Rishi Roongta

Rishi Roongta is the founder of the Venture Ecosystem and serves as a Senior Innovation Expert.

Rishi holds more than 10 years of experience across venture capital (VC), startups and strategy consulting. He is a seasoned seed, A and B round investor with a broad network spanning San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. He has invested across next-gen CPG brands, consumer mobile apps, influencer marketing, eCommerce, healthtech and enterprise SaaS.

Rishi has also founded multiple early-stage startups in retail and real estate, as well as his own startup studio to prototype and test new concepts.

As founder of the Venture Ecosystem, Rishi supports clients on building both their innovation and ecosystem capabilities. Venture Ecosystem has built a global network of startups, venture capitalists, major tech players and innovation leaders to help drive innovation for our clients. He is deeply versed in launching new businesses, product development, business development, ecosystem-building, deal sourcing and diligence. Rishi has also played a critical role in delivering thought leadership and support to the launches of Bain’s newest offerings, including Innovation & Design, VCaaS and Bain Media Lab, where he was responsible for developing and driving the relationship with Hive.AI and Bain.

In his free time, Rishi has done nonprofit work in tandem with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Imagine1day, which aims to ensure every child in Ethiopia receives a quality education. He also launched Entrepreneur Impact Day, which brings together premiere startups and nonprofits to tackle pressing social challenges.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.