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Aneesh Varma
Founder & CEO at Aire
Aneesh Varma is a British-American entrepreneur, inventor, and angel investor, best known as the founder and CEO of Aire, a fintech company that focuses on innovative credit scoring solutions. He established Aire in 2014 with the mission to enhance financial inclusion by using machine learning to evaluate creditworthiness more effectively than traditional methods.12
Education and Early Career
Varma demonstrated exceptional mathematical talent from a young age, achieving a perfect score on the Cambridge University Advanced Mathematics course at just 15 years old. He later attended Lehigh University in the USA, where he studied Engineering and Quantitative Finance. His academic prowess earned him recognition as a Martindale Scholar and he completed PhD coursework during his undergraduate studies.1
Before founding Aire, Varma co-founded FabriQate, which gained accolades such as being named an HSBC Startup Star and receiving multiple awards from the British Council. His career also includes a position at JPMorgan in New York, where he worked on financial technology transactions for major companies like Visa.12
Achievements and Recognition
Varma has been recognized for his contributions to the fintech industry, being featured in Business Insider's 35 under 35 Fintech list in 2018. He was also nominated as one of the European Commission's Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2014 and received the Technology Innovator of the Year award in 2020 for his work in credit.12
Advocacy
In addition to his entrepreneurial efforts, Varma is an advocate for financial inclusion, striving to create systems that allow broader access to credit for individuals who may be overlooked by traditional scoring methods.12 He continues to engage with various non-profit initiatives, serving on boards such as the Lehigh University Alumni Association.1
Aneesh Varma's work through Aire exemplifies his commitment to leveraging technology for social impact, particularly in the realm of finance.