Natural Products Expo West

Akshat is an investment director at DSM Ventures, the venture capital arm of DSM that invests in companies working to tackle the world’s toughest challenges. He is responsible for investments in Europe and Israel in areas related to Nutrition, Health and Biosciences.

Prior to joining DSM in 2020, Akshat sat on both sides of the table as an entrepreneur and investor. He started his entrepreneurial career by building WTEnergy, India’s first carbon-trading platform and advisory services company, after which he embarked on his venture capital career at Sequoia Capital.

Akshat holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, and master’s degrees from the University of Amsterdam and the Delhi School of Economics.

Joana is Chief Executive Officer of NutriLeads BV. She joined the company in 2022 as Chief Commercial Officer and was quickly promoted to CEO and has led the company’s transition from a development company to a global commercial enterprise.

Before joining NutriLeads, Joana spent a decade at DSM, the science-based global company specializing in solutions for human and animal health and nutrition. There she held several leadership positions focused on research and development, new product launches and marketing, and strategic planning. In her last position as Global Commercial Operations Director, Joana had responsibility for B2B ingredients in the food and beverage market.

Joana has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Porto University and a Ph.D. in Catalysis Engineering from the Delft University of Technology.