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.moreless
Fintech firms like OakNorth, founded by Rishi and Joel Perlman, are building tools to help banks identify clean lending opportunities and manage their Scope 3 emissions so they can start decarbonizing their portfolios.
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.
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.
In 2013, financial research outsourcing company Copal Partners acquired Amba Research and became Copal Amba. In 2014, the company became known as Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services following Moody’s Corporation's acquisition of Copal Amba.
Copal Partners was founded in 2002 to help the corporate finance departments of top investment banks, and it quickly established itself as a leader in outsourced financial research.
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.
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.
Rishi joins Timo Boldt on the Boldt Flavours podcast to discuss how he approaches starting a company and his views on becoming a highly successful business leader.
Rishi joins CNBC's ESG Council to discuss the strategies and challenges that businesses face in creating and developing solutions for sustainable finance.
In this interview with Sky News, Rishi discusses OakNorth Bank and its software project, ON Credit Intelligence Suite, which enables banks to enhance their lending.
Rishi speaks to The Times’ Richard Tyler about providing mentoring support for young entrepreneurs following his backing of an initiative with the London School of Economics.
In this series, Innovate Finance speaks to fintech founders, global bank executives, change-makers and influencers to find out what they think the future of financial services looks like. In this installment, Rishi Kholsa shares his insights.
Tunde Olanrewaju of McKinsey & Company chats to Rishi about key lessons learnt from the 2008 financial crises that helped weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rishi is featured in this The Times article regarding firms searching for top talent and how buying smaller companies is a way of bringing in top talent.
Rishi is featured in an article by Financial News regarding OakNorth’s profits rising 18% in 2020, despite the uncertainty of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rishi is quoted in this American Banker piece discussing how OakNorth’s reaction to the pandemic has enabled the company to win sales at PNC and Customers Bancorp.
Rishi writes for Wired about how banks need to rethink their techniques and start using real-time data to minimise lending mistakes in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Rishi explores the period of uncertainty caused by COVID-19 in this article for AWS Partner Network (APN), as well as how he believes additional commercial lenders will emerge as a result of digital transformation.
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.
The Asian Achievers Awards, hosted by global advisory firm EPG, honours innovative and outstanding individuals within the South Asian community. In 2018, Rishi was named Business Person of the Year.
Rishi was recognised alongside business partner Joel Perlman as a game-changing entrepreneur by Maserati, in partnership with The Sunday Times. The list is compiled to celebrate the positive impact entrepreneurs have on the economy and society as a whole.
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award
UK Regional Winner
2011
London, UK
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ is a global program recognizing the entrepreneurial achievement among individuals and companies that demonstrate vision, leadership and success. They work to improve the quality of life in their communities, countries and around the world.
The Innovate Finance Global Summit, held in London, brings together the best and brightest from the fintech ecosystem to debate and discuss the most pressing challenges confronting the sector and beyond.
The FINSUM Fintech Summit has become Japan’s largest annual gathering of financial technology leaders. The 2021 Summit explored the role of financial innovation in socio-economic recovery following one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. The Missing Middle Funding Gap is discussed by Rishi, as well as how lenders can address it.
Rishi joins Tech Nation to share his own growth journey and to describe the characteristics that make the UK a great destination for founders from across the globe.
