Shailesh Mehta Joins Clearstone As Venture Partner; To Focus On Non-tech Deals
Exclusive: Silicon Valley venture fund Clearstone Venture Partners has roped in Shailesh J Mehta, the former CEO of multi-billion dollar credit card company Providian Financial Corp, as a venture partner.
Mehta - the management school of IIT Bombay, where he graduated, is named after him - will focus on non-tech and growth capital investments for Clearstone in India. He will be operating out of both India and Bay Area (Silicon Valley), and will look at non-tech deals in the range of $10 million, said Sumant Mandal, Managing Director, Clearstone, a US fund which currently manages $650 million, in an interview to VC Circle. Clearstone has backed companies like Paypal, eToys, Overture, United Online, and MP3.com.
Mandal said that it took a long while to convince Mehta to join Clearstone. Fifty eight-year old Mehta, who quit Providian in 2001, had been till recently president of Granite Hill Capital Ventures. He was also a general partner of Investco Funds, a $7 billion-fund, and was associated with Westbridge Capital Partners (now Sequoia Capital India).
The Mumbai-born Mehta is considered a mathematical genius and is credited of growing Providian from just $414 million in card balances to $2 billion in only three years between 1986 and 1989. He is believed to have used mathematical models in finding new customers and growing the credit card base.
Mandal said Mehta and the India team would work closely on deals. In fact, Mehta has played a key role in the recent $6.25 million investment in express cargo firm Elbee Express. Meanwhile, Mehta is also believed to be raising a small fund of his own to invest in India, but the details of this initiative are not available at the time of writing this article.
Clearstone’s India Plans
Mandal, who once ran his family’s hydropower business in Delhi, said that the fund is looking at investments in the renewable energy space. “Energy oriented businesses have a great future. We are at looking at other aspects of the business like technology rather than the generation of power,” he said.
Clearstone, which is currently raising a $35-450 million fund, is also in the process of expanding the India office. They plan to hire a couple of more investment professionals. The India office is headed by Rahul Khanna, a director.
Clearstone is in the process of finalising four more deals, while it has already closed four investments in India since it set up shop two years ago. It has invested in online bill payment solutions company BillDesk ($7.5 million together with SBI), custom design and manufacturer of mobile handsets DigiBee Microsystems ($8.5 million together with SIDBI), online gaming company Games2win ($ 5 million together with SVB Financial Group) and express cargo firm Elbee Express ($6.25 million together with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala).
