Bala Malladi

Bala Malladi is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over two decades of senior operating experience. The bulk of his early career — roughly 17 years — was spent at Unilever, where he worked across finance, strategy and supply chain on assignments in both India and Europe. He also headed the commercial function of Kimberly-Clark Lever, representing Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in that joint venture, before moving into the telecom and broadband sector.

He is best known as the long-serving Chief Executive Officer of ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies), the Bengaluru-headquartered company that operates the ACT Fibernet broadband and digital-cable brand. Malladi took charge as CEO in 2008 and led the business for about 16 years, overseeing strategic planning, acquisitions and the rollout of services such as HDTV, IPTV and high-speed fiber broadband (including ACT's 1 Gbps "Giga" plans). Under his tenure ACT grew from a regional player into one of India's largest wired-broadband providers.

In September 2024, ACT announced that Malladi would step down as CEO, with PVV Srinivasa Rao ("Srini") appointed as his successor; Malladi was to oversee the leadership transition before his departure. Alongside his corporate role, he became active as an angel investor in 2019.

• Invests at the angel / seed stage in India, typically as part of a syndicate of experienced operators and advisors rather than as a lead institutional investor.
• Sector interest centers on enterprise applications and people-management / HR-tech, aligned with his own background running large organizations and teams.
• Brings an operator's value-add: after backing Great Manager Institute he joined the company's India Advisory Board, indicating he prefers deals where he can contribute strategic and leadership guidance, not just capital.
• Profile is that of a CxO-turned-angel — his co-investors on his known deal were senior HR/industry leaders (a CHRO and an ex-EVP), suggesting he invests within a trusted network of established executives.