The Hindu Business Line : Saurabh Srivastava to be with new venture fund

SOON AFTER announcing his forthcoming retirement from the board, , Mr Saurabh Srivastava, Executive Chairman, Xansa India, is planning to get involved in a new $150-million venture fund, which would invest in companies in the IT sector and other emerging growth areas including real estate, auto components and media.

"The next fund that I am getting involved with is $150 million in size. It will have a clutch of investors. However I can talk about the other investors in another two weeks or so," said Mr Srivastava, who is slated to retire from the Xansa board on March 31, 2006.

The fund, expected to be launched in the coming few months, would invest in technology and BPO companies, as well as in firms in life sciences, real estate, auto components, media and textile sectors. It would eye companies that are in early stage and growth stage, he said. Mr Srivastava is also the Chairman of Infinity Technology Investments, a venture fund that was started in 2000 with a $35-million corpus. He is also a part of the Indian version of `Band of Angels', which commenced operations just a few months ago.

"Infinity invested in 17 companies, most of them technology companies, and we have exited more than half of these. The fund itself has done quite well, and we hope to return more than twice the capital to the investors," he said.

The Band of Angels aims to fund fledglings at the boot strapping stage to the tune of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore, till the time the project is ripe enough to attract venture capital funds. Known as `angel funding' in the US, the concept in India is almost on the same lines. The entrepreneurs invest in their individual capacity, with each pitching in a small amount for the project they feel has the potential for good returns.

Other members of Band of Angels include Barings Private Equity Partners' Mr Alok Mittal; Mr Sanjay Bhargava; Vertex India's CEO and Head of Offshoring, Mr Dan Sandhu; and Scicom Infotech Director, Mr Mohit Goyal.