Rakesh Pullabhatla specializes in serving as a CFO and Chief Strategy Officer for AI-, Fintech-, Blockchain-, DefenseTech-, and SaaS-driven companies, helping management teams scale operations, professionalize finance, and prepare for institutional growth.
As a finance executive and Consulting CFO, Rakesh has worked extensively across AI, Fintech, Blockchain infrastructure, and enterprise SaaS, supporting companies from early stage through growth, fundraising, and exit. He has held in-house leadership roles at high-impact technology companies, including Planet Labs (NYSE: PL), a global satellite imaging and data company, and Boku (AIM: BOKU), a leading mobile payments platform.
Rakesh’s AI experience spans the full stack—from data infrastructure for large language models (Unstructured.io), to foundation model development (DeepCogito AI), to applied AI systems in supply chain contexts (Helios AI), and healthcare analytics platforms (Whiterabbit AI). His work focuses on translating technically complex AI products into scalable unit economics, investor-grade forecasting, and defensible financial narratives.
Rakesh’s Fintech experience covers a broad range of business models, including mobile payments (Boku), neobanks (Illume Financial, Anatomy Financial), buy-now-pay-later platforms (Kueski, Bankaya), digital wallets (Fynbos), proptech and real-world asset platforms (Haus), and bill payment and financial operations companies (ZilMoney).
Rakesh's blockchain experience has focused on infrastructure, treasury, and governance rather than speculation, including work with blockchain foundations, tokenized asset platforms, and crypto-adjacent operating companies. In these contexts, Rakesh has helped management teams design entity structures, capital flows, and reporting frameworks that meet institutional investor and regulatory expectations.
In his role as a CFO consultant, Rakesh has led companies through successful financial and IRS audits, built treasury management and capital allocation frameworks, partnered with external stakeholders and boards, and supported day-to-day operational decision-making—always with an emphasis on balance-sheet clarity, controls, and investor readiness.
Rakesh holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, India, and is both a CFA charterholder and a CPA.