Lightbox

Rashmi Guptey

CFO and General Counsel

Rashmi Guptey lives in the moment. A philosophy that plays to her intuitive, yet measured approach to addressing the myriad challenges that her role at Lightbox is presented with every day. A clear thinker, she has the ability to break down the most complex problems into workable solutions that take into consideration the interests of all involved stakeholders. Her natural curiosity combined with her meticulous working style enables Lightbox to push the limits and remain inside the lines at the same time. 

Early in her career, Rashmi chose to steer clear of the mainstream  corporate sector, considered a natural path after qualifying as a company secretary, to dive into the world of startups. After working in the trenches for six years at two young technology startups, her curiosity led her to embark on a “fascinating and exhilarating journey” into venture capital with Sherpalo Ventures and subsequently Lightbox. Through the years, she has come to deeply appreciate the tenacity and grit of founders, and equally, the Lightbox culture of valuing “good failures” and fostering an enabling environment for new ideas.

At Lightbox, Rashmi straddles the entire breadth of finance, legal and ESG functions. Her responsibilities include fund structuring and finance, overseeing compliances related to tax, governance and law, and investor reporting. Specific to portfolio companies, she is actively involved in investment and exit transactions, contributing to legal and operating diligence, investor reporting and governance. Additionally, she defines the ESG strategy for the firm and portfolio companies.

Beyond the numbers and legalese, Rashmi finds time to take road trips with her two young sons, explores the world of podcasts, experiments with bio-enzymes in her garden and even plays the guitar.

What's been keeping Rashmi busy lately?

“The funding winter in the startup and venture capital ecosystem has demanded higher attention to diligence and governance scrutiny, co-investor collaboration and founder alignment. This has involved evolving better practices across the finance, legal and ESG functions for Lightbox and the portfolio, creating forums for knowledge sharing on best practices with portfolio companies and getting across the important message that change is the only constant and past assumptions aren’t set in stone.”