Bessemer Venture Partners, two of whose India portfolio companies (IL&FS Transportation Networks and Orient Green Power) went public this year, has announced the appointment of Ashok Juneja, a telecom industry professional and former corporate director of Bharti Group, as its operating partner in India.
At Bessemer, Juneja, who will be based in Delhi, will help evaluate and manage opportunities in the telecom and information technology space in India.
Three months back, Devesh Garg, the then managing director at the India office of Bessemer Venture Partners, had left the firm to explore opportunities in semiconductor industry in the US. Devesh Garg, essentially a semiconductor industry professional, made a career shift to investing with BVP in 2003.
The firm had announced the elevation of Vishal Gupta (earlier director since 2008) as managing director at its Mumbai office. The firm has an 11-person strength in India, based in Mumbai.
Juneja brings 30 years of telecom and operations experience to Bessemer and has served with the Bharti Group since 1998. At Bharti, he was instrumental in developing the telecom tower business for the Group as well as in rolling out Bharti’s operations in eight new circles and turning around the broadband business.
Prior to joining Bharti Group, Juneja spent several years at Max India Group, where he developed the Group’s expansion strategy into emerging telecom services business and also served as chief operations officer of Hutchison Max, Mumbai.
“Ashok Juneja is an excellent addition to our India practice and will help us actively explore opportunities in India’s fast-growing telecom and technology sectors,” said Rob Chandra, a managing partner at BVP.
“Bessemer is unique in the investment community for providing strong operational guidance to its investee companies and I am honoured to be here,” said Juneja.
This year, two of Bessemer’s India portfolio companies, Orient Green Power and IL&FS Transportation Networks, went public while another, Ind-Barath Power, has filed for an IPO.
BVP has offices in Silicon Valley, Mumbai, Boston, New York, and Tel Aviv. The team comprises over 55 members at different organisational levels and geographies. BVP has partnered as an active, hands-on investor in Ciena, LinkedIn, Postini, Shriram EPC, Skype, Staples, VeriSign and Yelp. Over 100 Bessemer-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in Canada, India, London and the United States.