Latest news with #BVP
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Bessemer Venture Partners hires Pankaj Mitra to lead AI, enterprise-tech bets in India
Live Events Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) has appointed Pankaj Mitra as a partner in its India team. He will focus on investments in artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise technology, and cybersecurity The appointment comes shortly after the VC firm closed its second India-focused fund at $350 million in March. The fund is aimed at backing early-stage startups across the AI, software-as-a-service (SaaS), fintech, digital health, consumer brand, and cybersecurity an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, joins BVP from Cisco's corporate development team, where he spent the past seven years leading investments and M&A activity for the technology giant's global customer experience portfolio and for India. His portfolio included companies such as Fiddler, Uniphore, and he had worked with technology services company Infosys , where he was part of the founding team of its $500 million innovation fund and invested in companies such as Ideaforge and Whoop.'I am thrilled to join Bessemer at this pivotal time,' said Mitra. 'The ongoing AI platform shift offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for builders to usher in the next wave of tech evolution across industries.'BVP began investing in India in 2006 and has backed over 80 startups in the country so far, including BigBasket, Urban Company, Livspace, and PharmEasy. The firm has seen nine Indian portfolio companies go public, including Swiggy, Indian Energy Exchange, and Bharat Bessemer manages over $18 billion in assets and has backed companies such as Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, LinkedIn, DocuSign, Fiverr, and on the appointment, Vishal Gupta, partner at BVP, said, 'Pankaj brings a breadth of experience, which is a unique blend of investing prowess as well as deep industry knowledge. This will be invaluable as we look to deepen our commitments in AI, enterprise tech, and cybersecurity in India.'
Mint
7 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Bessemer Venture Partners appoints new partner to focus on AI, enterprise tech
Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) has appointed Pankaj Mitra as a partner who will focus on the global venture capital firm's investments in artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise tech and cybersecurity in its India business. 'We think there's enormous potential for founders and companies that are being built out of India to address these sectors, both here as well as globally," Mitra told Mint. Also read: Indeed CEO Chris Hyams steps down: Here's one interview question he's asked 3,000 candidates and what the answers reveal Prior to joining the US-based investment company, Mitra worked at digital communications tech conglomerate Cisco, where he led the company's corporate development team, leading investments and M&A activity for its global customer experiences portfolio as well as for India. Notable investments made by him include digital adoption platform Whatfix, contact centre AI startup Uniphore and AI observability company Fiddler. Mitra was a founding member of the IT services giant Infosys' $500 million Innovation Fund. He was part of the team that invested in drone manufacturing company ideaForge, which went public in 2023. BVP's India thesis His appointment comes at a time when BVP is looking to double down on the AI opportunity in India. 'From a commitment perspective, as you can see, as Pankaj has come on board, we are doubling down," said Vishal Gupta, partner at BVP. Bessemer has been in India for two decades and has backed several startups, including Swiggy, Urban Company and Perfios. Earlier this year, the firm announced the close of its second India fund, worth $350 million, with a focus on AI, fintech, enterprise-tech, digital health, consumer, and cybersecurity. Also read: Job interview gone wrong: Indian-origin CEO's LinkedIn post goes viral; sparks Internet uproar 'Fintech and healthtech continue to be sort of two other areas that we are spending a tonne of time on, in terms of looking at deals," said Gupta. In the fintech space, BVP is focusing on the infrastructure software layer for the Indian ecosystem and is evaluating more companies this year. Meanwhile, in healthtech, the firm is eyeing investments in companies that are working on specific specialties as well as those that are disrupting the insurance ecosystem. Meanwhile, it'll continue to evaluate consumer brands, following its investment in D2C fitness brand Boldfit. Last year, Gupta told Mint that the firm expected investments in cybersecurity to take off in India. Cut to earlier this year, the global VC firm led a $8.7 million Series A round in mobile apps security startup Also read: 'Come with stories, talk about imperfections…' ex-Google recruiter on how to approach job interviews In fact, VC firms in the country have been looking at cybersecurity more closely this year, given that AI-based fraudulent activities have seen a sharp uptick.
