Deeptech-focused venture capital firm Celesta Capital on Thursday said it has roped in Anita Rehman, an investor previously at US-based investor GSV (Global Silicon Valley), as a partner.
Rehman, who will be based out of Bengaluru, will be responsible for building Celesta’s India portfolio, as a part of her role, with the firm’s increasing interest in the region.
“With so much rapid acceleration in the US – India tech corridor, this is the perfect time to join a team focused on enabling the next generation of visionary deep tech founders,” said Rehman.
Founded in 2013 by Michael Marks, Nicholas Brathwaite, Sriram Viswanathan, and Lip-Bu Tan, Celesta Capital is a deep technology venture capital firm that invests in companies in US, India, and Israel. The firm’s managing partner Arun Kumar told VCCircle that Celesta plans to hike its cumulative India portfolio from the existing 15% to 25% or higher of its total around $1.1 billion corpus raised across four funds.
It is focused on investing in emerging technology sectors, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), energy, aerospace, telecom, agritech, and others.
“Anita’s extensive network and deep experience will be invaluable to the firm and our portfolio entrepreneurs during this exciting period of growth for the deep tech ecosystem,” said Kumar, who joined Celesta in 2020.
Prior to joining Celesta, Rehman was most recently a partner at GSV, which is focused on investing in the education and workforce sector. In her nearly 20 years of experience, she has also worked at Vantage Point Capital Partners, a cleantech VC fund, where she invested in early to growth stage technology companies. Previously, she also launched an ecommerce startup.
Rehman holds two masters degrees from Wharton School of Business and Stanford University. She completed her undergraduate studies at Manipal Institute of Technology, India.
