Two former senior executives at multi-stage investment firm Sequoia Capital, VT Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago, have joined hands to float a fund to invest in privately held small and mid-sized companies.
The new fund, A91 Partners, will back entrepreneurs in the consumer, pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial services and technology sectors, Bharadwaj’s LinkedIn profile shows. Bharadwaj did not respond to a phone call and a text message seeking comment.
A partner at another global investment firm said on the condition of anonymity said that both Bharadwaj and Mago have “an excellent track record” and that it should be easy for them to raise capital from Limited Partners (LPs) as they have previously worked together.
Separately, The Times of India, citing people it didn’t identify, said the fund size will be Rs 2,000 crore ($291 million). The fund is likely to invest $10-30 million at the Series B stage of a company.
Bharadwaj decided to leave Sequoia after 11 years at the venture capital and growth-stage investor in April. He was on the boards of 14 healthcare and consumer firms in Sequoia’s portfolio. These included mother-care and child-care company Cloudnine, beverage firm RAW Pressery, diagnostics player Suburban Diagnostics, chips maker Prataap Snacks and women clothes’ firm Go Colors, according to Sequoia’s website.
Mago, another managing director at Sequoia Capital, had resigned after 10 years last year. He was involved in at least 16 of Sequoia’s portfolio firms, including mobile wallet company MobiKwik, branded budget hotel marketplace OYO Rooms, cab-hailing firm Ola, digital healthcare platform Practo and online furniture store UrbanLadder.
On their own
A number of former executives at major venture capital firms have come together to float their own ventures.
In 2014, homegrown venture capital firm Helion Venture Partners’ co-founder Kanwaljit Singh quit and later launched his own early-stage venture fund Fireside Ventures.
Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, two principals at SAIF Partners, left the firm in January 2016 to start an early-stage firm Pravega Ventures. The same year, Matrix Partners’ co-founder Rishi Navani quit the firm to float investment firm Epiq Capital. IDG Ventures India’s co-founder Manik Arora also moved out of the venture capital firm in 2015.
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