Leap 300
Challenged
Everything
We Believed.

We’re tech-loving problem solvers
but driven by our personal stories.

Karan Bajaj

Founder & CEO

Founder & CEO, WhiteHat Jr (Acq BYJU’s), CEO, Discovery India; Leadership: Kraft, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Procter & Gamble (P&G), India & US. Bestselling Novelist.

We’d spent six months in the field running pilot after pilot. Women were starting businesses that worked. But something was missing.

Then, one day in a conference room, it struck us: startups work because there’s urgency. Why shouldn’t a development program have the same? Milestones help organize instead of create pressure.

We gave the journey a deadline:
300 days.

A comprehensive program structure, now being adopted by some of India’s largest states, emerged from there.

The moment also summarizes my intent: I want to use whatever skills I’ve acquired, through privilege or circumstances, for the widest good possible.

• 

  Vinod Raghuwanshi

  Co-Founder

  Ex-JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Infosys

  When I was first asked to help build Leap 300, I said no. Solving poverty with technology felt too open-ended, and moving continents with teenage children made no sense. But the idea had already taken root.

  What changed my mind was our approach: move with urgency, deliver measurable outcomes, and build for scale from day one. That became our north star. Every decision faced one test: does this move household income, and will it work at scale? We spent 18 months on 10 pilots with 100 families, tuning every process and line of code until the results held up in the field.

  Now we are scaling to hundreds of thousands of families across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. That north star still guides me.

• 

  David McDonnell

  Head of Development & Partnerships

  Ex Taoglas, Samsara, PCH International | University College Dublin

  My aunt Lena reluctantly retired from the development sector at the age of 81. For 40 years she helped thousands of the poorest children in Bolivia get an education. Dignity and frugality always stood at the center of her approach. She’s my inspiration for this work.

  I joined Leap 300 because I’ve spent my career helping companies build at scale, and our technology can now scale Lena’s vision. We will empower millions of women to create their own thriving micro-enterprises, lifting families out of poverty and improving children’s outcomes. Thank you for the light, Lena.

• 

  Chinmay Nema

  Head of Operations

  Ex-Founder | CultFit | IIT Kanpur

  I’m a startup operator at heart, having led large online and offline operations. I believe the speed, tech-led rigour and ambition of a startup should be pointed at humanity’s biggest problems, not only at driving more consumption. Leap300 is that belief in action: a tech-enabled system built to eliminate extreme poverty at population scale.

• 

  Lakshmi Mukundan

  Head of Government Partnerships

  Business Head at Urban Company | MBA from IIM Bangalore | B.Tech Electronics Engineering from IIT (BHU)

  At Urban Company, I saw first-hand how the right combination of skilling and access to capital could transform the financial lives of our service partners. I joined Leap 300 to take that model further, to the ultra-poor and at much larger scale, while keeping the speed and ownership of a startup environment.

• 

  Sunali Panda

  Head of Development & Partnerships

  Sr. Manager at Bain & Co. | MBA from IIM Bangalore | BA Psychology from Fergusson College

  I’ve had the privilege of being shaped by opportunities that have brought me to where I am today, and I believe that everyone deserves that chance. Financial freedom can open up a world of possibilities for women, giving them greater choice in how they live their lives. At Leap 300, I get to bring my love for solving problems together with the chance to learn from some incredible people, and hopefully, leave the world a little better than I found it.

• 

  Akash Bansal

  Head of Product Strategy and Branding

  Ex-Bain, Mastercard Advisors | MBA from IIM Lucknow | B.Tech from IIT BHU

  I’ve always found the idea of making a real difference in someone’s life deeply fulfilling. But what really drew me to Leap 300 was something else—the ambition to solve a problem as complex as poverty using cutting-edge technology and AI. Having spent years solving complex business problems, the idea of building great technology for people who need it the most was incredibly exciting. I’ve always believed that the best minds should be solving the world’s biggest problems. At Leap 300, that belief feels real.

Vinod Raghuwanshi

Co-Founder

Ex-JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Infosys

When I was first asked to help build Leap 300, I said no. Solving poverty with technology felt too open-ended, and moving continents with teenage children made no sense. But the idea had already taken root.

What changed my mind was our approach: move with urgency, deliver measurable outcomes, and build for scale from day one. That became our north star. Every decision faced one test: does this move household income, and will it work at scale? We spent 18 months on 10 pilots with 100 families, tuning every process and line of code until the results held up in the field.

Now we are scaling to hundreds of thousands of families across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. That north star still guides me.

David McDonnell

Head of Development & Partnerships

Ex Taoglas, Samsara, PCH International | University College Dublin

My aunt Lena reluctantly retired from the development sector at the age of 81. For 40 years she helped thousands of the poorest children in Bolivia get an education. Dignity and frugality always stood at the center of her approach. She’s my inspiration for this work.

I joined Leap 300 because I’ve spent my career helping companies build at scale, and our technology can now scale Lena’s vision. We will empower millions of women to create their own thriving micro-enterprises, lifting families out of poverty and improving children’s outcomes. Thank you for the light, Lena.

Chinmay Nema

Head of Operations

Ex-Founder | CultFit | IIT Kanpur

I’m a startup operator at heart, having led large online and offline operations. I believe the speed, tech-led rigour and ambition of a startup should be pointed at humanity’s biggest problems, not only at driving more consumption. Leap300 is that belief in action: a tech-enabled system built to eliminate extreme poverty at population scale.

Lakshmi Mukundan

Head of Government Partnerships

Business Head at Urban Company | MBA from IIM Bangalore | B.Tech Electronics Engineering from IIT (BHU)

At Urban Company, I saw first-hand how the right combination of skilling and access to capital could transform the financial lives of our service partners. I joined Leap 300 to take that model further, to the ultra-poor and at much larger scale, while keeping the speed and ownership of a startup environment.

Sunali Panda

Head of Development & Partnerships

Sr. Manager at Bain & Co. | MBA from IIM Bangalore | BA Psychology from Fergusson College

I’ve had the privilege of being shaped by opportunities that have brought me to where I am today, and I believe that everyone deserves that chance. Financial freedom can open up a world of possibilities for women, giving them greater choice in how they live their lives. At Leap 300, I get to bring my love for solving problems together with the chance to learn from some incredible people, and hopefully, leave the world a little better than I found it.

Akash Bansal

Head of Product Strategy and Branding

Ex-Bain, Mastercard Advisors | MBA from IIM Lucknow | B.Tech from IIT BHU

I’ve always found the idea of making a real difference in someone’s life deeply fulfilling. But what really drew me to Leap 300 was something else—the ambition to solve a problem as complex as poverty using cutting-edge technology and AI. Having spent years solving complex business problems, the idea of building great technology for people who need it the most was incredibly exciting. I’ve always believed that the best minds should be solving the world’s biggest problems. At Leap 300, that belief feels real.