Latest news with #Taneja
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla CFO offloads over $2M in stock as EU sales tumble
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja made two sales of company stock this week in his latest offloading of company shares, selling approximately $2 million on June 2 before selling $342,690 in shares on June 3, according to company filings. The sales — Taneja's fourth and fifth sales over a three-month period, according to company filings — come as the Austin, Texas-electric vehicle maker's brand continues to field reputational impact from CEO Elon Musk's political activities, as well as slumping sales in key markets such as Europe. Musk, who officially departed from his role at the Department of Government Efficiency on Friday, has previously sought to reassure Tesla investors of the company's financial health, announcing his intent to remain as CEO for the next five years during a recent conference in Qatar, according to reports by the BBC. Taneja's June sales follow the CFO's offloading of over $3 million in shares last month, CFO Dive reported. His repeated sales of stock come after the finance chief, who took the top financial seat at Tesla in 2023, received a pay package worth $139 million comprised mainly of stock last year, CFO Dive reported. Taneja's full-year 2024 compensation included an equity award of approximately $113 million in stock options and approximately $26 million in stock awards, with Taneja the only named executive to receive an equity award last year, according to Tesla's annual report. Along with Taneja, other executives have offloaded company stock in recent weeks; Kimbal Musk, the brother of CEO Elon Musk, sold $31 million in shares on May 27, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sales come as Tesla's stock price has continued to whipsaw over the past few months, impacted by a consumer backlash related to Elon Musk's continued connection with the Trump administration. The EV maker's stock slumped by approximately 10% Wednesday after Musk clashed with President Donald Trump Tuesday on the 'Big beautiful bill' currently making its way through Congress — calling the tax and spending bill a 'disgusting abomination' on the social platform X, which he owns. 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' Musk tweeted Tuesday. The clash comes after Musk sought to reassure investors during the company's most recent earnings call after Tesla reported a 71% drop in net profit, noting he would be stepping back from his role at DOGE and promising to refocus his attention on the EV maker. The CEO's political activities' and their effects on the company have also led to internal dissent among Tesla employees, according to reports by Business Insider. One Tesla employee was fired after creating a website protesting Musk's political activities, stating he was frustrated by their impact on car sales, BI reported on May 8. In another instance, a training instructor pointed to the impact of company culture during a training session with employees at Tesla's Austin, Texas warehouse, stating many people departed the company with a 'negative taste' in their mouth, according to a recording obtained by BI. Sales, moreover, have continued to decline, especially in markets throughout Europe. Tesla sales in the European Union tumbled by 53% in April compared to the prior year period, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association in late May. Deliveries of Tesla vehicles in France, for example, plummeted by 67% in May compared to the previous year, according to a report by MarketWatch citing data from French car trade association PFA. Recommended Reading Saab deputy finance chief moves to CFO chair Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
2 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
What Will be VCs' Next Bet on Tech?
"I believe India is at the start of its industrial decade, where hardtech and IP-led innovation will define global competitiveness," says Ashish Taneja, Founder & CEO, growX Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. India has officially become the fourth-largest economy in the world, crossing the USD 4 trillion mark. It has expanded by 6.5 per cent in FY25, driven by a 7.4 per cent surge in the fourth quarter (January–March) and a revised 6.4 per cent growth in the third quarter (October–December). "We are the fourth largest economy as I speak. We are a USD 4 trillion economy as I speak," BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of Niti Aayog announced following the 10th Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog. "If we stick to what is being planned and what is being thought through, in 2.5–3 years, we will be the third largest economy," he further added. While macroeconomic indicators validate India's rise, it's the startup ecosystem that acts as the innovation engine. In Q1 2025 alone, Indian startups raised USD 3.1 billion across 232 deals, a 41 per cent jump from the same period last year. This signals not just recovery but renewed investor confidence, particularly in transformative, high-impact technologies. But the nature of what excites investors is rapidly evolving. "We moved away from consumer blitzscale long ago," says Ashish Taneja, Founder & CEO at growX Ventures. "What excites us is deeptech with real-world defensibility—companies building satellites, chips, battlefield AI, and intelligent robotics. These aren't just startups, they're tomorrow's institutions." The rise of india's industrial decade India is now entering what many are calling its "industrial decade." Unlike the startup surge of the past that focused on rapid user growth and digital consumer platforms, the next wave will be defined by heavy engineering, core IP development, and national-scale tech missions. "I believe India is at the start of its industrial decade, where hardtech and IP-led innovation will define global competitiveness," Taneja notes. "The breakout sectors in the next 3–5 years will be space-tech, defence platforms, semiconductors, AI-driven automation, and sustainable materials. And AI won't be a vertical anymore, it'll be the invisible OS powering them all." Additionally, India's maturing capital environment is now more supportive of patient capital, investments with longer gestation periods, often needed for deep tech and hard science innovations. Taneja reinforces this view, "I believe India's next global giants won't be built in garages. They'll be built in labs, fabs, and test ranges by founders chasing frontiers, not just funding rounds."
Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
ICS 2025: Breathe Easy-The Mental Health Revolution
HighlightsNikhil Taneja, Co-Founder & Chief of Yuvaa, emphasised that mental health encompasses daily experiences of joy and personal balance, challenging the notion that it is only relevant during crises. Taneja argued that therapy should be viewed as a strength and 'the coolest thing in the world', advocating for a shift in how society perceives emotional wellbeing. The session highlighted the importance of genuine conversations in the workplace, exemplified by Taneja's organisation's practice of sincerely asking employees 'How are you?' to foster a supportive environment. In a refreshingly candid conversation about mental wellness, Nikhil Taneja , Co-Founder & Chief of Yuvaa , alongside session chair Devesh Gupta, Content Lead - Product & Community at at the India Communication Summit 2025 shattered traditional stigmas surrounding mental health, transforming a potentially heavy topic into an enlightening and empowering dialogue. Taneja, a passionate advocate for mental wellness, challenged conventional narratives by highlighting that mental health isn't just about crisis moments, but encompasses daily experiences of joy, happiness, and personal balance. "Mental health isn't spotted only in crises," he explained, "It's about every moment we experience." Drawing from personal experiences, Taneja shared his own journey of recognising anxiety, emphasising how vulnerability can be a strength. He provocatively argued that therapy isn't a weakness but "the coolest thing in the world" - a perspective that could revolutionise how we perceive emotional wellbeing . The session brilliantly dismantled archaic language around mental health, moving beyond terms like "disturbed" or "mental" to create a more compassionate dialogue. By encouraging meaningful check-ins and genuine conversations, the speakers demonstrated how workplace cultures can transform. A standout moment was Taneja's revelation about his organisation's COVID-era practice of genuinely asking employees, "How are you?" - not as a perfunctory greeting, but as a sincere invitation to share your heart. The conversation was a rallying cry for normalising mental health conversations, breaking down barriers, and creating supportive environments where individuals feel safe expressing their emotional experiences.
Mint
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Dumplings get fun makeovers with innovative flavours
Chef Sameer Taneja's earliest memories of growing up in a small village called Bairava in Nepal, is devouring steaming hot momos on the streets. 'In fact, such was my obsession that I would gobble up sixteen of them at one go when I was only 5-years- old," remembers the executive chef of the Michelin-starred London restaurant Benares. Taneja continues his love affair with momos creating gourmet versions with truffle and even foie gras. Be it momos, wontons or dim sums, these steamed delights are undergoing a thrilling transformation in the urban foodscape. Chefs are reinventing the all-time classic by incorporating unexpected ingredients and flavours, and presenting them with contemporary flair. At Veronica's, a sandwich shop and café owned by Hunger Inc. Hospitality, executive chef Hussain Shahzad wraps up the favourite breakfast items in one delicious bite. Think sausages, eggs, cheese and caramelised onions, all tucked inside a momo. A side of chilli crisp brings a whisper of heat, while a dusting of parmesan lends that unmistakable sharpness. Meanwhile at Avatara, the vegetarian fine dining Indian restaurant, head chef Sanket Joshi offers a contemporary style of dim sum with modak-shaped parcels filled with artichoke on a kokum-kissed Malwani curry. A dehydrated okra stuffed with thecha adds texture and extra oomph. Also read: Samosa tartlets and chikoo ice-cream at this British-Indian pop-up What makes dim sums a hotbed of creativity for chefs? 'They are the perfect vessel for flavour. A dumpling is small. So, every element needs to be delivered in one mouthful. That's a creative challenge I love. Plus, dumplings are universal. Every culture has its version, and that makes them such a fun playground to reimagine," explains Shahzad. Sara Jacob Nair, the executive chef and co-founder of Nair on Fire, a cloud kitchen offering homestyle Kerala cuisine in Mumbai, says, 'I believe ada (flat rice flour packets stuffed with coconut and jaggery) and koi katta, our Malayali version of the Maharashtrian modak, could be the earliest forms of dumplings in our culture. My mom would use the leftover rice batter from these items to smartly wrap up leftover beef, fish or vegetable, steam it and present it to us as a snack when we returned from school in the evening. But it never had the finesse of the dumpling we eat today," remembers Nair, who makes a similar dumpling with pork or prawns cooked in Kerala style. 'Our filling is spicy, and doesn't need a chutney or sauce on the side. I have also cracked the code of making the rice casing really thin so the dumpling actually melts in the mouth," she adds. Innovating on the classic dim sum takes a mix of science and art, a combination that Taneja has mastered. For the Indian Accent and Benares pop-ups in Delhi and Mumbai recently, the chef presented gyoza filled with prawn and foie gras in a bold bone marrow curry. Think gyozas bathing in nihari. 'I spent my early childhood in a small village in Nepal, where monks were a familiar sight, and nearly every restaurant served momos. I grew up eating them, and now they're a favourite with my kids too," says Taneja, adding since he is fond of nihari, he wanted to combine it with momos. He created a nihari using prawn shells, and stuffed the momo with prawns and foie gras, since the former does not have fat. The foie gras gave it fattiness, he informs. He also used herb oil for another layer of fat. 'A great momo is all about the perfect balance between protein and pastry. It's the fat in the momo that makes all the difference." How about a smoky flavour in a dim sum? That's something chef-partner Vardaan Marwah has nailed at Farro, a new eatery in Pune's Koregaon Park. The buff manti here (Turkish dumplings) is cooked over charcoal, similar to the Bihari litti, and sent out with a garlic toum, and a broth inspired by rasam. The perfectly-charred dumplings with a filling of juicy buff hold up beautifully against the bold broth. But behind the perfect dumplings are a series of failed attempts. 'It started as a ravioli, before moving closer to Turkish manti. The idea clicked when we unexpectedly paired it with a rasam that my sous chef had made. It brought the dish alive. From there, we refined it to what it is today," explains Marwah. Unexpected fillings are also finding their way into dumplings. At Pune's 3 Spices restaurant at DoubleTree By Hilton Hotel, chef Rakesh Jadhav fills dumplings with drumstick flowers, lentils and coconut and serves them alongside an asparagus chutney. He also experiments with a sweet and sour wood apple filling. 'I see what's around and ask, 'can this go inside a dumpling?'" he explains, embracing a no-rules approach to texture and filling. Chef Karishma Sakhrani, the culinary and operations director of Acme Hospitality in Mumbai, takes seared gyozas a step further. She tosses them in a nuoc cham dressing with crisp vegetables and fragrant fried shallots to create a delicious mouthful. Beyond innovative fillings, the dim sum casing itself is being reimagined. While chef Jadhav infuses the dough with spinach, turmeric and even moringa, chef Ananya Banerjee crafts gluten-free versions using sago or sabudana. With so much to offer when it comes to everyone's favourite dumplings, chefs are excited to tease and surprise diners with creative takes, one bite at a time. Also read: Reviving old family recipes for fine dining menus Nivedita Jayaram Pawar is a Mumbai-based food writer
Business Insider
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
General Catalyst's Hemant Taneja is trying to redefine venture capital — and baffling the industry
Venture firms are normally in the business of backing high-flying tech startups, so many in the industry were scratching their heads when General Catalyst bought a chain of hospitals. The San Francisco-based firm spun out a separate healthcare unit, dubbed the Health Assurance Transformation Company or HATCo, in 2023 to buy Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health the following year. GC committed about $1 billion over seven years for the acquisition from the firm's balance sheet, outside its typical fund structure. The deal was perplexing. Healthcare rarely delivers the kinds of sky-high returns that define venture success; even within GC's own $36 billion portfolio, healthtech valuations often lag far behind tech's starriest bets. "Why would you buy a hospital system if you're in venture capital?" asked one of the firm's limited partners, who requested anonymity. "It's strange." GC is not trying to be a traditional VC firm; it now prefers to brand itself as "a global investment and transformation company." Its leader since 2021, Hemant Taneja, holds the title of CEO, a common role in corporations that's nearly unheard of at a venture firm. "Dare I say it: venture has gotten comfortable and lazy," Taneja wrote in his 2022 year-end letter, spelling out the firm's new direction. "We have to transcend the traditional VC mindset if we're going to make a difference." (Through a spokesperson, Taneja denied multiple interview requests. A spokesperson for the firm responded with written statements.) Under Taneja, GC has amassed stakes not only in hospitals but also old-line accounting firms and manufacturing companies. It's building up a wealth management business, expanding its global lobbying arm, and underwriting loans for startups that are more commonly the domain of banks. The firm recently parted ways with managing directors with traditional VC experience, including Kyle Doherty, Adam Valkin, and Deep Nishar. Two people familiar with the matter told Business Insider that other departures will be announced soon. Meanwhile, GC is building up its ranks of bankers, this month adding longtime J.P. Morgan tech banker Madhu Namburi, who joined Paul Kwan, former West Coast head of tech banking at Morgan Stanley. All these steps are laying the groundwork for GC to someday be the first venture firm to go public, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Business Insider. Although nothing has been filed yet, they said GC's IPO ambitions are frequently discussed at the highest levels of the firm with the goal of generating ever-higher management fees to someday attract a higher valuation from public investors. "If you want to go public, you are measured on your management fees, not on your profit pool," said the source. (A GC spokesperson said no plans for an IPO are underway.) "Hemant is at a stage in his career where he's really taking big swings to leave a legacy," said Aniq Rahman, CEO of GC-backed Fabric, who added that he had no knowledge of any IPO plans. For now, GC is judged on investment performance, and the early returns are less than promising. As of last year, GC had a dismal internal rate of return, or IRR, of just 2.9% across 10 funds since 2020, according to filings from one of its investors, the LA City Employees' Retirement System. The funds are still relatively new and could someday be successful. Still, GC ranked a distant last in the performance of LACERS' top 10 largest holdings and was the only one in single digits. The typical IRR for 5-year-old funds was around 15%, according to data from Cambridge Associates. (The GC spokesperson said the LACERS performance data is outdated, and that the firm's performance has improved considerably since last year.) "Everything comes down to exits," said a healthcare investor who's frequently co-invested with General Catalyst. "GC can diversify and do what they want to do, but LPs [limited partners], at the end of the day, will look for dollars distributed. That's just the barometer of success." GC sits among a rarefied handful of megafirms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital that are unlikely to achieve blockbuster venture returns but can still reliably produce a safer and smaller return, according to Jai Das, co-founder at Sapphire Ventures. "I wouldn't even call them venture funds anymore," said Das. "They're almost like an asset manager with different products that you invest in." The question is whether such a sprawling vision encompassing more than 800 companies will pay off for investors. Taneja made a name for himself at GC as an early backer of Stripe, the payments processor that is now worth $91.5 billion. Other savvy bets included Snap, Gitlab, and Gusto. Those who have known Taneja from his college days say he has always stood out as ambitious and smart, if a little unfocused. "Hemant went and got five MIT degrees before figuring out what he wanted to do," said Brad Porter, CEO & Founder of GC-backed Collaborative Robotics, who attended MIT with Taneja. "I remember Hemant being brilliant, but not knowing exactly where he wanted to go." The past year has been a busy one for GC under Taneja. In September, the firm announced the General Catalyst Institute, a global think tank aiming to influence government tech policy around the world. The next month, it closed $8 billion of new fundraising. At the beginning of this year, the firm announced a wealth management arm, GC Wealth, to provide investment advisory services with a $2.3 billion pool of assets. (Andreesen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and New Enterprise Associates are among the firms that also offer wealth management.) GC has also been expanding its AI-rollup strategy, buying the sorts of businesses VC usually won't touch, like accounting firms and call center companies, and trying to make them more efficient with AI. GC now employs over 250 people to manage its expanding directives, a big jump from the 64-person team the firm had before Taneja became CEO in 2021. And the firm has been steadily increasing its involvement in the healthcare industry since Taneja cofounded the diabetes company Livongo inside GC in 2013. GC was Livongo's largest shareholder at the time of Livongo's 2019 IPO, which valued the company at $2.5 billion, making GC's 22% stake worth more than half a billion dollars. Teladoc then bought Livongo for a record-breaking $18.5 billion in 2020, lending further credence to Taneja's expanding healthcare strategy. Modernizing healthcare has long been a passion for Taneja, who cowrote a book in 2020 called " UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance" that advocated for solutions for what the authors described as "America's healthcare debacle." But no VC firm before GC has ever acquired a hospital. Those deals are typically reserved for private equity, and they've recently faced a deluge of public and federal scrutiny. Steward Health Care, a Massachusetts-based system of nine hospitals formerly owned by a private equity firm, became the center of that conversation last year when it declared bankruptcy, drawing ire and even a congressional inquiry over reports that it prioritized profits over patient safety — a cautionary tale for any private investor looking to play hospital operator. GC says the acquisition isn't just a profit play. The firm's goal isn't just to modernize one hospital system — it wants to create a playbook for health systems nationwide. The firm said it plans to transform Summa Health by improving its tech, at least in part with its own portfolio companies. GC has made about 130 healthcare investments to date, according to its website, including in Commure, the $6 billion healthcare software startup Taneja cofounded and a likely pick for a Summa Health contract. Commure has become an umbrella for other healthcare companies, with seven acquisitions under its belt since its 2020 launch, including two of GC's previous investments, Athelas and Memora Health. (The GC spokesperson said the firm is in the early stages of reviewing technologies for the HATCo business, including those from GC's portfolio companies, and said speculation about Summa's plans with specific companies is premature.) GC is also banking on a network of health system partners that Taneja has spent the last decade growing, including Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, which has a stake in Commure, and Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, which notched a partnership in 2021 to work with several of GC's portfolio companies. The GC spokesperson said the healthcare ecosystem the firm has fostered will help HATCo build "something traditional venture could never match." "At the end of the day, it's a really powerful sourcing machine that they've built, that plays in every segment of the industry," said a healthcare investor who has made several co-investments with GC. "They're just going to get more shots on goal than other people." HCA Healthcare, the largest health system in the US by number of hospitals, began partnering with GC in CEO Tanay Tandon, the former CEO of Athelas. HCA Healthcare has a stake in Commure as part of its GC partnership. Athelas Most of GC's returns in healthcare remain unrealized. And its healthcare portfolio has already taken a major hit with the rapid fall of startup Olive. GC first invested in Olive, which aimed to use AI to automate healthcare administration, when the firm led a $51 million investment into the company in 2020. But Olive fell into the classic VC trap: raising massive amounts of cash, growing too fast, and flaming out. The startup raised $900 million, reaching a $4 billion valuation in 2021. Two years later, Olive shut down for good. Much of Taneja's strategy seems to revolve around the maxim that bigger is better. It's a lucrative thesis for VCs, since limited partners typically pay 2% yearly fees on assets under management, whether the investments pay off or not. If the firm goes public, higher fees would increase revenue, which in turn would lead to a higher valuation. Taneja raised eyebrows among some VCs when he recently addressed fees in a LinkedIn post. "There's been a recent narrative in some venture circles about 'AUM maxxing'—that firms (like ours) are focused on growing assets under management for the sake of fees rather than long-term performance," he wrote, arguing that funds will still be judged on their distributions. "It's true that scaling platforms can bring new complexity—and that fund multiples may compress over time. But the potential to create value at scale is greater than ever." While some founders could feel lost among more than 800 companies, Porter, the CEO of Collaborative Robotics, says GC's scale has been a major asset. "What Hemant is really doing is trying to build relationships with the biggest thinkers in the world," Porter said, adding that after the deal closes, he hopes GC will help him sell his robots to Summa Health. "As a founder, that's an amazing set of resources to tap into."
