Vikas Raj

Biography

Vikas Raj is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. He is a noted expert on emerging markets, venture capital, and impact investing, with a particular focus on financial technology (fintech) and resilience.

Previously, Professor Raj was the Managing Director of Accion Venture Lab, the world’s first seed-stage venture fund focused on fintech for the underserved. At Venture Lab, Vikas led investments in over 50 innovative fintech startups across 30+ developing markets. As an investor, Board member, and advisor, Professor Raj has helped social enterprise technology startups around the world raise capital and scale, raising over $1 billion of capital and supporting over 20 million low-income consumers and 1 million underserved small businesses.

Prior to Venture Lab, Professor Raj was an M&A investment banker at Evercore Partners. He also helped build two pioneering entities in the microfinance space, as an early employee at Ujjivan and ASA International, both of which are now publicly traded companies.

Professor Raj has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has an MBA from Columbia Business School (2010). He is also an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).