Ana Bakshi
Advisory Council Member
Driven by a deep commitment to social impact, Ana Bakshi has spent her career focusing on initiatives that can change the world for the better. Currently, Ana is the Chief Operating Officer of Quench.ai, a start-up focused on connecting company data and internal tools to power AI search and deploy AI agents seamlessly.
Her journey began with studying international development and advocating for refugee rights within the government. From there, Ana spent a decade building Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centres, including founding King’s College London’s Entrepreneurship Institute and Oxford University’s first interdisciplinary centre for Entrepreneurship. By securing strategic partnerships with major organizations, including FTSE 100 companies, and with seed investment from leading entrepreneurs such as the co-founders of LinkedIn and Twitter, Ana was able to launch startup programs to help scale a new generation of founders and upskill thousands in entrepreneurship and technology. This includes supporting early-stage technology companies solving some of the world’s biggest challenges across healthcare, climate, and finance. Startups supported by the accelerator programs alone have raised over £320 million in investment, generated over £103 million in revenue, and created over 1,500 jobs.
Ana is committed to equity in business and has actively worked to create more inclusive startup ecosystems. At Oxford, she launched the university’s first women-focused startup program, as well as Entrepreneurship Fellowship programs – including paid internship schemes for Black and Brown students to work in startups – while also enabling the university’s first scholarships for Black British students from disadvantaged backgrounds.