Core Team
Japan Vyas Managing Partner
Two decades’ experience in financial services working with promoters in areas like public and private equity investing, venture capital, project & infrastructure financing, debt restructuring and credit
Established two alternative asset management businesses - raised and managed 3 funds
Youngest in the country to head an alternative asset management business, at the age of 31 when he took charge of IDFC Investment Advisors. Scaled the business to an AUM of INR 850 crores across two funds
Co-founder of Sixth Sense Ventures, consumer focused venture fund.
Demonstrated class beating returns across investment life cycle – early / growth / listed
Personal Portfolio of over 15 early stage investments across technology and consumption sectors identified by early bets on emerging trends
He is an MBA from NMIMS, and holds a bachelor’s in commerce from Mumbai University
Enjoys football while supporting his favorite club, Manchester United, reading and traveling
Ravinder Vashist Partner
Over fourteen years’ experience across private and public equity investing, and project and infrastructure financing
His last stint was with BanyanTree Finance, a mid-market private equity fund, managing assets of over INR 1,350 crores. At BanyanTree, managed the NBFC portfolio and worked closely with the Promoters to develop growth strategy, strengthen appraisal and credit analysis resulting in the growth of the Companies with lower delinquencies
Prior to that, worked at IDFC Investment Advisors, where he managed INR 850 crore across two private equity funds with Japan. Both the funds had a significant outperformance over their respective benchmarks
One of the few investment professionals in the country to have experienced multiple successful fund cycles
Previously worked with IDFC Project Finance having strong understanding of equity and debt financing, structuring and navigating business cycles
Holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and graduated from NIT, Kurukshetra. He also obtained the CFA Charter in 2009
Bhavik Mehta Senior Associate
Over 10 years of experience across equity research, portfolio management and venture capital.
Previously managed $50mn Investments spread across listed equity, debt and real estate at Brescon Family Office
Prior to which he worked at Kstart, a $10 mn seed stage fund of Kalaari Capital where he looked at early stage tech companies.
Early part of his career he managed $20mn proprietary portfolio of listed Indian Equities with focus on small and mid cap companies at Sykes and Ray Equities Ltd.
Some of past investments include Uniply, GM Breweries, V2 Retail, Piramal Enterprises
He is a CA and holds the CFA and FRM degree and a visiting faculty at Edupristine over the past 5 years teaching students across topics like Economics, Financial reporting and Financial Market products
Gaurav Navani Analyst
Over 6 years of experience across corporate finance, analytics, digitization and marketing
His last stint was at NRB Bearings Ltd, a $125 mn auto ancillaries firm supplying to the world’s mobility brands such as Audi & Mercedes. At NRB, he worked directly with the CFO to evaluate companies for M&A, industry and competitor analysis for growth strategy etc.
Single handedly managed a loan book of $40 mn at NRB. Initiated and led process automation models resulting into major efficacies
Prior to NRB, He interned with two startups at the seed stage, Porter & Talerang, assisting them in business development and finance. Porter went on to raise $10 mn from Sequoia & Mahindra
Featured in the CIO Review magazine for an article on digital technologies
He has completed his Masters in Finance from Mumbai University. In his past time, he likes to take online courses
Lipi Panchamia Senior Associate
Over 5 years of experience across auditing, finance and venture capital
Previously, worked at 100X.VC, an $18Mn early-stage VC fund based in Mumbai where she helped execute 60+ early-stage deals from Term Sheet to closure. She closely worked with the Partners in evaluating startups and tracking 100+ Portfolio companies with a team of interns, and helped the companies grow and raise subsequent funding
Built relationships with investors and ecosystem partners, actively attended and spoke at several events
Prior to that, she worked at Bansi S. Mehta & Chartered Accountants, wherein she handled Statutory and Tax Audits of various listed and private companies, including Banks and NBFCs
She is a CA and a BCom graduate from NM College
Written articles for Chamber of Tax Consultants and Bombay Chartered Accountants Society
She is an avid traveller, a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, and enjoys exploring other forms or art
Aasma Shaikh Analyst
2 years of diverse experience in accelerator/incubator, angel network, and venture capital.
She interned as a Portfolio Management Analyst at 100X.VC, a sector-agnostic $18Mn early-stage VC fund. Assisted in due diligence and managed portfolios of 80+ startups.
She worked as a Financial Analyst at Lakhani Financial Services, an Investment boutique that helped in raising Rs 120Mn through equity & debt. Specialized in financial modeling, valuation, and fundraising process.
She worked as a Financial Analyst at StartupLanes, an accelerator & angel network raising $43Mn for startups via 4400+ angel network. Conducted demo days, prepared financial projections/pitch decks and managed Investor relations.
She holds a Bachelor's in Accounting & Finance from Mumbai University. She revels in playing musical instruments and photography.
Advisors
Harinder Takhar
CEO of Paytm Labs HQ in Toronto Canada which builds products for Paytm that improve the experience on the Paytm platform
Ex- CEO of Paytm.
Ex-product manager RIM, Part of BD for Nokia in Helsinki
Senior R&D designer for Cadence Design Systems
Dr. Mani Agrawal
Advisor to leading organizations on operational & technology strategy, corporate transformation
COO, Spiritlake Holding Inc, in Denver, Colorado leading rollup of Plumbing & HVAC service sector
Head of business & technology consulting, Cognizant in Europe
Expert consultant for McKinsey Chicago for operational strategy & effectiveness of clients across the globe
Miten Sampat
VP of Corp Development at Times Internet, leading Investments, M&A, and new ventures
On the Board of Gaana, ET-Money, MX-Player, Shuttl, Ridlr, Myra Medicines, Haptik, and Dineout
Ex- VP of Product Strategy at Neustar
Apurva Chamaria
Chief Revenue Officer of Rategain. Ex-Global Head Corporate Marketing, HCL Technologies
“Marketer of the Year” by World Leadership Forum, “Digital Marketer of the Year” by IAMAI & “B2B Marketer of the Year” by Paul Writer
Recognized by ET as the top 10 angel investors in 2018, Best selling author & thought leader on digital transformation
Investing Partners
- A collective of entrepreneurs led by Karanpal Singh, investing personal money, investing in people, partnerships and relationships. They invest to add value, looking for partners with core values of integrity and trust
- Current portfolio comprises of over a dozen companies in health, retail, hospitality, education, media and technology
- Owns a state-of-the art 200,000 sq.ft. collaborative work space, ‘The Circle’ in Gurgaon.
- Strategic Investor in LSE listed Mercantile Ports & Logistics Ltd
- Global connect and influence:
- Unity’s (known for licensed game engine) Center of Excellence for NCR located at The Circle
- CII and The Circle, have partnered in an accelerator platform in AI
- Collaboration with We+, a Helsinki based co-working space