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Rishi Khosla OBE

Co-Founder and CEO of OakNorth

London, UK

Rishi Khosla
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Rishi’s Biography

Rishi Khosla OBE is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of a leading financial technology company, OakNorth.

As a capitalist, he believes entrepreneurs drive innovation, social progress and economic growth, and that everyone can prosper by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset.

This vision led Rishi Khosla to build his first business, Copal Partners (which later became Copal Amba) in 2002 with his business partner, Joel Perlman. Together, they grew the business to 3,000 employees across 11 markets, before selling it to Moody’s Corporation in 2014.

In 2015, they launched OakNorth on the belief that the level of depth, detail, data and analytics that has typically been limited to institutional banking can be applied to commercial banking, and in doing so, power the commercial economy of the future.

Rishi Khosla is deeply invested in fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and are creating environments for aspiring entrepreneurs through their Mentorpreneurship Programme in partnership with LSE Generate. The Programme is helping support initiatives...
Rishi Khosla OBE is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of a leading financial technology company, OakNorth.

As a capitalist, he believes entrepreneurs drive innovation, social progress and economic growth, and that everyone can prosper by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset.

This vision led Rishi Khosla to build his first business, Copal Partners (which later became Copal Amba) in 2002 with his business partner, Joel Perlman. Together, they grew the business to 3,000 employees across 11 markets, before selling it to Moody’s Corporation in 2014.

In 2015, they launched OakNorth on the belief that the level of depth, detail, data and analytics that has typically been limited to institutional banking can be applied to commercial banking, and in doing so, power the commercial economy of the future.

Rishi Khosla is deeply invested in fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and are creating environments for aspiring entrepreneurs through their Mentorpreneurship Programme in partnership with LSE Generate. The Programme is helping support initiatives in the educational space, working with schools and academies to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit in the next generation.

Rishi Khosla believes in fostering potential at an early level. The ambition of his and his wife’s foundation, The Rishi and Milan Khosla Foundation, is to support and boost early childhood development, which is key to enabling and nurturing the agency, creativity and curiosity that unleashes potential. The Foundation is also committed to supporting diversity in the entrepreneurial space. One way in which it does this is by driving female empowerment in underprivileged communities; for example, by supporting women starting micro-enterprises in the Himalayas.

Rishi Khosla was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in HM The Queen’s 2020 New Year Honours list for his services to business.
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Rishi’s Newsfeed

The Times
Opting for HSBC is ‘lost opportunity’ for UK ambition, warns OakNorth founder

Rishi Khosla, co-founder and chief executive of OakNorth Bank, warned that the decision to hand Silicon Valley Bank’s British business to HSBC could undermine ambitions for the UK to become a technology superpower.

Reuters
SoftBank-backed OakNorth leans towards U.S. IPO

Rishi Khosla, chief executive of OakNorth Bank, is considering a prospective stock market listing in the United States.

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Rishi’s Background

OakNorth Credit Intelligence
Co-Founder
Sep 2015 - Present
London, UK
OakNorth Credit Intelligence is a fintech platform enabling lenders to originate, underwrite, monitor, and book bespoke loans to SMEs faster, more efficiently and with more rigour. Its cloud-based technology sources millions of data items on SMEs across various parameters, sectors, and markets, and uses machine learning algorithms to identify data that lenders need to make more informed decisions.
OakNorth Bank
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Sep 2015 - Present
London, UK
Launched in 2015, OakNorth Bank helps the UK's most ambitious firms access the rapid, flexible debt finance they need to expand, while helping savers make their money go further. With capital ranging from £250,000 to millions of pounds, the bank has lent several billion pounds to firms across a variety of sectors, directly contributing to the creation of thousands of new jobs and affordable homes.
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Rishi’s Gallery

Current Board Positions

OakNorth Credit Intelligence
Board Member
London, UK
OakNorth Credit Intelligence is a fintech platform that enables lenders to originate, underwrite, monitor, and book bespoke loans to SMEs faster, more efficiently and with more rigour.
OakNorth Bank
Board Member
London, UK
OakNorth Bank is a UK bank that provides fast, flexible and accessible debt finance to fast-growth businesses and established property developers.

Philanthropy

Rishi & Milan Khosla Foundation
Co-Founder
London, UK
The Rishi and Milan Khosla Foundation is a private family foundation founded by Rishi and Milan Khosla focused on supporting new and innovative projects which deal with some core societal issues, including early childhood development, female empowerment, the environment.

Media

Bloomberg UK Politics Podcast
Nov 2022
Rishi Khosla is interviewed on Bloomberg Radio’s UK Politics Podcast and discusses how to make London a more attractive listing option for tech companies and the importance of balancing growth and profitability in business.
OakNorth CEO Rishi Khosla OBE
Podcast
Aug 2022
‘Inside the ICE House’ takes listeners behind the scenes of the New York Stock Exchange. In this podcast, host Josh King talks to Rishi Khosla, founder of challenger bank OakNorth.
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Interviews

Rishi Khosla: Those Who Think Young
Dec 2022
In a new series focused on the startup ecosystem, Entrepreneur India talks to co-Founder and CEO of OakNorth, Rishi Khosla, about creating successful fintech businesses, favourite books and India-UK bilateral trade.
Bloomberg UK Politics Podcast
Nov 2022
Rishi Khosla is interviewed on Bloomberg Radio’s UK Politics Podcast and discusses how to make London a more attractive listing option for tech companies and the importance of balancing growth and profitability in business.
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Features

Banks on the attack as Jeremy Hunt mulls windfall tax
Oct 2022
London, UK
Rishi Khosla, CEO of OakNorth bank, was featured in this article in The Times.
Beyond The UK Government’s Fintech Review: Scaling Digital Britain Globally
Featured
Feb 2022
Rishi is quoted in this article by Forbes regarding the importance of fit-for-purpose regulation in accelerating growth in a company.
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Publications

For businesses, a dash of pessimism is the key to resilience
Author
Nov 2023
London, UK
Rishi Khosla, writing in the Evening Standard, advises business leaders and entrepreneurs to ask the question “What’s the worst that could happen?” And then ask: “Where’s the opportunity?”
This is how entrepreneurship will change in 2023
Author
Jan 2023
This article by Rishi Khosla, Co-Founder and CEO of OakNorth bank, is part of the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos.
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Awards & Recognition

ScaleUp Awards
Business Leader of the Year
2020
London, UK
Hosted by Business Leader, the ScaleUp Awards recognises innovative, high-growth companies that are trailblazers in their markets. In 2020, Rishi was named Business Leader of the Year at the ScaleUp Awards.
New Year Honours
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
2019
London, UK
Rishi, Co-Founder of OakNorth Bank, was awarded an OBE for Services to Business.
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Speaking Engagements

FT Live: Global Banking Summit
Nov 2022
London, UK
Rishi joins panel members to discuss how banks can continue their digital transformation during a downturn.
SVC2UK Summit 2022 logo SVC2UK Summit 2022 logo
SVC2UK Summit 2022
Speaker
Nov 2022
London, UK
Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) gathers the best minds from the world of technology to discuss game-changing ideas for the future.
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Rishi’s Education

University College London
BSc in Economics
London School of Economics
Masters in Accounting & Finance