Sistema Asia Fund (SAF), the Bengaluru-based venture capital firm investing in mid-stage Indian startups, on Wednesday announced the induction of ex-VC and tech-entrepreneur Sampathkumar P. as part of the firm’s investment leadership in India. Sampathkumar is joining the team as a senior partner to lead and manage investments for the soon-to-be launched Fund II by the firm.
He will also be working closely with the team to manage portfolio companies from Fund I and portfolio exits. SAF has investments into companies such as Infra.Market, Rebel Foods, Uniphore, HealthifyMe, and Licious.
Andrey Terebenin, managing partner at Sistema Asia Fund, said, “Sampath comes with a rich mix of experience in technology, investments and entrepreneurship, which are all primarily the pillars of the VC industry. His experience will help us add complementary experience to build more value for the stakeholders and also extend further support to our portfolio companies. As we prepare to launch Fund II, we are confident that the complementary experience of our investment leadership will help us identify new and relevant opportunities in the market and expand our scope of investment areas.”
Sampathkumar started his professional journey as a software developer and moved into product management starting with Yodlee, followed by Oracle and Certus Software in the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved back to India in mid-2000s to join Vani Kola, Kumar Shiralagi and Vinod Dham in launching NEA-IndoUS Ventures, later renamed to Kalaari Capital. Post the Kalaari stint, Sampathkumar co-founded a tech company focused on early learning, which was acquired by Embibe, now a part of Reliance Jio. His latest stint was as SVP, Product at Embibe.
Established in 2015, Sistema Asia Fund is one of the few mid-stage dedicated tech VCs in India. The firm has invested in multiple breakout companies from India, including Infra.Market, Rebel Foods, Uniphore, HealthifyMe, Licious, and LendingKart, and exited its early investments in companies such as Qwikcilver and Netmeds. The fund is backed by investors in Europe, West Asia, and India, including an anchor investment from Sistema.
This article was first published on livemint.com