Akshay Mittal — Founder

Akshay Mittal graduated from IIT Delhi and began his career at Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), a strategy consulting firm specializing in decision-making, risk management, and value creation. SDG was founded by Prof. Carl Spetzler, a faculty member at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. At SDG, Akshay advised senior executives across diverse industries, including infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, and power. He went on to pursue an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, where he graduated as a Shermet Scholar, ranking in the top 5% of his class. During his MBA, Akshay interned with BCG, working on a strategy project for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. He also collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, crafting a strategy to combat malaria and dengue. After completing his MBA, Akshay returned to India to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. He founded a fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain, inspired by Chipotle, his favorite U.S.-based food chain. Over the next decade, Akshay focused on expanding his family business in the basmati rice sector. Subsequently, he transitioned into the biotechnology space, founding a biotech startup dedicated to advancing genetic engineering and fermentation engineering through cutting-edge research and innovation. Based in Mumbai, Akshay is also an active angel investor, having made over a dozen investments in e-commerce, internet/mobile, food tech, B2B SaaS, consumer goods, and biotech sectors. He can be reached at mittal.akshay@firstcoffee.in. Specialties: Start-ups, business operations, consulting, decision analysis, risk analysis, business strategy development, competitive analysis, financial modeling, and M&A. Interests: Angel investing, seed-stage investing, start-ups, management consulting, product innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Biotechnology entrepreneur with strong consulting and investment expertise.

Experience: 18 yrs

Skills

Biotechnology
Entrepreneurship

Career Highlights

Graduated top 5% from Darden School of Business
Founded multiple successful ventures in diverse industries
Active angel investor with over a dozen investments

Work Experience

StrainX Biotech

Founder & CEO (3 yrs 2 mos)

First Coffee Ventures

Partner (12 yrs 2 mos)

Sagar Nutriments

Founder (9 yrs)

Picante Mexican Grill

Founder (3 yrs)

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Consultant (0 mo)

Strategic Decisions Group (SDG)

Associate (2 yrs)

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Research Intern (3 mos)

Ospedale San Raffaele

Research Intern (3 mos)

Ranbaxy

R&D Intern (3 mos)

Education

Bachelor of Technology at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Master of Technology at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

MBA at University of Virginia Darden School of Business

CFA Charter at CFA Institute

Senior Secondary at Birla Senior Secondary School, Pilani

Akshay Mittal

Founder

India18 yrs experience

Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Graduated top 5% from Darden School of Business
Founded multiple successful ventures in diverse industries
Active angel investor with over a dozen investments

Stackforce AI infers this person is a Biotechnology entrepreneur with strong consulting and investment expertise.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

BiotechnologyEntrepreneurship

Other Skills

BiomanufacturingBusiness AnalysisBusiness OperationsBusiness PlanningBusiness Strategy DevelopmentCompetitive AnalysisConsultingCorporate FinanceCross-functional Team LeadershipData AnalysisDecision AnalysisExecutive ManagementFinancial AnalysisFinancial ModelingInvestments

About

Experience

Strainx biotech

Founder & CEO

Jan 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 2 mos · India

StrainX is a next-generation synthetic biology company engineering high-value bio-based molecules for food, nutraceuticals, beauty, and personal care. At StrainX, we combine deep R&D with radically capital-efficient execution to build sustainable, scalable alternatives to traditional chemical and agricultural supply chains. We are on a mission to redefine how functional ingredients are discovered, produced, and brought to market through precision fermentation and advanced biomanufacturing.

BiotechnologyResearch and DevelopmentSynthetic BiologyBiomanufacturingEntrepreneurship

First coffee ventures

Partner

Jan 2014 – Present · 12 yrs 2 mos · Mumbai

First Coffee Ventures is the branding entity for our family office investments in public and private markets.
Our philosophy is to invest in the businesses that are focusing on large markets, have strong teams with good traction, founded by passionate entrepreneurs and backed by well-known co-investors.

Sagar nutriments

Founder

Jan 2014 – Jan 2023 · 9 yrs · Bhopal

Sagar Rice is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of premium basmati and non-basmati rice. We offer all kinds of basmati and non-basmati rice of all ages and tastes, across the world.
Sourced from the foothills of the Himalayas and other major rice-growing states of India, each grain of Sagar rice is handpicked, tested for quality and carefully processed 100% without human touch to serve our customers with unmatched hygine and taste and to ensure joy in every meal.

Picante mexican grill

Founder

Jan 2011 – Jan 2014 · 3 yrs · Gurugram, Haryana, India

Picante was a venture with the vision to be a leading fast casual Mexican food restaurant chain in India.

The boston consulting group (bcg)

Consultant

Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 · 0 mo · Washington DC-Baltimore Area

BCG is a global management consulting firm and the world's leading advisor on business strategy. It partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises.

Strategic decisions group (sdg)

Associate

Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 · 2 yrs · Gurugram, Haryana, India

Founded in 1981, SDG is a strategic management consulting group that helps global businesses raise the quality of their decisions—and their decision-making processes.At the heart of SDG’s service offering is Decision Quality (DQ), a practical and systematic methodology that improves strategic decisions and the ability to gauge their value potential immediately—not just in hindsight at some future point.

University of pennsylvania school of medicine

Research Intern

May 2006 – Aug 2006 · 3 mos · Greater Philadelphia Area

Selected out of 50 candidates worldwide – fully funded by UPENN
Designed micro-controller gene therapy device for Muscular Dystrophy
Continued to be an external consultant to the team for next one year and built several devices for the gene therapy experiments.

Ospedale san raffaele

Research Intern

May 2005 – Aug 2005 · 3 mos · Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Worked in a multilingual and multicultural team to analyze and study oxygen related stress conditions; hypoxia & exposure to hydrogen peroxide for secretion of HMGB1 protein by mammalian endothelial cells
Results supported the hypothesis of signal transmission in cells
Received PhD offer at the institute based on my research work