Seasoned fintech leader joins PE Gate to drive growth and expand access to private market opportunities.
PE Gate announced that Mahima Poddar, former Group Head at Equitable Bank, has joined as a General Partner. Poddar brings more than 15 years of experience building and scaling disruptive financial platforms and is backing PE Gate with both her strategic leadership and personal capital.
Poddar began her career at Boston Consulting Group before joining Equitable Bank in 2016 as Head of Corporate Development and Strategy. She went on to lead EQ Bank, its digital arm, and later all of Personal Banking, driving growth through innovation, partnerships, and a culture of ownership. Her leadership earned recognition among WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada and The Globe and Mail’s Best Executives of 2024.
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Mahima has built her career breaking down barriers in finance. After redefining banking for Canadians, she’s now making private equity investing accessible to more people through PE Gate.”
— Ara Sahakian, Managing Partner at PE Gate
Poddar’s work at EQ Bank proved that accessible, transparent finance can change how people interact with their money. At PE Gate, she’s bringing that same vision to private equity to open wealth creation to more investors.
As General Partner, Poddar will help shape PE Gate’s growing marketplace, designed to give accredited investors direct access to Canadian private companies and the freedom to invest and exit on their own terms. Her focus will be on applying the same customer-first principles that defined her work at EQ Bank, helping PE Gate remove barriers such as high minimums, long lockups, and complex structures that have kept private equity limited to institutions and the ultra-wealthy.
“At PE Gate, we’re building a platform that gives investors access, transparency, and choice in private markets,” said Mahima Poddar. “Those same principles guided my work over the last decade, where I’ve been helping people take control of their financial future. I’m investing my own capital because I believe this model represents the future of wealth building.”
In her new role, Poddar will also bring hands-on operational support to PE Gate’s portfolio companies, drawing on her experience leading enterprise-scale organizations and her deep expertise in M&A, marketing, digital transformation, and strategic growth. Her approach, balancing innovation with sustainable economics while encouraging teams to think like owners, will help portfolio companies modernize operations, strengthen leadership teams, and scale with purpose.
Poddar’s appointment as General Partner reinforces PE Gate’s commitment to combining institutional-grade expertise with innovative technology to simplify how private equity deals are sourced, funded, and managed through its proprietary online platform.
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