Startup Grind Seattle Hosts Kushal Chakrabarti (Founder and Co-Chair, Vittana)

Wednesday, 26 June



Kushal Chakrabarti is the founder and board co-chair of Vittana, a non-profit that fights youth poverty in developing nations. It pioneered the Vittana Loan — a $750 student micro-loan that can triple a girl’s income. An award-winning organization, Vittana works in 13 countries,helps 1,000+ youth escape poverty every month and its impact is regularly highlighted in world press including the Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and many others.

Previously, Kushal ran technology for a $1 billion team at Amazon and is the author of 20+ patents and papers. He was recently named Social Innovator of the Year, one of Seattle’s Top 40 People Under 40 and voted the #1 Game-Changer in Philanthropy by 1.7 million readers on Huffington Post. Kushal is a frequent speaker on youth poverty, education and social entrepreneurship including SOCAP, Pop!Tech and TEDxBrussels.

In his free time, he races triathlons, takes pictures and works with dogs. Kushal lives in Seattle with his 2-year-old German Shepherd puppy.