VT Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago, two former managing directors of India unit of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, have teamed up to launch a new Rs 2,000 crore (~ $290 million) investment firm, which will back early- to growth-stage private companies, reported Times of India citing people privy to the development.
According to the report, the new investment firm called as ‘A91 Partners‘ will invest in emerging start-up ventures across consumer, healthcare, financial services and technology sectors. The upcoming firm aim to start making investments by early 2019 with ticket size of $10-30 million, typically at the series-B stage.
Bharadwaj, who had worked for over decade at Sequoia Capital India, quit the firm in April this year, hinting that he is about to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations. Prior to this, Gautam Mago had already resigned from the VC firm.
Confirming the report, Bharadwaj said to TOI, “Gautam and I believe this is the right time for us to be embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in the investment business. We want to be active meaningful long-term partners in the best emerging small- and mid-sized private companies in India.”
An IIM-Ahmedabad alumni, Bharadwaj had previously worked with McKinsey & Company as an engagement manager for six years till 2007. He currently serves on the board of 14 companies including Genesis Colours, Indigo Paints, Hector Beverages, RAW Pressery, Urban Ladder, Healthkart, among others.
In 2011, a similar intance took place when four founding MDs of the Sequoia Capital India unit — Sumir Chadha, K P Balaraj, Sandeep Singhal and S K Jain — relaunched WestBridge Capital, a public markets fund which focuses on investments in India. Later in March this year, it was reported that while KP Balaraj retired, SK Jain is planning to start his own family office to back new-age entrepreneurs.
In 2016, three senior executives from Helion Venture Partners — Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal and Rahul Chowdhri — came together to start Stellaris Venture Partners, a technology-focused fund. Others like Rishi Navani, co-founder & MD at Matrix Partners, quit to launch Epiq Capital. Helion Venture Partners’ founding partner Kanwaljit Singh formed Fireside Ventures. SAIF Partners also saw two of its fund managers, Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, leave to launch Pravega Ventures in 2016.
Earlier this month, Sashi Parvatha Reddi, a veteran entrepreneur and angel investor, launched of $100 Mn early-stage venture capital fund – SRI Capital Fund-I, his first technology-focused fund.
In this same month, Ganesh Ventures, set up by Jessica Wong (former founding partner, Cyber Carrier, a Hong Kong based VC) announce $250 million fund for investing in Indian Startups. The Fund aims to invest this amount in Indian startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech and health-tech over the next 3-5 years. The first close has been at $30 million
Source: IndianWeb2
