Over the last few decades, the Indian Venture capital ecosystem has gradually steamed its pace and has evolved as a matured industry contributing to the economy of the country. With the appreciation and encouragement received from the Government in recent times, the industry is witnessing a surge of private & overseas players entering the arena. In India, venture capital was first incepted in mid-’80s and since then it’s been a journey filled with challenges as well as milestones. Along with the Indian financial institutions, the World Bank played a dominant role to foster VC industry by creating awareness through seminars and created a special fund to invest in Venture Capital Funds to be set up by select Public Institutions in India.
This excerpt echoes the success story of GVFL Limited (formerly Gujarat Venture Finance Ltd.) – one of the first Venture capital firms based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in India. It was conceptualized in 1990 with the initiative of the World Bank and the Government of Gujarat. Widely regarded as the pioneer of VC in India, it has raised eight venture capital funds which have supported over 85 companies and has divested from over seventy-five percent of portfolio companies with good returns to Investors.
The Success Saga
Aggregating a total corpus of approximately 700 Cr. GVFL has successfully navigated the challenging path of VC investing, along with creating value for its investors. The USP of GVFL lies in the fact that it stands amongst the few domestic VCs to have witnessed full lifecycle experience. Having an experienced investment team has assisted the entity in crafting the strategic directions that have led in outperforming their own milestones over the last three decades. Right from inception, GVFL has supported companies as well as entrepreneurs from diverse industries. Be it the tech-oriented companies or the startups embracing innovative ideas to varied sectors like pharma & life sciences, engineering, IT & ITeS, financial services, consumer & retail, food processing, infra, renewables and more – GVFL is standing high! It was bestowed with the “Best technology Venture Fund Manager India” award – 2018 by CFI.co for identifying exceptional opportunity, along with being peerless in creating value.
Leading With Excellence
With over thirty years of business acumen in venture capital and banking, Sanjay K Randhar has held senior level positions and leadership roles in various private and public sector organizations, before taking the helm of GVFL. State Bank of India, ARCIL, Reliance Capital, SS Ventures (a VC joint venture of Softbank Investment, Japan) and Piramal group’s private equity company – India Venture Advisors are some of the prestigious entities that he has been associated with.
As the Managing Director of GVFL, Sanjay has been instrumental in making some highly successful exits and give handsome returns to Investors as also make some marquee investments in technology driven companies across sectors. . He is a Mechanical engineer from IIT Roorkee, alongside being a DFM, CAIIB from the Indian Institute of Bankers. Sanjay has been leading GVFL from the front and has built a highly professional team to take GVFL to newer heights. He adds a lot of value to the portfolio companies by providing strategic direction and access to extensive network. An ardent speaker & panelist at various forums in the ecosystem, he is actively involved in the development of the startup ecosystem in Gujarat. He is also the Chairman of CII Task force on Startups for Gujarat Region and member of the Investment Committee of CIIE-IIMA Seed Fund, NEDFi Venture Fund and Research & Innovation Park Advisory Council of IIT-Gandhinagar.
Unveiling the Exclusive Services
Over the years, GVFL has made over 85 investments out of which majority of them have been hugely successful. As a premier Venture capital firm, it seeks to develop next-generation business leaders who build sustainable organizations, deliver better results and in the process share the rewards with all stakeholders. GVFL professes to evolve a paradigm where it uses its deep insights to identify scalable companies and take them to greater heights. GVFL aims to become the preferred destination for all innovative and disruptive startups and entrepreneurs.
GVFL Startup Fund,the latest venture fund, focuses on highly scalable, innovative business models, across sectors by embracing technology as an enabler or differentiator and are backed by credible teams. The Fund is supported by distinguished investors like the Govt. of Gujarat, SIDBI, LIC, NABARD, and BIRAC. The Fund has already made investments in diverse domains like data management, business intelligence, IoT, cybersecurity, electro-optics, and biotechnology.
Portraying the Future
Having attained new heights, GVFL stands well poised to encash the immense opportunity in the vibrant startup ecosystem. With a clear vision, GVFL has crafted a 3-point growth strategy for the future and is already working on the same.
– Harvest superior returns from its existing portfolio which has grown well and matured for monetization.
– To continue the momentum of investments from its existing Funds.
– Launch more Funds with a focus on investing in early growth stage startup and mid-size companies.
With an eye on the future, the AUM of GVFL is likely to grow three-fold to more than 150 million USD in the upcoming years.
GVFL: The Ventures of Intelligent Minds
