Varun Chandra

Varun Chandra is the Global Managing Partner of Hakluyt, which advises leaders of the world’s largest companies and investment firms on the opportunities and risks facing their businesses. He previously led the firm’s financial sponsors practice out of New York.

Prior to joining Hakluyt, Varun worked in investment and merchant banking, advising on M&A, private equity investments, and business development. Initially trained at Lehman Brothers, he went on to help build a regulated advisory firm for former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, where he was responsible for transactions typically involving sovereign wealth and emerging markets businesses. He has also co-founded a merchant bank with a private family investment company; advised a UK foreign secretary on business and economic issues; written for various political publications; and invested in a number of early-stage companies.

He sits on various charitable and commercial boards, including Sesame Workshop, the world’s leading early learning media platform, IP Group, Inc (an early-stage technology investment firm based in the US), the British Asian Trust, the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and the Marylebone Cricket Club Foundation. Varun is also a Trustee of the Young Vic theatre, an Impact Director for Yaletown Partners (a venture and growth capital fund based in Canada), and a Trustee of the Royal Academy Trust.