India-based venture capital firm VenturEast, which is backed by Google, has hired former Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) dealmaker Sateesh Andra as a managing partner.
Andra, who had been leading DFJ investments in India for five years, will head up VentureEast’s seed-stage technology focused Tenet Fund with $10m to manage. The aim of Tenet is to help portfolio companies make the transition from from local to global markets.
The Tenet Fund is promoted by the Tenet Group of IIT Chennai which is led by Ashok Jhunjhunwala, academician and start-up evangelist in India. It will particularly focus on start-ups in technology sectors such as mobile or cloud that bring technology-enabled innovation in education and healthcare and financial services.
VenturEast has around $300m under management and invest in businesses from seed to early growth stages. They have so far invested in around 60 companies. Investors in VenturEast include:Lemelson Foundation, Proactive Fund, SIDBI Venture Capital Limited and Technology Development Board.
On Andra’s appointment, VenturEast founder and managing partner Sarath Naru said “Having been on both sides of the fence as a successful entrepreneur and as a Venture Partner, we know [Andra] can skillfully negotiate the gaps between strategy and execution on a global platform, his management style will be an asset to our companies as he is not one to hesitate rolling up his sleeves and get in the trenches when the company so needs.”