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Rishi Khosla OBE

Co-Founder and CEO of OakNorth

London, UK


Rishi Khosla
Sneh Khemka
Simplyhealth
Joelle Khouri
Dubai Government

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
Pupils will be mentored to become entrepreneurs

Rishi Khosla wants to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into the business world.

London Loves Business
Skills crisis holding back seven in 10 SMEs from scaling up

Rishi Khosla, co-founder and CEO of OakNorth, said: “We sponsored this report because we understand the positive impact that successful growing businesses have on the UK economy. Our lending of approximately £10 billion to date has directly contributed to the creation of over 40,000 new employment opportunities and 29,000 new homes."

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Rishi’s Background

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.
 
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.
 
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Rishi’s Gallery

Current Board Positions

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.
 
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.
 

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

The Unicorn Podcast: Building a $5bn Company From Scratch
Podcast
Jul 2023
Rishi Khosla, CEO and founder of OakNorth, talks to Simon Squibb about the challenges and triumphs of creating a $5 billion bank on The Unicorn Podcast.
 
Off to Lunch podcast: OakNorth - Trying to buy Silicon Valley Bank UK
Podcast
Mar 2023
In this Off to Lunch podcast, Rishi Khosla, co-founder and chief executive of OakNorth, recalls how his company bid for Silicon Valley Bank UK over a hectic weekend in March 2023.
 
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Interviews

Branching out: The AltFi interview with Rishi Khosla
Interviewee
Oct 2023
London, UK
OakNorth’s CEO and co-founder discusses the UK economy, his bank’s ambitious climate targets and its attempted acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank.
 
Selling SVB to HSBC was the wrong decision for UK startups, says OakNorth CEO
Interviewee
Sep 2023
London, UK
In this interview Rishi Khosla claims that HSBC is too large to support high-growth companies, and that an OakNorth-SVB merger would have been a better fit.
 
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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

Talent scout: it’s time to close the UK’s tech skills gap
Author
Jun 2023
London, UK
Rishi Khosla OBE suggests that big tech is experiencing a period of change - and that more can be done in the UK to harness a global talent pool.
 
For businesses, a dash of pessimism is the key to resilience
Author
Mar 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?”
 
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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

London Tech Week: Keynote address on UK Fintech
Keynote speaker
Jun 2023
Rishi Khosla delivered a keynote speech at London Tech Week about the current status of fintech in the UK.
 
FT Live: Global Banking Summit
Panel member
Nov 2022
London, UK
Rishi joins panel members to discuss how banks can continue their digital transformation during a downturn.
 
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Rishi’s Education

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