New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- Lightrock, a London-headquartered private equity player and impact investor that counts WayCool, DeHaat, Shiprocket and MediBuddy amongst its portfolio companies in India, has added four new executives to its leadership team in India as a part of its strategic expansion.
A few months after the firm roped in former British International Investment (BII) executive Samir Abhyankar to lead its India operations, it has now added former Softbank India chief Manoj Kohli as Senior Advisor and another industry veteran from British International Investment (BII) Gaurav Malhotra as Partner. Lightrock also has Aayush Parwal and Himanshu Kashyap as Principals to the India team, it said in a statement.
The appointments bring extensive sectoral, strategic, and investing expertise to Lightrock's growing platform in India, the firm said in the statement.
Meanwhile, two of its partners Saleem Asaria and Kushal Agrawal are leaving to pursue new opportunities, it said.
"India continues to be one of the most promising markets for investment, and these appointments, along with our strategic plans to strengthen our presence, underscore our confidence in the country's innovators," said Pal Erik Sjatil, Managing Partner & CEO of Lightrock.
The developments come after the firm opened a second office in the country-in Mumbai- earlier this year and are a part of a planned effort to scale up the group's India operations into a strategic hub for regional capital deployment and value creation.
"Their expertise, experience, and vision will be pivotal in further advancing our expansion efforts, enabling us to capitalise on the vast opportunities in India by helping a new generation of entrepreneurs scale to global heights," said Samir Abhyankar, Partner & Head of India at Lightrock.
Kohli, a veteran in the financial services and technology space, will provide strategic counseling to Lightrock's leadership and support in scaling up the platform's India presence as a senior advisor. He most recently managed Japanese investment firm Softbank's investments in Indian companies through the SoftBank Vision Fund. Prior to that, he was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for Asia and Africa at Bharti Airtel.
Malhotra previously led the Financial Services Equity team globally as well as the FS Debt team in South Asia for BII and managed a portfolio valued at $800 million.
Kashyap previously was associated with Apollo Global Management, where he focused on investment opportunities in the financial services, industrials, technology, and consumer sectors, while Parwal recently worked at Eversource Capital, where he was an Executive Director focusing on investments across climate transition themes.
Lightrock's portfolio companies in India include Porter, Chalo, Kauvery Hospitals, Aye Finance, and Scaler. It invested in rooftop solar company SolarSquare in January and topped up its investment in Eupheus Learning in December. It also exited Ummeed Housing Finance last July, harvesting $40 million and realizing about 3.9x of the capital invested in the company.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.