At his core, Vijay Thirumalai is an engineer who thinks like a financier and executes like a founder. He earned his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the prestigious National Institute of Technology Karnataka, followed by an M.S. in Computer Science & Mathematics from Ohio University.
His academic pursuit culminated in an MBA from INSEAD, where he sharpened his focus on entrepreneurship and finance—an intellectual blend that would later define his career.
Adding to his formidable credentials, Vijay Thirumalai is both a CFA Charterholder and a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM)—a rare combination that reflects his mastery of capital markets, risk strategy, and financial structuring.
Vijay Thirumalai: The Early Career – Corporate Depth Before Entrepreneurial Heights
Before building global ventures, Vijay Thirumalai developed a strong professional backbone in consulting, banking, and technology.
He began his career at ADP, one of the world’s largest payroll processors, in a consulting capacity—an experience that exposed him to enterprise-scale operations and systems thinking.
He later held leadership and product roles at institutions such as:
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IDFC
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ICICI Bank
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Motorola
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ABB
These roles grounded Vijay Thirumalai in operational excellence, financial discipline, and technology implementation at scale.
The Investment Banking Years: Raising Half a Billion and Beyond
Prior to his current entrepreneurial focus, Vijay Thirumalai built a formidable reputation in investment banking and private equity advisory. He advised startups and growth-stage companies across Southeast Asia on fundraising, mergers & acquisitions, and digital growth strategies.
Over the course of his advisory career, Vijay Thirumalai helped raise more than $0.5 billion in capital across a variety of financial instruments—equity, debt, structured products, and hybrid instruments.
He also worked closely with large corporates, guiding digital transformation initiatives, investment strategies, and acquisition roadmaps.
These years were not just about capital—they were about understanding how capital moves, why it flows, and how systems are built to attract it.
Vijay Thirumalai: The Entrepreneurial Leap – Building and Exiting Multi-Million Dollar Companies
Vijay Thirumalai is a rare founder who understands both the math of valuation and the art of execution.
He successfully built and exited two multi-million-dollar U.S.-based companies. Instead of resting on past success, he used those lessons to build bigger, faster, and smarter.
Today, he is scaling his third major venture in the GovTech space—already generating eight-figure revenues and expanding globally.
Scaling Cardinality & MyhCue: Health and Human Services Innovation
As Co-Founder of Cardinality.ai and builder of MyhCue, Vijay Thirumalai has demonstrated extraordinary operational capability.
In just three years:
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Team scaled from 3 employees to 100+
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Achieved 100%+ year-over-year growth
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Expanded operations to five continents
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Served customers in 30+ countries
These SaaS platforms focus on Health and Human Services—areas that demand regulatory intelligence, technical sophistication, and human-centered design.
Vijay Thirumalai didn’t just build products. He built global infrastructure.
Goldwater Global: Global Mobility Reimagined
If there is one venture that captures the soul of Vijay Thirumalai, it is Goldwater Global.
As Founder & CEO, he created Goldwater to solve a deeply personal pain point.
Years ago, his U.S. student visa was denied—despite holding a 75% scholarship and a teaching assistantship. It was a moment that could have defined him by limitation.
Instead, it became fuel.
Today, Vijay Thirumalai has built and exited U.S.-based companies, raised over $1 billion in capital across ventures, secured multiple residencies, and structured cross-border investments for his family.
Goldwater was born from that transformation.
The Vision Behind Goldwater
Goldwater exists to serve India’s top 1%—families and founders who want to expand globally with structure, compliance, and intelligence.
Unlike traditional immigration consultants, Goldwater combines:
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Wealth-tech precision
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Legal clarity
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Capital structuring expertise
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AI-driven compliance mapping
With client satisfaction consistently above 90%, Goldwater is pioneering the platformization of global mobility.
The Goldwater Difference
Vijay Thirumalai designed Goldwater with uncompromising standards:
Top 1% Pathways Only
Fewer than 5% of global programs are curated—vetted for safety, capital security, and policy stability.
Wealth-Optimized Structures
Residency timing aligns with tax residency, FEMA, RBI rules, and global asset strategies.
AI-Driven Diligence (GoldwaterOS)
Source-of-funds mapping, compliance risk flags, and regulatory stress testing—fully automated.
24/7 Mobility Concierge
From filing status to school searches, responses in minutes—not days.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Bank-level encryption and zero data resale.
Zero Commissions, Zero Kickbacks
Incentives aligned 100% with client outcomes.
Goldwater isn’t a visa consultancy. It is an operating system for cross-border ambition.
GenSigma & Horizon Tech: Expanding the Frontier
As CEO of GenSigma LLC and a founding member of a San Francisco-based AI automation firm, Horizon Tech, Vijay Thirumalai continues to operate at the intersection of AI, enterprise systems, and automation.
His ventures reflect a consistent pattern:
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Identify systemic inefficiency
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Build scalable AI-powered solutions
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Execute with financial precision
The Accelerator & Investor Mindset
Beyond his companies, Vijay Thirumalai actively invests in startups and runs an accelerator program guiding founders on go-to-market strategy, fundraising, and global expansion.
His mentorship philosophy is simple:
Structure beats noise.
Clarity beats speed.
Systems beat hustle.
He teaches founders to think globally from day one.
Vijay Thirumalai: Leadership Philosophy – Building Toward, Not Running From
In his letter as CEO of Goldwater, Vijay Thirumalai speaks not as a consultant—but as someone who understands the emotional cost of unequal access.
His message is powerful:
Global mobility should not feel like begging for entry.
It should feel like building expansion.
He believes Indian founders and wealth creators deserve intelligent systems—not friction.
His life demonstrates that setbacks are not endpoints. They are re-routes.