Sundip Patel

Sundip Patel is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AVANA Companies, the holding company for the ESG fintech platform serving entrepreneurs and investors since 2002. Sundip oversees the LendThrive™ and EqualSeat ™ platforms for lending and investment, respectively, focused on supporting sustainable growth in communities. LendThriveTM was created to provide frictionless capital to small businesses in America while EqualSeatTM was created to democratize the returns from the small business loan investments.

Prior to founding AVANA, Sundip created the popular tech startup Huddle247.com, providing online business services for workgroup collaboration, and which PC Magazine rated among the top virtual workplace solutions in 2000. He also founded SOFTECT, a California-based technology training start-up.

Sundip earned an MBA from the University of California, Irvine in 1998 and bachelors’ degrees in economics, finance, and accounting from California State University at Fullerton in 1990. He holds both a CPA and CMA licenses in California, USA.

Sundip splits his time between the headquarters in Bahrain, Middle East and Phoenix, Arizona, USA. With his passion for helping others, he founded the Giggle Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides funding towards basic health, education, and empowerment for underprivileged people in the USA, Africa, and India. Sundip is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (Bahrain and San Francisco Gold), the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO), and the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL).

Sundip is a frequent speaker on investing, lending, ESG, fintech, and technology.