Financial Valuation for Early Stage Impact Ventures

Professor Gita Rao will host a lunch training session on financial valuation for early stage startups focused on creating environmental or social impact through innovative products and services. We will discuss commonly used valuation methods (first chicago/VC method, DCF, Comps, etc.) and sample valuations for early-stage social enterprises. This session is required for MIINT fellows, while also open to all students at MIT. Lunch will be provided.

Speaker Bio:
Gita R. Rao is a Senior Lecturer in Finance, and Associate Faculty Director of the Master of Finance program at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She has over two decades of experience in global investing, asset allocation, risk management, and client service. In addition, she has managed socially responsible portfolios and teaches a course on social impact investing at MIT Sloan. Dr. Rao is the founder and president of Aspari Capital, a consultancy focused on quantitative research and portfolio strategies for institutional investors. Her previous roles include: portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, managing global long-short portfolios and co-director of quantitative equity research; associate partner and director of quantitative equity research at Wellington Management Company, managing over $4 billion in global equity portfolios on a team responsible for $15 billion in client assets; senior vice president at Liberty Financial Companies, managing over $1 billion in global and international equity/balanced mutual funds and serving on the firm's investment policy committee; senior research analyst at Fidelity Management & Research Company and vice president at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York. Dr. Rao has served as a president of the Society of Quantitative Analysts, on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal, on the board of trustees of the Research Foundation of the CFA Institute, and as Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Rochester, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a BA in Economics from Delhi University's St. Stephen's College in India.

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