Falgu Shah

Falgu Shah is a Partner at Next Billion Capital Partners, an emerging-markets investment firm she co-founded in 2019. She met co-founders Ken Toyoda and Ruzgar Barisik while working at the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2014, where they helped build the technology-investment practice; they later launched Next Billion alongside veteran tech investor and author Christopher Schroeder. At the IFC she was part of a team that built a $1B+ platform investing in early- to growth-stage fintech, climate, and healthcare businesses across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Her career began in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in London, followed by an internship at the Bank of England. Before and around her IFC work she held roles as a Private Equity Associate at Actis (Johannesburg) and in business operations (BizOps) at Lori Systems, a logistics-technology company in Nairobi. This mix of banking, institutional PE/VC, and operating experience across Africa and Asia underpins her focus on digital businesses in high-growth developing markets.

Today she leads Business Operations at Paystack, the pan-African online payments company (acquired by Stripe), where she works on the operational side of payments infrastructure for African merchants — while remaining an active investor through Next Billion Capital Partners.

She holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick and a joint Master's in Public Administration and Business Administration from Harvard University (Harvard Kennedy School) and the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).

• Invests in tech-driven, digital-economy companies serving the "next billion" consumers and small businesses in emerging markets — the firm's stated belief is that these markets are where "availability of capital falls far short of the rapidly growing needs of local companies," generating both returns and impact.
• Sectors: fintech and embedded finance (salary-on-demand, payroll lending, SME credit and commerce), insurtech, and digital healthcare.
• Geographies: Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa — backing "category leaders" in each region.
• Stage: Next Billion targets early- to growth-stage companies (its inaugural fund made 16 early-stage investments); as an individual angel she is active at seed and early rounds.
• What makes her say yes: proven, tech-enabled businesses solving financial-inclusion and access problems for underserved consumers and SMEs, led by teams with strong local operating insight — an area she understands firsthand from her operating role at Paystack and Lori.