Venture capital firm Kalaari Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd (Kalaari) has roped in a new partner while elevating an existing team member as a partner besides adding two industry executives to its advisory team, it said on Thursday.
Bala Srinivasa, former senior managing director at Copal Amba, has joined the VC firm as a partner to bolster the investment team. Srinivasa has a couple of decades of experience in technology markets and played leadership roles at startups in the US and India. He has also worked as a senior equity analyst covering the software sector in Silicon Valley.
Kalaari has also elevated Sumit Jain as a partner. Jain had joined Kalaari in 2009 and has been associated with Kalaari’s investments in Robosoft, Superprofs, Simplilearn, TripHobo, Vakilsearch and Industrybuying, among others.
Meanwhile, Ravi Venkatesan (chairman at Bank of Baroda, board member at Rockefeller Foundation and Infosys and former chairman at Microsoft India and Cummins India) and Ram Gupta (chairman and CEO at Castiron Systems, executive vice president at PeopleSoft and senior vice president at WebMD) have joined Kalaari’s advisory team. Early this year, Tata Sons' chairman emeritus Ratan Tata joined as an advisor to Kalaari.
“We are confident that bringing together high-quality and multi-faceted expertise to our advisory and investment teams will give us an edge in our endeavour to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India," said Vani Kola, managing director, Kalaari Capital.
Kalaari Capital, which has $650 million under management, has invested in around a dozen startups in India since January, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.
Kalaari that is now raising $275 million through two separate fund vehicles, was floated as an independent VC firm after separating its working relationship with NEA that has built its own India practice.