Mumbai-based Zodius Advisors India Pvt Ltd, a company promoted by Neeraj Bhargava to develop India-centric digital businesses, has roped in Manipal Education and Medical Group CEO Dr Ranjan Pai and TutorVista Global founder K. Ganesh as investors. Both Pai and Ganesh have joined the advisory board of the firm.
Ganesh is a serial entrepreneur and an active angel investor while Pai is part of the Manipal group and is investing through a fund set up last year.
Zodius was set up in 2011 by Bhargava, co-founder and group CEO of the outsourcing major WNS Global Services which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bhargava was an entrepreneur-in-residence at the private equity major Warburg Pincus which led to the formation of WNS (after the buyout of British Airways’ back office operations) in 2002. He also had a background in investment as the managing partner of eVentures India, a venture capital firm, before joining WNS. Bhargava was a Partner at McKinsey as well.
Zodius has also beefed up its team by adding Gautam Patel, the former managing director of Battery Ventures India. Patel had earlier worked with Bhargava at eVentures and currently sits on the board of the digital payments company TechProcess Solutions (part of Battery’s portfolio).
The founding team at Zodius includes managing directors Shilpa Kulkarni and Anuraag Srivastava, both of whom worked with eVentures and WNS. Amar Shah is another founding member and is currently operating as director (finance). Zodius is a holding company which has already invested in Group FMG and BluFin.
Ranjan and Ganesh are well-known entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses. Philosophically, they are totally aligned to the Zodius approach of targeting high-growth segments, doing smart deals and working relentlessly with high-quality entrepreneurs to build market-defining businesses,†said Bhargava, senior managing director and CEO of Zodius Advisors.
“I have had a long association with Neeraj and the Zodius team as they were the first investors in one of my previous ventures. They are highly experienced investors and operators with the experience of growing an early-stage company and taking it public. I look forward to working with them,†added Ganesh.
