Shashi Srikantan

Shashi Srikantan is the Head of Ventures for Hearst Level Up, where she leads investments in early-stage startups founded by Black and Latino founders. Previously, Srikantan spent over a decade at Hearst’s credit rating business, Fitch Ratings, where she held various analytical roles within the agency’s Structured Finance business, spearheaded Fitch’s ESG product rollout for the company’s global asset-backed securities portfolio, and worked with the corporate development team to identify and evaluate cybersecurity risk platforms for potential strategic partnership. Srikantan’s prior work includes launching PLVSH, a fashion tech startup, and experience with the Leveraged Finance team at BNP Paribas and at Credit Suisse. 

Srikantan serves as a Global Board Member for Columbia Venture Community where she founded Project 2.8, an accelerator program for female entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of launching a company. She also serves as a Scout for HearstLab, Hearst’s investment platform for early-stage women-led startups. Srikantan holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and received a bachelor’s in Finance from Villanova University.