Former Sequoia Capital MDs To Launch A $291 Mn Fund To Invest In Series B Startups

Two former managing directors (MDs) – V T Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago from the Sequoia Capital are joining hands to launch a new $291 Mn (INR 2000 Cr) investment company  A91 partners.

The duo will be investing in emerging companies across sectors such as consumer, healthcare, financial services, and technology.

The fund plans to start investments by early next year. It will look to cut cheques of $10-30 Mn, coming in typically at the Series-B stage startups.

The duo has earlier worked together at the McKinsey before and has spent a decade together at the Sequoia Capital.

They have been part of the investments in companies like Prataap Snacks, Hector Beverages, Star Health Insurance, Oyo Rooms, Indigo Paints, and Ola Cabs among others.

V T Bharadwaj, on the launch, said, “Gautam and I believe this is the right time for us to be embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in the investment business.”

He further said that they both want to be active, meaningful, long-term partners in the best emerging small and medium-sized private companies in India.

The company will be among a new set of investment funds started by leading executives who have gone independent after long stints at bigger investment companies.

Similar to this was when four Sequoia executives had moved out and had formed an independent fund in 2011. The four MDs of the India unit including Sumir Chadha,  K P Balraj, Sandeep Singhal, and S K Jain had come together to revive WestBridge Capital as a primarily public markets fund.

A few similar exits include:

• Rishi Navani, co-founder and MD at Matrix Partners had quit to launch Epiq Capital.
• Kanwaljit Singh, Helion Ventures Partner’s founding partner had formed Fireside Ventures.
• Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, fund managers from SAIF Partners launched Pravega Ventures in 2016.

Earlier, in 2016, three senior executives from Helion Venture Partners – Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal, and Rahul Chowdhri had come together to start Stellaris Venture Partners.

Inc42 DataLabs, in its H1 2018 funding report observed that fewer startups are being able to crack seed-stage funding deals. However, amid this dry run of funds, mature startups or the startups at growth stage have been able to take in big-ticket size fundings.

“The number of deals in H1 2018 increased by 15% compared to H2 2017. However, the funding amount fell by 40% compared to H2 2017 and by 18% compared to H1 2017,” mentions the Inc42 tech startup funding report H1 2018.

[The development was reported by TOI.]