Kendra in over 6000 Gram Panchayats in Karnataka. The program, a collaboration between the departments of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, aspires to train lakhs of youth in digital skills in Karnataka. Prakash has also worked closely with anganwadis to improve the education imparted to the pre-school children. It is widely known that for pre-school children, education imparted in the formative period of 2-6 years of age plays a crucial role in developing their mind and learning faculties. But most children going to the government day care centers or anganwadis were deprived of the same earlier. Around 2003, Prakash got involved with early education of children as he helped his wife start a Montessori-based school. With that knowledge, he started one such initiative in an anganwadi in Malleshwaram, Bangalore where teachers were trained to impart education in the formative years. What started as a small personal initiative got recognized at the national level and now has become an integral part of the National Education Policy. To take it a step forward, Prakash - as the head of United Way Bengaluru - has helped launch the “Born Learning” programme. The programme focuses on developmental needs of early learners in anganwadis. Sikshana foundation has impacted 3 Million + Children works with 50000+ Public Schools, has 40,000+ Community Members, works with 1330+ Grama Panchayat’s in 6 States.

Prashanth brings in the unique ability of blending and balancing Corporate Governance vs Social Transformation. The growth story of United Way Bengaluru ( UWBe ) where Prashanth Prakash serves as a Board Chair ( in an Honorary position ) is a perfect example of the same.

UWBe, part of United Way Worldwide, is an NGO, focused on social issues and connects Corporate CSR funds to address needs in our communities that brings together corporates, government bodies, and community members to address societal challenges in the community.

UWBe contributes through its Partners every year to the Urban & Rural regions of Bengaluru.The chapter catalyses unified efforts from corporates, civic bodies and citizen associations to bring about visible change. We work in four key areas – Environment, Education, Healthcare and Livelihood. Our three flagship campaigns serve important purposes: ‘Wake the Lake’ works to protect Bengaluru’s lakes, ‘Born Learning’ helps provide nutrition and education to very young children and ‘Rural Rising’ aims to develop and empower the rural communities. Besides, volunteering is yet another key area that inculcates a sense of social responsibility amongst the citizens.

Under his stewardship in the last 5 years the NGO has seen a growth of over 12X, in its ability to raise funds, UWBe today raises over 120 Cr. Community Outreach Support to over 25 L people, team Size growing to 5X, Footprint from Bengaluru to over 9 states across India, working with over 100 + Corporates, Signing up over 22000 Corporate Volunteers

As a Catalyst for Entrepreneurs giving back to Society
Prashanth pioneered the setting up of ACT Grants & the Young India Philanthropic Pledge

Act Grants
As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on lives and livelihoods, India grappled with the worst humanitarian crisis the world had ever seen.

That’s when a group of people, from different walks of life, decided to come together and support the public healthcare system in managing the crisis in every possible way.

ACT was born as Action Covid Taskforce – a collective of venture capitalists, tech entrepreneurs and social impact leaders who pooled their strengths to raise funds and deploy resources wherever needed.

Actioning prevention protocols, providing oxygen concentrators, pioneering tele-ICU services, driving vaccinations & enabling mental health counselling – we stopped at nothing to deliver whatever the country critically needed during the COVID 1st and 2nd waves.

Today, ACT is a robust community of people with expertise and good will who are working together to seed innovations that can address complex social problems at scale; across education, healthcare, climate action and gender inclusivity.

Always believing that anything is possible through the power of collective action!

Young India Philanthropic Pledge
The Young Indian Philanthropic Pledge is a commitment by India’s Young change-makers to dedicate a minimum of 25% of their wealth to enhance Global change, starting with India

As a Environmentalist
Prashanth serves as the Vice Chairman of Parks of Bangalore.

As the chairperson of the United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe), a global social organisation that works with multiple stakeholders to tackle environmental challenges faced by urban communities, the campaign has already rejuvenated 35 plus lakes in the country.

Lake Restoration
Perturbed by the frothy and polluted lakes like in Bengaluru, Prashanth helped launch “Wake the Lake” campaign to rejuvenate these water bodies starting with Uttarahalli Lake, the Kaikondaranahalli Lake and the Chinnapanahalli Lake; it is a joint initiative with the civic authority and 30 communities to rejuvenate and preserve lakes in the city –The total budget on this initiative in the last four years is over 18 Cr.

Ground Water Management
Bengaluru, an initiative to capture rainwater and sink it into the ground through pits/wells, intending to raise the groundwater table over a period of time. The current intervention was initially undertaken at Lalbagh, and 180 percolation pits were created, which can potentially capture 2.30 Cr liters of rainwater in one year. Target is to help make 10,000 such pits across the city of Bengaluru.

Afforestation
To revive the ecological balance of Bengaluru and its surroundings, UnitedWay has undertaken large-scale afforestation using native species. We have planted more than 2 Lakh of these saplings ranging from herbs, shrubs, and tree species.

A keen wildlife enthusiast and conservationist, he co-produced the award-winning documentary film “Wild Karnataka” that was narrated by Sir Richard Attenborough. The film helped promote and bring awareness about India’s splendid wildlife flora & fauna.

He organized Plog Runs, which saw over 7000 people participate from across 50 neighborhoods in the city and won the Guinness world record for the largest number of plastic bottles recycled in a 12hr period.

Keen to conserve the rich bio diversity and heritage of Nandi Hills, he has helped launch and supported multiple initiatives. Under his stewardship, UWBe collaborated with the government of Karnataka, its tourism department and Namma Nimma Cycle to celebrate Nandi Habba 2018. The festival was dedicated to celebrating Nandi Hills – home to South India’s only cloud forest - and create awareness about the need to preserve its rich biodiversity and heritage. The day-long event organised activities like yoga sessions, cyclathon, nature walks etc.

Contribution to Agriculture & Farmer Welfare
Prashanth has founded and provided the seed money for the formation of Krishi Kalpa Foundation, a section-8 registered non-profit organisation, which aims to increase incomes and livelihood opportunities for smallholder farmers by providing them access to better technologies, inputs and market linkages.

Krishi Kalpa Foundation has begun making positive difference with Market linkage as it has direct impact on farmer’s income & focus is to intervene in following areas & envisioning to create sustained growth with that to build lasting relationships with farmers consortium & Agri tech startups, large scale processing units etc.

As a Disaster Management & Pandemic Support Activist
Responding to the Covid Pandemic along with other Venture Capitalists, formed the 100 Cr ACT Grants fund to provide financial support to start-ups working on ready to deploy disruptive scalable solutions to combat Covid.He pioneered the support to various Government Departments of GoK including Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Women & Child Welfare, Health, and BBMP & supported with initiatives worth over 35 Cr, touching the lives of over 22 Lac people in various parts of Bengaluru and other districts. Life support Medical Equipment -Like HFNCs (over 100 Nos), 2500 Oxygen concentrators, 250 Oxygen cylinders, and Dialysis Machine – 10 Nos.

Migrant workers support: delivered over 1.5 Lac ration kits, Personal Hygiene kits, Food Packets to support Migrant Labourers and Police personnel of Bengaluru.

Cloudphysician Tele-ICU Solution
Launch of first-of-its-kind Tele-ICU solutions in Govt Hospitals in remote districts like Ramanagara, Gulbarga, and Mandya by the implementation of the Cloudphysician solution. Successfully monitored a total of 1374 patients across 98 ICU beds in 4.5 months and decreased the mortality rate of these ICUs despite the increasing number of cases during COVID-19

Home Quarantine Solution: Remote monitoring of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic COVID patients under home quarantine through the implementation of the StepOne solution with the Karnataka government Free Vaccination Camps: His mission is to create a model that enables successful vaccination of marginalized at-risk populations at an accelerated pace. Vaccinated over half a million people across Bengaluru and will continue to support in helping accelerate their efforts towards protecting vulnerable populations and preventing similar outbreaks in the third wave.

Oxygen Support for Karnataka
Deployment and distribution of 2500+ Oxygen concentrators across 21 districts in Karnataka to government hospitals, COVID Care Centres and non-profit organisations. Prashanth was instrumental in liasoning with private donor organisations such as ACT Grants, as well as individual district collectors and municipal commissioners

Healthcare Capacity Augmentation in Karnataka: Set-up and operationalisation of 170+ additional oxygen beds and capacity augmentation of healthcare staff in Bengaluru during the 2nd COVID wave. Prashanth has led efforts to raise funds from donors to increase oxygen beds in Bengaluru and has been heavily involved with Government of Karntaka for active problem-solving support during the COVID pandemic

Bengaluru Mission 2022
An ambitious project, with a vision to reinvent Bengaluru city by 2022, was launched in December 2020 in coordination with the Government of Karnataka and BBMP. Mission 2022 has four broad pillars to realize its vision of improving citizens' lifestyles - Better Commuting, Swachha Bengaluru (Clean Bengaluru)Hasiru Bengaluru (Green Bengaluru) & -Digitally Available Citizen Services.

Prashanth played a crucial role in helping Government of Karnataka actualising this mission by providing key strategic and advisory inputs to the CMs office.

Set-up and operationalisation of Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Company: Bengaluru Solid Waste Management, a Special Purpose Vehicle and a Public-private partnership with the GoK, has been set-up to disrupt the legacy systems of Solid Waste Management in Bengaluru.

Prashanth has pioneered this change and has led these efforts, in close coordination with BBMP to ensure effective waste management in Bengaluru and improve the Swachh Survekshan ranking of Bengaluru in the country.Beyond industry, education, human development and governmental committees, he is actively engaged in improving citizens’ lives through the many causes he personally supports.

For Prashanth, concern for environment and ecological sustainability started in the family. Inspired by his father P M Prakash, their Discovery Village is a nature-based hospitality chain that promotes eco-friendly and responsible tourism. Prashanth has built on this family legacy initiating and supporting a range of projects that help promote environment-friendly and sustainable growth.

Littering and growing plastic waste has been of alarming concerns in cities like Bengaluru. With a mission to make Bengaluru plastic-free and create awareness, inspired by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Plogging, Prakash joined hands with institutions like GO Native, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagra Palike (BBMP), United Way Bengaluru and Namma Nimma Cycle Foundation to organize Plog Runs across 50 localities in the city on October 2, 2018.

Unboxing BLR Foundation
Prashanth was instrumental in starting the initiative to curate, facilitate and catalyze activities that will enable the citizens and communities of Bangalore to participate better with their city.

Unboxing BLR is a participative and volunteer-driven project to craft a new brand narrative for Bangalore, through multiple media properties and perspectives. Bangalore is a ‘multiple city’ that has a rich past, spirited present and promising future. Our initiatives aspire to break down the silos and unbox Bangalore for you.

The projects will collaborate with multiple stakeholders - innovation ecosystem, cultural centers, government bodies, communities, and civil society – to document and communicate Bangalore’s journey.

Technology and Innovation Museum, Bengaluru
Prashanth conceptualise the Technology and innovation Museum in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru is to get a Technology and Innovation Museum, which will tell the story through the times, Bangalore’s History of Innovation and Inventiveness is long and Bengaluru is unique.

This will be India's first innovation museum India's tech capital will have built to international standards, the museum will be experiential and interactive, built on the lines of Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle and Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv. The Museum will have a anecdotal run though on the people who transformed Bengaluru.

It will showcase Bengaluru’s Technology, Start-up and Innovation Landscape on how Bengaluru became the Technology and Innovation Capital of the Country. Realising the importance of sustainability and eco-friendliness, the Museum will be merged with Greenery and established. The First Pillar would be Technology and Innovation, from Government Research Labs like HAL, ISRO, Bharath Electronics etc The Second Pillar from Corporates and the third pillar the showcase from the Start-up Ecosystem. It will have three components Past, Present and Future. Some of the Areas considered would be Agri Tech, Biotech, Climate & EV, Urban Tech, Space Tech, Digital Health, Digital Public Good like India Stack, Urban and Civic Tech

Bengaluru Environment and Heritage Trust (BEHT)
Prashanth has pioneered efforts to set up Bengaluru Environment and Heritage Trust (BEHT), a Public Private partnership with the Government of Karnataka, with a vision to create social, ecological and cultural public spaces in Bengaluru that are affordable and accessible to all citizens.

Museum of Art and Photography
Prashanth is on the Board of Directors and on the Founding Circle of Museum of Art and Photography

Situated in the heart of Bengaluru, India, MAP’s building will include art galleries, an auditorium, an art and research library, an education centre, a specialised research and conservation facility, as well as a terrace cafe.

Culkey Foundation
Prashanth chairs Culkey Foundation which assist in Preservation of heritage temples now in poor condition, he has pioneered the re-development of a temple in Ramanagara District of Karnataka as a model temple and aims to rejuvenate 100+ Temples also impacting local economy through increased foot falls and help assist publish historical, religious, and architectural data locally and online

Revamping Nandi Halt Station
Prashanth has funded and started the revamp of the Nandi halt Station a Heritage Station with roots from the Colonial past which began operation in 1915 built on the Bengaluru(SBC) - Chikkaballapura Light Railway built by Sir M Visversvaraya