Asish Mohapatra is an Indian entrepreneur who is the co-founder and CEO of unicorn startup OFB Tech Pvt. Ltd or OfBusiness.
Wiki/Biography
Asish Mohapatra was born in 1980 (age 42 years; as of 2022) in Cuttack, Orissa. He did his schooling at SCB Medical Public School, Cuttack (ICSE, 10th). He further studied Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (10+2).
A picture of Asish with his sister clicked in 1985
In 2002, he completed his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Around 3 years later, he did a PGP-MBA course at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
Asish with his college friends during his days at IIT, Kharagpur
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His mother, Mishra Kuku, did her Ph.D. from IIT, Kharagpur. She was a physics professor in a college. She died in 2020 because of cancer. Asish has a sister, Snigdha.
Asish with his mother
Wife & Children
Asish is married to Ruchi Kalra.
Ruchi Kalra and Asish
The couple has a daughter, Khushi Mohapatra.
Asish with his daughter
Career
As an Employee
Asish was a summer trainee at Reckitt & Colman for 3 months in 2001. After finishing his B. Tech, he worked as a Maintenance Manager, and subsequently an Operations Manager at ITC Ltd., where he managed a team of a thousand people. He worked in management for almost 3 years and then did his MBA in 2005 at ISB, Hyderabad.
Asish during his days at ITC Limited
After completing his MBA, Asish got a job at McKinsey & Company, where he met his wife, Ruchi. He worked as an Engagement Manager, focusing on Healthcare, Pharma, and Medical products practice. In 2010, he started working as a senior associate and a venture capitalist at Matrix Management Corporation. He worked at Matrix, Mumbai for 4 years during which, he was a board member of 7 companies in the healthcare sector and 9 portfolio companies. He left his job in August 2015.
As an Entrepreneur
By the end of 2015, Asish came up with an idea to explore the uncharted B2B sector with a fintech startup.
The first OfBusiness session, circa Aug 2015
He, along with his wife and a few loyal members of his team found a startup called OFB Tech Pvt. Ltd or OfBusiness, which serves as a single-window for SMEs to get secured and unsecured credit. Asish became the CEO of the company upon its incorporation and started looking for investments. In 2021, Asish’s company became a unicorn, when it was backed by the Japanese multinational conglomerate, SoftBank Group Corp. by closing a $160 million funding round at a valuation of around $1.5 billion. In 2016, Asish, his wife, and a few others of their team started an offshoot of their previous startup, which became a lending arm that provides purchase financing to SMEs. This company was named Oxyzo, which became a unicorn in 2022.
The Oxyzo team (Asish standing in the 2nd row, 4th from left)
As a Director
Asish was licensed as an Independent Director by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs in November 2020. Meditrina Hospitals Pvt. Ltd was the first company that he joined as a director. He has been the director of various companies such as Oagriva Alliance Private Limited, Oxyzo Financial Services Private Limited, Ofb Tech Private Limited, Ofg Manufacturing Businesses Private Limited, and has been a nominee director of Omat Business Private Limited and Samruddhi Organic Farm (India) Private Limited.
Favourites
- Quote: When the going is tough, the tough get going!
- Month: March
- Singer: Lata Mangeshkar, Shreya Ghoshal
Facts/Trivia
- Asish stood 4th in Orissa in the 10+2 examinations.
- In 2016, Asish’s pitch to raise funding for his startup, OfBusiness, got rejected 73 times.
- Asish enjoys writing blogs and is fluent in Bengali, Hindi, English, and Oriya.
- Asish Mohapatra and his wife are considered India’s first couple to each run a unicorn.
- According to Asish, his success mantra involves 4 H which are, Hunger, Hustle, Humility, and Honesty.
Asish’s success mantra
