Former Facebook Messenger platform director Anand Chandrasekaran has joined General Catalyst as a partner and investor, at a time when global venture capital and private equity firms are refocusing their attention on the Indian market.
According to a tweet he sent out on Friday, he will be focusing on investments in India and the United States in his new role.
Airbnb Inc., Stripe Inc., Snap Inc., Grammarly and Giphy are among the Silicon Valley heavyweights that General Catalyst has invested in. Its portfolio in India includes CityMall, Cred, Uni, and StockGro. The appointment of Chandrasekaran reflects a growing trend among international investors to hire for the Indian market. According to ET earlier this week, Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital has hired Karan Mohla of Chiratae Ventures to find early-stage startup investments in India and Southeast Asia.
Since 2015, Chandrasekaran has invested in over 80 startups as an angel investor. Dealshare, NoBroker, Khatabook, Scaler Academy, and Pratilipi are among the new unicorns in his portfolio. He’s also seen successful exits, including Fynd and Netmeds being acquired by Reliance Industries, and Innov8 being acquired by Oyo Hotels & Homes.
Chandrasekaran led the India strategy across products, technologies, and functions during his three-year stint as director of Facebook’s Messenger platform, while also working on new products like WhatsApp Payments. He was also the chief product officer of Indian etailer Snapdeal from 2014 to 2016.
Get to know the pulses of the Indian startup ecosystem in reality by attending “INDIA FIRST TECH STARTUP CONCLAVE & AWARDS’22-Delhi Chapter” organized by the All India Council for robotics and automation, supported by the Ministry of electronics and information technology.
The event is scheduled to be held on the 17th and 18th of February 2022, marking the biggest tech startup event this year. The event brings together the speakers that are the best breed of entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, government department’s representatives, business model creators, consultants, policy-makers, academicians, support groups, business coaches and business practitioners.
The Platform helps startups to ramp up their innovative ideas and show off their services and products to attract investors. The experts of the industry will address and discuss all the innovations happening around the startup environment that youth empowerment and new-age tech business ideas can grow.
Click to know more about India’s biggest tech startup event: https://www.aicra.org/events/delhi/index.php
