Why did I choose to enter the business of investing in startups?

There are some innate advantages of coming from a small town in India… one of the biggest being the grit and passion to build things and make it big in life. From a young age I realised there was a deep internal push and desire to make things happen, a strong drive to learn got me to complete my CA when I was 22.

And from there I simply started by helping young minds evolve and grow. I started with teaching professionally. And in retrospect, it was a natural transition. Even in school, I was coaching younger students who needed extra help. It was my first venture (little did I know at that time) that laid the foundation of who I am.

While I continued my journey in the world of teaching even after my marriage. I slowly started getting involved in the family business. The underlying passion and drive to educate and skill people remained but this passion and drive pushed me to build more towards the family business. While we already were in the world of finance and lending, with time we moved into real estate, textiles, and even pharmaceuticals. During my time in the textile world, I looked closely and realised that women needed skilling. And as it is said - you train one woman, and the whole family gets trained and fed, I set up a model to help train over 2000 underprivileged women.

I saw myself as an educator rather than a ‘tuition teacher’. I took pains to acquire the latest teaching materials and created my teaching modules. It was also then that I realised that I have been building so many different organisations.

I know what it takes to build a company, the challenges you face, the ups and downs, and the times when you need someone to rely on… it was then that I felt there was a need for such a partner.

And it is this partner I want to be for startup founders. It led to the birth of Nanda VC. An investment firm that is a friend of the founder. And definitely not just a fair-weather friend! Being in the trenches, we (the advisory board, investors, and I) understand what the founder/s go through while bringing a product to life.

It isn’t just about the money. But also about building the right connections, mentorship, helping them create the right products, and also bringing in advice and help when and where needed.

Nanda VC pitches will be closely evaluated by a group of investors, industry experts and advisors, who will evaluate the company and its founders.

All the founder needs is a passion and drive to make it big.