Japan-based internet and telecommunications group SoftBank has hired Sumer Juneja to lead its India investment team, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Juneja came from venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), where he had been a partner since 2009, working on growth equity and VC deals for Indian companies across the telecommunications, technology, financial services, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.
Investments in which Juneja was involved include Swiggy, the food delivery service currently preparing a $900m funding round, and online classifieds platform Quikr.
Prior to joining NVP, Juneja helped investment banking firm Goldman Sachs launch its Asian Special Situations Group in India having previously worked as an investment banking analyst at the firm for merger and acquisition deals.
SoftBank was reported in August this year to be looking to launch a $5bn Asia vehicle in the first quarter of 2019, with half the capital expected to back India-based startups, according to a CNBC-TV18 report.
The company’s largest investments in India include e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, which netted it a $1.5bn profit, on-demand ride provider Ola, short-term accommodation platform Oyo and delivery service Grofers.
Photo of Sumer Juneja courtesy of LinkedIn.