IvyCap Ventures that focuses on backing entrepreneurs from the country’s top engineering and management institutions like IITs/IIMs has roped in former union home secretary, GK Pillai as the chairman on its Board of Advisors.
GK Pillai, comes with four decades of experience in various roles as a bureaucrat and public sector experience. Among his many roles, he served as the principal secretary to the chief minister of Kerala before becoming secretary in the commerce ministry, India's chief negotiator at the WTO (World Trade Organization), and chairman, Board of Approvals for Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
He had taken over as the home secretary in June 2009 months after the terrorist attack in Mumbai and retired two months ago.
IvyCap Ventures is promoted by Vikram Gupta, former chief operating officer (COO) of India Venture Advisors, a healthcare fund sponsored by the Piramal Group. IvyCap Ventures is in the process of raising its maiden fund – IvyCap Ventures Trust Fund - I. The Fund is anchored by the IIT Alumni Trust and has a target size of Rs 400 crore, with a strategy to prioritise early and growth stage investments in sectors such as healthcare, education, food-based businesses, technology, e/m-commerce and other innovation-oriented businesses.
