Former Tata Sons Ltd chairman Cyrus Mistry has floated an investment firm to incubate new ventures and provide seed- and early-stage growth capital to startups in India and other countries.
Mistry said in a statement on Wednesday the new firm, Mistry Ventures LLP, will focus on delivering a positive social impact, in addition to profits. The firm will be led by Ashish Iyer, who was previously a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group.
Mistry has set up the firm along with elder brother Shapoor Mistry; both are shareholders of the real estate and engineering giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
“Mistry Ventures will do more than just invest in companies. By interpreting some of the major global and local trends and understanding their impact on industries and companies, we will incubate new businesses, forge partnerships and make investments across sectors,” Mistry said.
The firm will provide mentorship and help startups with strategies to grow and bring products and services faster to the markets.
Iyer was previously the global head of strategy at BCG and has expertise across segments such as digital, innovation and go-to market strategies, the statement said.
Mistry’s announcement on funding startups comes exactly two years after he was unceremoniously ousted as the chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016 at the behest of former chairman Ratan Tata.
In July this year, the National Company Law Tribunal dismissed his petition against Tata Sons, where he had alleged mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders. The NCLT, however, said Tata Group cannot force the Mistry family to sell their stakes in Tata companies.
Mistry will be following in the footsteps of Ratan Tata, who had begun actively investing in startups after he quit as the chairman of Tata Sons in 2012.
Tata’s RNT Associates has invested in several high-profile startups such as digital payments firm Paytm, eyewear e-tailer Lenskart, furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder, cab aggregator Ola and Chinese mobile handset manufacturer Xiaomi.