Lendable welcomes Niraj Khalpada as Chief Data Officer. With 23 years of experience in data, analytics, and AI leadership at Thomson Reuters, Home Credit India, AGS Health, Capgemini Invent, and Annik, Niraj will drive Lendable's AI ambitions to deliver greater value for investors, partners, and borrowers worldwide.
Lendable is proud to announce that Niraj Khalpada has joined the team as the new Chief Data Officer. Niraj is a global data, analytics, and AI executive with over two decades of experience leading enterprise transformation. His appointment is a highly strategic investment, as Niraj will play a crucial role in driving the evolution of Lendable’s data and technology capabilities as the company accelerates its AI ambitions.
Data is in Lendable’s DNA
Data has been a throughline for Lendable since the beginning. Eleven years ago, Lendable was founded to unlock capital for the real economy in emerging markets by solving what was essentially an information problem. In most emerging markets, creditworthy borrowers needed capital that couldn’t reach them because there wasn’t enough reliable data to price risk accurately. As a result, 2 billion people worldwide were underserved or outright excluded from access to finance.
To close this gap, Lendable was the first company in its space to build live data integrations and analytics. This data platform, Maestro, has remained at the core of the company’s process and is used to price and monitor risk to this day. The data engine has enabled Lendable to deliver consistent returns across market cycles and to provide investors with real-time visibility into loan performance.
The next stage of the data revolution and Lendable’s AI philosophy
Eleven years on, the world is facing another data-driven revolution. For companies, AI offers an invaluable opportunity, but also real challenges. Through Maestro, Lendable processes data from 208 million loans across 36 billion data points. AI creates the opportunity to drive greater value from this industry-leading aggregation infrastructure.
Capturing this opportunity, however, requires the right approach. Lendable sees AI as a technology that should help draw out the firm’s embedded know-how and turn it into explicit, codified logic. Therefore, when it comes to core business processes, AI should, whenever possible, be used to design deterministic flows rather than for probabilistic guesswork.
Following those principles, everyone at Lendable relies on AI systems that are structured, predictable, and repeatable. This provides teams with secure, AI-powered tools that help people make better decisions. At scale, this transformation has the potential to generate a real impact on the value delivered to stakeholders, from investors and partners to the borrowers that Lendable ultimately serves.
Niraj’s experience
Niraj will play a crucial part in leading this transition. He brings 23 years of experience in data, analytics, and AI leadership. Most recently, as VP of GTM Analytics at Thomson Reuters, he led global projects to deploy GenAI and Agentic AI to reimagine revenue orchestration, drive enterprise-wide AI adoption, and embed intelligent workflows into daily operations. Previously, as Chief Data Officer at Home Credit India, he owned the enterprise data and AI agenda for a consumer finance platform serving more than 150 million customers. He also held senior leadership roles at AGS Health, Capgemini Invent, and Annik.
Niraj has experience leading global teams of more than 250 people. He holds an MBA from London Business School and a Master’s in Computer Applications and is based in Gurgaon, India, confirming Lendable’s commitment to building a truly global team.
Niraj’s track record in translating AI strategy into operational impact makes him the right person to build Lendable’s next-generation data and AI capabilities, ensuring the company scales responsibly, automates processes safely, and reinforces its mission-driven approach to financial inclusion.
On joining, Niraj said what drew him in was the chance to build a lean, high-performing data and AI function within a mission-driven organisation, where the link between his work and financial inclusion outcomes is direct rather than several layers removed, as it usually is at larger institutions.
Strategic projects already underway
Niraj is already at work on several strategic initiatives. Lendable is introducing AI-powered automation and intelligent workflows across key business functions to reduce manual effort. In this way, the company can enable its teams to focus on higher-value activities, accelerate decision-making, and strengthen portfolio management. This will result in lower execution costs and enhanced value for investors and partners.
Furthermore, Lendable is integrating AI-assisted analytics frameworks and automated data quality controls into its data ecosystem. These capabilities will help accelerate borrower onboarding and enhance the depth and reliability of insights.
Niraj’s team is also responsible for leveraging technical assistance grants from development finance institutions to strengthen verification and reporting, enabling Lendable to support more borrowers and the wider ecosystem.
Everyone at Lendable is excited about the experience Niraj brings to the team and confident he’ll be a valuable asset as the company enters its next chapter, remaining at the forefront of technology and data.