Naresh Bangia

Naresh Bangia is a Toronto-based entrepreneur and angel investor best known as the founder of AJB Software Design Inc., a payment gateway and switching-solutions company. University of Toronto’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery describes him as the CEO and founder of AJB, and its Entrepreneur Mentors in Residence page identifies him as Founder and President. AJB was founded in 1994 and built software that integrated POS systems, pin-pad hardware, and payment authorizers for major retailers.

AJB became a Toronto-area payments infrastructure provider serving large merchants in the U.S. and Canada. Verifone announced in January 2016 that it had signed an agreement to acquire AJB; Verifone’s SEC filings later state that it acquired AJB on February 2, 2016 for approximately $79.5 million in cash, subject to adjustments and up to $10.0 million of contingent consideration. Verifone’s 2016 Form 10-K later reported cash payments totaling approximately $87.5 million plus contingent consideration.

Before AJB, Bangia co-founded Connecting Solutions, a software-solutions company focused on the retail market. He is an Engineering Science graduate of the University of Toronto, with LinkedIn listing University of Toronto attendance from 1984 to 1987.

After AJB, Bangia remained active in entrepreneurship as an angel investor and mentor. The University of Toronto recognized him with a 2021 Arbor Award, noting that since 2015 he had mentored startups, advised on pitching methodology, volunteered as a Hatchery Demo Day judge, and served as a former Hatchery Entrepreneur Mentor in Residence.

• Invests at the seed and early-stage end of the market; University of Toronto describes him as active in “providing value adding capital to early stage companies.”
• Strong fit with B2B/software founders, especially those selling to enterprises or complex commercial buyers; his Hatchery mentor topic is “First Sales Pitch B2B/Software.”
• Brings founder-operator pattern recognition from bootstrapping AJB from 1994 to its 2016 Verifone sale, with emphasis on shortening sales cycles, improving project delivery, and maintaining EBITDA.
• Particularly credible in retail payments, POS middleware, merchant infrastructure, and logistics-adjacent software, given AJB’s focus on large retailers and his participation in Second Closet/Bolt.
• Likely values disciplined execution and measurable operating improvements: in a Digital Pathways testimonial, he said strategy deployment and executive coaching supported innovation and that AJB’s lean digital transformation doubled growth rate within two years.