Kalpesh Kapadia
Kalpesh Kapadia’s career spans 27+ years in the US and Asia, primarily in technology and finance. He came to the US over 27 years ago as a young student and struggled to establish his credit profile. In 2013, he co-founded Deserve, a Cloud based, API centric software platform that enables a delightful digital/mobile cardholder experience for consumers and Modern card program management for partners supported by a full suite of reward, reporting, analytics, and customer service. Prior to co-founding Deserve he was one of the foremost analyst/investors in Wall Street’s tech sector. In 2004 he was ranked the #1 analyst in the US across all sectors by the Wall Street Journal. In 2005 he founded Equanum Capital and successfully managed it through 2012. Kalpesh has an MBA from Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon where he serves on the alumni board and as a proud member of W.L. Mellon Society. He also has an MS in Industrial Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. His personal and charitable interests focus on empowerment and upliftment through higher education. Kalpesh is a member/supporter of organizations such as Cato Institute, Santa Fe Institute, Foundation for Excellence, Indiaspora and American Himalayan Foundation. He is also a member of Bay Area chapters of Commonwealth Club and the Churchill Club.
Deserve
Deserve is powering the future of fintech through digital-first, mobile-centric, highly configurable API and SDK based credit card solutions. Using machine learning and alternative data, Deserve provides partners with state of the art underwriting solutions that expand financial access. Deserve partners with financial institutions, fintechs, and modern consumer brands, universities and associations to develop, rapidly deploy and power white label and co-branded credit card programs. Deserve is a venture-backed fintech company whose investors include Visa, Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, Sallie Mae, Ally Ventures, Accel, Pelion Venture Partners, Aspect Ventures, and Mission Holdings.