Ratan Tata recently launched his own venture capital firm — RNT Capital Advisers — with around $300 million capital in bank to start operations. Now, as per the reports from ETTech, the fund is now all set to invest in a couple Indian, Southeast Asian as well as US-based startups.
According to the report, the $300 million fund will deploy money in India-based mobile advertising platform InMobi and logistics startup Qikpod. The firm is also said to be in talks to invest in two US-based startups.
A source, who is very well aware of the matter, has revealed that the financing round at InMobi is yet to get finalized but the investment round for other three startups is expected to close soon.
The fund is targeting three regions for its investments – India, Southeast Asia and the US. Structured as an evergreen fund with an indefinite life, RNT Capital has University of California Investments (UC Investments) as its largest limited partnerRNT Capital Advisers, which is headquartered jointly in Mumbai and Singapore, will typically invest around $10-15 million into companies. Its focus area seems to be technology-backed businesses.
Mayank Singhal, who was with Temasek Holdings, would now be leading the India investments while Mathias Imbach, who has been with RNT Associates since last year, will look to build the fund’s presence in Southeast Asia.
Ratan Tata has been one of the most active angel investor in Indian startup since last couple of years. In this year alone, he has invested in more than 10 startups so far, including coupon website CashKaro.com, startup research firm Tracxn, baby care e-commerce store FirstCry, therapeutic cancer treatment startup Invictus oncology, home rental startup NestAway Technologies, retail technology startup SnapBizz, online ticketing platform Kyazoonga, and AI-powered chat platform, Niki.AI.
All of these investments were made in his personal capacity. While most of his investments were undisclosed, some reports suggests that his investments lies between Rs. 10 lakh to 1 crore. However, along with money, he also brings his experience, his knowledge and his deep industry connections.
