Madhu Yalamarthi
Founder of Modak
Madhu Yalamarthi
Founder of Modak
San Francisco Bay Area
Overview
Work Experience
Cofounder and CEO
2022 - Current
Modak is a US-based platform leveraging the power of fintech, gamification, and community to empower teens to reach their full potential. We are founded with an audacious vision to enable teens and young adults to reach their full potential, regardless of their background. We pursue this mission by offering a gamified fintech and learning ecosystem - with teen cards, financial literacy, and other services. We build for scale and security using advanced technologies and enrich the user experience with a thriving community that supports each other. Modak is trusted by over 40,000 teenagers (and growing by the day!). We are a global company, with teams across the US and LatAm and we do in-person retreats every 2-3 months. If you are hungry to learn, humble to work with, and hustle like no one else, we would love to hear from you - especially if you are living in the US, Bogota, or Buenos Aires. We are one of the most well-funded early stage startups, and we are grateful for the 3+ years of runway we have even in this market. Our investors include GGV Capital ($9.2Billion VC firm), Monashees, Maya Capital, Nazca VC, One VC, and 30+ leading angel investors and entrepreneurs across Silicon Valley and Latin America. DM me to make history together!
Vice President
2021 - 2022
Worked as an apprentice to Managing Partner, Hans Tung (Midas List #3; 9-time lister) to assist with investments in the US, India, and Latin America. Transitioned to EIR role in Jan 2022. Investments I helped make and supported actively: Summary: Diligenced over 750 startups; 16 investments, 4 homegrown unicorns, and 1 exit B2B Retail: Frubana (Series A, B, and C, Latin America); Udaan (Series D and D+, India); Khatabook (Series A, B, and C, India); and ShelfEngine (Series A and B, USA) EdTech: Vedantu (Series C, D, and E, India); Labster (Series B and C, USA/Europe) eCommerce: Facily (Series C and D, Brazil); Jokr (Series A and B, US and Latam); and Loggi (Series C and D, Brazil) FinTech: Rupeek (Series C and D, India); Turtlemint (Series C and D, India); Stori Card (Series B, Mexico); Addi (Series B and C, Colombia) SaaS: Otter.AI (Series A and B, USA); Slintel (Series A and exit, India/USA) Hardware: Arevo/ Superstrata (Series B, USA/Vietnam) Thought leadership and communities I support lead: https://nextbn.ggvc.com/ https://integratedderivates.substack.com/
Senior Associate
2019 - 2021
GGV Capital is a multi-stage, global venture capital firm with $9.2 billion in assets under management. 300 past and present investments, over 30 IPOs. Notable investments include Airbnb, Alibaba, ByteDance, Didi Chuxing, Grab, HashiCorp, Lime, Opendoor, Peleton, Slack, Square, Wish, Xiaomi, and more. Joined as an MBA Associate intern first and then as full-time Senior Associate.
Director of Product - Founding Team
2016 - 2017
Co-led the setup of India operations. Led the development of new products and partnerships portfolio. Supported commercialization of the developed technologies by identifying, marketing, and negotiating with at scale vendors and partners. Created/led first of their kind development sector product development partnerships - with a mainstream design thinking company, contract R&D firm, and mainstream vendors. Product portfolio: 3x cheaper drill that can drill an irrigation well for <$50 in less than a day, 4x cheaper vaccine fridge, a revolutionary eco-sanitation toilet, and energy efficient consumer appliances.
Project Leader - Strategy and Analytics Team
2014 - 2016
Led teams of 4-8 local analysts and technical experts to deliver high priority projects for the Prime Minister and cabinet of Ethiopia. Role and organization supported by the Gates Foundation. Delivered 12 high-profile projects for the Prime Minister and his cabinet: - Developed procurement, storage, and distribution networks worth $600Mn for Ethiopia’s grain reserve, which provided food-aid to over 16 million people in the following year’s El Nino drought - Planned the country's flagship agriculture commercialization and job creation initiative to support ~1.9Mn families - Provided due-diligence support to facilitate investment by one of the top 10 global FMCG companies Also led the 100 hour/year analyst training program, developed the knowledge management system in partnership with IT, and brought economists on board through a partnership with the ODI Fellowship.
Consultant
2012 - 2014
Leading management consulting firm in emerging markets, focused on social and economic development. Received two promotions: Both with shortest possible tenure of 12 months due to strong performance; one of the top performers in the analyst cohort across 10 global offices. Project experience in water and sanitation, agriculture, ICT, and energy sectors on cases related to strategy, value chain development, market-entry, the theory of change, and impact investing.