Sharad Devarajan is a media entrepreneur, producer and creator. His most recent company, Graphic India, is the culmination of his lifelong dream to launch superheroes and genre stories that tap into the unique creativity and culture of India but appeal to audiences worldwide. In the same way the West has created superheroes or Japan launched anime, Graphic India is transforming the perception of India in character entertainment from being an ‘outsourcer” to being ‘the source.’ The Company is one of India’s largest graphic novel producers and developes and produces multi-platform IP for live action film and televison, animation, podcasts, gaming and publishing. Devarajan has created over 200 animated TV/digital episodes and either published, edited or created over 300 comics and graphic novels. Some of his work includes the award winning animated series, “Astra Force” which premiered as a top rated show on Disney Channel India which he created with Indian icon, Amitabh Bachchan; He was also the Co-Creator and a Showrunner/Executive Producer, with S.S. Rajamouli and Arka Mediaworks, on the series “Baahubali: The Lost Legends,” which premiered on Amazon Prime Video in India and is currently on its fifth season after 71 episodes. Most recently Devarajan was Co-Creator and a Showrunner/Executive Producer of the first original animated series to premiere on Disney+Hotstar, “The Legend of Hanuman” which became the top binged and top watched show across all streaming platforms in India upon launch (as per Ormax Media/ChromeOTT).

Kirthiga Reddy brings over twenty years of experience leading technology-driven transformations to her role as Co-founder & CEO, Virtualness. She is Founding Investment Partner of F7 seed fund. She serves on the Board of Directors for WeWork and Pear. Previously, she was the first female Investing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA), manager of the $100B+ SoftBank Vision Fund. At SBIA, Kirthiga focused on frontier, enterprise and health tech investments and managed a portfolio of $5B+. She served on the Board of Directors for Collective Health and Fungible. She also served on the Investment Committee for Emerge, global accelerator for brilliant companies led by underrepresented founders. Prior to SBIA, she was Managing Director, Facebook India and South Asia for over six years, starting as their first employee in India. Her subsequent experiences at Facebook focused on emerging and high-growth markets including Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and the Middle East. She has also served as Chair, Stanford Business School Management Board. Kirthiga holds an MBA from Stanford University, where she graduated with highest honors as an Arjay Miller Scholar, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and a B.E. in Computer Science from Marathwada University, India. She has been recognized as Fortune India’s “Most Powerful Women” and as Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business” among other recognitions.

Tara Tan is founder and Managing Partner of Strange Ventures, an early stage VC fund that seeks to be the first creative partners to bold technology founders. She spent the last 7 years investing at global design and strategy firm IDEO, achieving a top-quartile track record across two institutional funds. Prior to investing, Tara was an operator and founder. She led design at an early-stage deep tech unicorn and founded an interactive media company that created the world’s first location-based game in 2012. She is a frequent speaker on the power of design in venture, and has been invited to speak at SXSW, SF Design Week, and more. She holds a Masters in Design and Technology from Harvard, where she was co-Chair of Women in Design and a fellow at the Harvard Graduate Leadership Program.

David Higley is a Partner in Perella Weinberg’s Advisory business. Based in Los Angeles, Mr. Higley is part of the Firm’s Global Media & Technology Group, providing strategic advice to clients globally in the media, entertainment and technology sectors. Mr. Higley joined Perella Weinberg from Lazard, where he served as a Managing Director and the Global Head of the Interactive Media and Technologies Group, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic advisory. Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Higley was the Founder and Managing Partner of Bond Lane Partners, a boutique investment bank focused on digital media and interactive entertainment. Previously, Mr. Higley was a Managing Director and the Global Head of Digital Media at UBS Investment Bank. Mr. Higley earned a BBA from the University of Southern California and a JD from the University of Virginia.