Blacksmith is a developer infrastructure company building a code execution platform for software engineering teams focused on CI/CD. The company designs compute, co-located storage, virtualisation, and scheduling as a unified stack optimised for speed, making it one of the fastest ways to run continuous integration. Jain joins as CFO, with a primary focus on compute economics and building the finance function.
Before Blacksmith, he was the third employee and first business hire at Slope, a YC-backed B2B embedded finance platform. Operating partly as a lender, Slope required a financial architecture more complex than a typical software company; Jain built every non-engineering function from scratch: finance, legal, regulatory, and compliance, and secured significant warehouse credit facilities from First Citizens, JPMorgan, and Trinity Capital.
Beyond the infrastructure build, he drove Slope's commercial distribution directly, bringing in enterprise partners across retail and payments infrastructure, a crossover from the typical CFO mandate that he identifies as among his most consequential contributions.
Finance is one of the most under-leveraged growth levers a startup has.
The best finance leaders don't just keep the books. They extend runway,
structure capital that changes what a company can do next, and build the
systems that let it scale across borders.
Startup Finance 30 is the first list built to recognise that work.
Beginning in 2026 and continuing annually, we name 30 finance leaders at
venture-backed, globally ambitious startups. The operators shaping how the
next generation of companies grow.
What Startup Finance 30 is
“
Who's doing the most consequential finance work in the startup world right now?
This list is the answer.
FAQ
More information on how SF30 works.
Who's behind Startup Finance 30?
Startup Finance 30 is published by Airwallex. We built it because we work with globally ambitious companies every day, and the finance leaders driving that growth deserve more recognition than they get. Selection sits with the committee.
Who selects the final 30?
A committee of operating CFOs and finance leaders. They score every candidate against a five-part merit rubric and ratify the final list. See the full
selection methodology.
Is there a fee? Can I pay to be included?
No. It's free to enter, and recognition is earned on merit.
