Venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) has formed an advisory group for its India operations. The advisory group will help BVP India’s investment professionals identify and manage outstanding investment opportunities, and will also work with select BVP portfolio companies to help them achieve their goals. The advisory group will be headed by Sridar Iyengar, who was previously Chairman and CEO of KPMG India, before joining BVP in 2007 as an Operating Partner.
“India is an exciting investment opportunity for us. We have an exceptionally experienced and talented Advisory Group who we think will help us build a great investment practice by combining local expertise with a global investment platform.†said Rob Chandra, a Managing Partner at BVP in a press release. Other people joining the advisory group include Rama Bijapurkar, who has previously worked with McKinsey and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Rajeev Chitrabhanu of JM Financial. MK Sharma, who recently retired from his position as Vice-Chairman
of HUL, will also be joining the team. The venture capital fund has 14 person team operating out of Mumbai.
BVP has formed or funded over 100 startups that grew into independent public companies. The fund offices in New York, Silicon Valley, Boston, Beijing, Mumbai, and Israel. BVP manages more than $2 billion of capital invested in over 120 companies around the world. The fund began its operations in India four years ago and has so far invested in 21 companies. Some of its investments include Shriram City Union Finanace, Motilal Oswal, Onmobile, Anant Raj Industries and Deccan Chronicle Holdings.
