CEO, VAR Capital, Co-Founder
Vikash Gupta is CEO and co-founder of Monument Bank, a UK-based internet-first bank focused on affluent clients, which he co-founded with Mintoo Bhandari. Monument is headquartered at 33 Cavendish Square, London, and has raised $176M in funding across eight rounds, with Dubai Investments among its investors. In parallel, Gupta serves as CEO and co-founder of VAR Capital, a multi-family office based in London, a role he has held since 2016.
Prior to founding VAR Capital and Monument, Gupta worked at Barclays Wealth Management from 2008 to 2015 as a director in key clients and family offices. Before that, he was a Lead Associate at Booz & Company from 2006 to 2008, and a Senior Associate at Sapient from 2000 to 2004. He began his career as an Analyst at Planetasia in 1999. He also holds board positions including investor co-founder and board member at Greenr Technologies and member of the board of directors at W8 Wealth. He holds an MBA in Strategy and Finance from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, completed between 2003 and 2005, and a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University, completed between 1994 and 1998. In March 2022, he was issued an FT Non-Executive Director Diploma at the BTEC Level 7 Advanced Professional Diploma level.
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Strategic Partnerships & Private Events
Noé Giglio leads Strategic Partnerships and Private Events at The Big Whale, a market intelligence platform on digital assets founded in 2022 and headquartered in Paris. He is based in London and has been active in the digital assets sector since 2019, building expertise across onchain finance and investment strategies and a network spanning financial institutions, corporates, and digital asset companies across Europe.
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Head of Institutional Research
Max Coniglio is Head of Institutional Research at The Big Whale, an independent market intelligence platform on digital assets founded in 2022 and headquartered in Paris. In this role he sits within the firm's research and analyst team, which produces editorial coverage, briefings, and research serving the platform's institutional client base.
MD, Head of EMEA Fintech at J.P. Morgan
Manuel Costescu is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, where he co-heads the EMEA Innovation Economy team and serves as a Global Fintech Champion. In this role he advises the region's fastest-growing fintech, SaaS and e-commerce companies across a range of corporate and investment banking solutions.
Costescu began his career as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York, and earlier worked as a banker at J.P. Morgan covering European public sector clients before returning to the firm. He is a regular speaker at industry events on innovation, fintech and digital finance.
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