Keenai names Varun Mittal to lead Singapore expansion

Keenai has appointed Varun Mittal as country head for Singapore as the wealthtech platform prepares to launch Keenai Wealth on 19 August and extend its reach across Southeast Asia. The company said Mittal will lead distribution, partnerships and client acquisition as the platform targets a wider group of accredited investors.

Keenai was built in partnership with Lighthouse Canton and is positioned as a platform for accredited investors. According to the company, Keenai Wealth will combine access to major asset classes, including bonds, hedge funds and structured notes, through a single account supported by Lighthouse Canton’s institutional infrastructure.

The appointment places an experienced fintech and financial services executive at the front of Keenai’s Singapore entry. Keenai said Mittal will be responsible for introducing the platform in the city-state and building its presence in the region, where private wealth platforms compete on access, product range and execution infrastructure.

A single-account model can reduce the operational separation that investors often face when holding products across multiple providers. In Keenai’s case, the company said the account structure is intended to give accredited investors access to a broad investment shelf through one platform, while relying on Lighthouse Canton’s infrastructure for institutional support.

Fintech and insurance background

Mittal was most recently chief digital and innovation officer at Singlife. Keenai said he led product and distribution innovation at the insurer and helped it secure the largest share of Singapore’s digital life insurance segment.

Earlier in his career, Mittal joined helloPay as its first marketing and sales hire. The company, described by Keenai as the region’s first pan-ASEAN digital wallet, grew to more than 20 million users and a workforce of more than 160 people across six countries before it was acquired by Ant Financial.

Mittal also led EY’s global emerging-markets fintech practice across 130 countries, according to Keenai. He has twice been included in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Top 10 FinTech Leaders list, the company said.

Alongside his corporate roles, Mittal founded Fintech Nation, a Singapore-based platform that includes a book series, an investment fund and a mentorship initiative. He also co-founded the Singapore FinTech Association. Keenai said he has co-written two bestselling books: Singapore: The Fintech Nation and The Fintech Nation: Excellence Unlocked in Singapore.

Regional growth plan

Shilpi Chowdhary, founder and group chief executive of Lighthouse Canton and Keenai Global, said Mittal’s experience in building platforms across banking, payments and investing was suited to Keenai’s next phase in Southeast Asia.

“Varun has built and scaled platforms that changed how people in this region bank, pay and invest,” Chowdhary said. “That is exactly the experience Keenai needs as we open Southeast Asia's next chapter.”

Mittal said accredited investors in Asia have been poorly served by fragmented platforms and older infrastructure. “Keenai changes that by giving them one account with full access to the world's investment opportunities,” he said. He added that the company’s investment shelf had been designed for that client base and that he would focus on building the team and partnerships behind the platform.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.