Reliance Venture
Encyclopedia
Reliance Venture is a corporate venture capital company based in Mumbai
, Maharashtra
. It has been promoted by the Reliance ADA Group. It has advised and invested in deals to the tune of over $4 billion in various companies. It has invested in companies such as India's largest online travel portal, Yatra.com, Suvidhaa Infoserve, Stoke Inc, Pelago Inc, Sequans Communications, E-Band Communications, Seedfund and two MIT-startups, Dhama Innovations and Scalable Display Technologies. It was recently ranked 30th in the Red Herring Top 100
Global Venture Capital Firms in 2009.
Recently, Reliance Venture sold its stake in Seattle-based, Pelago, Inc., to Groupon for pre-IPO shares in Groupon. Media reports state that this deal will provide Reliance Veture a 9X on its investment in 3 years. Pelago was co-invested into by Jeff Bezos
, CEO and Foudner of Amazon.com, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Reliance Venture
is also the first Indian venture capital firm to take a portfolio company for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, though its listing of France-based Sequans Communications (NYSE ticker: SQNS). It reportedly made a 5X profit on its investment in 3 years. Earlier, it also sold its stake in MIT start-up, Dhama Innovations, to a group of private equity investors generating a triple-digit IRR.
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
. It has been promoted by the Reliance ADA Group. It has advised and invested in deals to the tune of over $4 billion in various companies. It has invested in companies such as India's largest online travel portal, Yatra.com, Suvidhaa Infoserve, Stoke Inc, Pelago Inc, Sequans Communications, E-Band Communications, Seedfund and two MIT-startups, Dhama Innovations and Scalable Display Technologies. It was recently ranked 30th in the Red Herring Top 100
Red Herring (magazine)
Red Herring was a technology business magazine, which flourished during the dot com boom, with global distribution and bureaus in Bangalore, Beijing, and Paris. It also sponsored conferences designed to bring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and technologists together. But the magazine went into...
Global Venture Capital Firms in 2009.
History
Reliance Venture Asset Management was founded by ex-IBMer, Harshal J. Shah, in 2006, as Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd. Harshal Shah was hand-picked by Anil Ambani, the Chairman of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, to start the corporate venture arm of the Group. On March 3, 2010, company changed its name from Reliance Technology Ventures Ltd to Reliance Venture Asset Management Ltd.Recently, Reliance Venture sold its stake in Seattle-based, Pelago, Inc., to Groupon for pre-IPO shares in Groupon. Media reports state that this deal will provide Reliance Veture a 9X on its investment in 3 years. Pelago was co-invested into by Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer , and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.-Early life and background:...
, CEO and Foudner of Amazon.com, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Reliance Venture
Reliance Venture
Reliance Venture is a corporate venture capital company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It has been promoted by the Reliance ADA Group. It has advised and invested in deals to the tune of over $4 billion in various companies...
is also the first Indian venture capital firm to take a portfolio company for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, though its listing of France-based Sequans Communications (NYSE ticker: SQNS). It reportedly made a 5X profit on its investment in 3 years. Earlier, it also sold its stake in MIT start-up, Dhama Innovations, to a group of private equity investors generating a triple-digit IRR.