Facebook cofounder-managed B Capital hires India partner from Chiratae
Venture investor B Capital, which has backed several Indian startups and raised $126 million via a new fund last year, has hired Karan Mohla from Indian venture capital firm Chiratae Ventures.
Mohla joined B Capital as partner and head of India and Southeast Asia, the investment firm said. He has 18 years of experience with over 11 years in technology-focused venture investing.
At Chiratae, Mohla was a partner and executive director. He had joined the VC firm as senior associate in August 2010 and was elevated to vice president in April 2013. Two years later, he was promoted as a partner.
Mohla led fundraising, business development and partnerships for Chiratae in Asia. He was also involved with investments in companies including Bounce, FirstCry, HealthifyMe, Xpressbees and CropIn.
Overall, Mohla participated in the investment process of 20 companies with investments ranging from $500,000 to $10 million in sectors including ecommerce, healthcare, SaaS, logistics, mobility, ed-tech, agri-tech and gaming. These companies have cumulatively raised over $1 billion over their respective lifecycles.
Mohla was board member or observer in Bounce, HealthifyMe, CropIn, Peel-Works, LittleBlackBook, Oye Rickshaw, WMall, Tripoto Travels and FirstCry. He also helped lead investments in Yatra.com.
Mohla signed off from Chiratae soon after helping it raise $337 million for its fourth fund last year.
Prior to Chiratae, Mohla worked with US-based hedge fund QVT Finance. He earlier worked in the technology banking group at Jefferies & Company in Silicon Valley and subsequently was part of the founding team for the India office for Jefferies.
His move to B Capital comes at a time when the firm is raising a new fund christened Ascent Fund II. It had scooped up $126 million last year but it is not clear if this is a side-car vehicle to the firm’s second flagship VC fund, which mobilised $820 million in mid-2020. The firm had raised $360 million for its maiden fund with anchor support from Boston Consulting Group.
B Capital has also floated a blank-cheque firm to acquire one or more technology companies, sparking talk this may open the door to take some portfolio companies public.
B Capital Group was founded by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, First Round Capital co-founder Howard Morgan, former Bain Capital executive Raj Ganguly and former Eight Roads Ventures partner Kabir Narang.
The VC firm largely aims at business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-business-to-consumer companies in the enterprise technology sphere. It seeks opportunities in the mid- to late-stage venture funding. It invests up to $50-60 million in domains like fintech, health-tech and logistics-tech.
In India, it has invested in companies such as SME-focused fintech venture Khatabook, logistics startup BlackBuck, scooter sharing startup Bounce and in Bizongo, a B2B marketplace for packaging materials.
