Venkat Atluri

CEO and Managing Partner at SanTuri Ventures

Moderator

As the CEO and Managing Partner at SanTuri Ventures, he leads investments across a robust portfolio with keen focus on unlocking value through AI growth to drive attractive and sustainable returns with enabling platforms and ecosystems.

Venkat partners with entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and boards to create value through new business building from scale-up to initial public offerings (IPO), programmatic mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and end-to-end performance transformation. Keenly interested in the future of technology, Venkat brings a special focus on the cross-sector opportunities at the intersection of new technologies (AI and Gen AI) and emerging business models. He serves clients in the high-tech, media and telecommunications, advanced industries, and consumer sectors. He advises and collaborates with venture capital and private equity investors extensively to identify investment opportunities and drive value realization. He is a prolific investor himself in early and growth stage VC backed companies.

Venkat is a leading expert on the vast and emerging opportunities—created by the network connectivity of devices, systems, platforms, and people—powered by software and hardware. He draws on this expertise to guide clients through the design and deployment of network and ecosystem-based businesses across sectors. A thought leader at McKinsey, Venkat is a prolific author and sought-after speaker at industry events. He recently published a book on The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders.

He has held many leadership positions throughout his tenure at the firm. He currently leads global tech/telecom practice. Venkat cofounded and led McKinsey’s work in Internet of Things (IoT). As the founding member of our New Ventures group, he helped to incubate new analytic and digital assets, develop innovative client offerings, and build alliances and partnerships with innovators. Recently, he spearheaded digital, analytics (AI and Gen AI), and tech-enabled transformations for clients in advanced industries. Venkat also led efforts globally for the TMT Practice to help clients fast-track and sustain transformational impact through leadership alignment, execution support, capability building, and leadership development; with a distinctive set of assets and exceptional digital-learning programs. He previously led McKinsey’s Technology, Media, & Telecommunications (TMT) Practice in the Midwest United States. s

Prior to joining McKinsey, Venkat held global operating (P&L) leadership roles; overseeing large businesses and functions at General Electric as well as product development, management, and deployment at 3M.

Venkat Atluri earned master’s degree in business administration from Booth School of Business from University of Chicago in 2001, where he teaches as an Adjunct Professor.

Outside of McKinsey, Venkat serves on the board of 1871 - a leading start-up incubator in the world - and Founding member and Chairman of the board for Current Water, a nonprofit with a mission to nurture companies that are developing innovative water technologies to solve the world’s water challenges. The National Science Foundation has awarded Current for Great Lakes ReNEW a $160 million regional innovation engine to support our mission.