Shweta Rajpal Kohli of Sequoia India on Bridging Innovation and Regulation

Shweta Rajpal Kohli is Chief Public Policy Officer, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia. She advises the fund’s Indian and Southeast Asian portfolio companies on regulatory risks and engages policymakers on matters related to India’s startup ecosystem. Prior to joining Sequoia, Shweta was the head of public policy for India and South Asia at Uber, and then at Salesforce, following a two-decade career as a leading business journalist and TV news anchor. With 2021 projected to see a record of around USD 20 billion invested in Indian startups, Shweta and Rexon discussed the tremendous opportunities in India’s innovation ecosystem, including in the FinTech, EdTech, and enterprise tech sectors. They also weighed the regulatory challenges surrounding data localization and overseas listing for Indian startups, and Shweta offered advice for CEOs of multinational tech companies as they navigate India’s evolving policy environment.