Bala has been a Wall Street analyst and a two-time start-up executive (with one exit) before becoming a VC. He was previously a Partner at Kalaari Capital, a leading early-stage venture capital firm where he backed start-ups across lending, mobile brokerage, credit scoring, food/grocery, and media. Before Kalaari, Bala was part of management teams at two successful analytics start-ups where he ran sales, marketing, and product functions. His last start-up, Amba Research, was acquired by Moody's (NYSE:MCO) in 2013. Bala started his career as a Wall Street analyst covering the software sector in San Francisco. He has an undergraduate degree from BITS, Pilani, and an MBA from the University of Toledo.