This Bengaluru Woman Will Pay Big Price.....

[LordOfMud]

If Indian Startups Crash, This Bengaluru Woman Will Pay Big Price

The 52-year-old is co-founder of Bangalore-based Kalaari Capital and one of the country's largest venture investors. She's raised about $650 million and holds stakes in more than 60 startups, including the country's two most valuable, Flipkart Online Services Pvt. and Jasper Infotech Pvt's Snapdeal.  

Kola grew up in the southern city of Hyderabad and studied engineering at university. She headed to the U.S for a master's degree when she was 20 and stumbled upon her first business idea a few years later while working as a product engineer. When she called home in 1996 to tell her father, a government employee, that she was starting a company, he was hardly enthusiastic. "We are not that kind of people," he said. 

She went ahead and founded RightWorks Corp., which helped businesses set up software systems to buy and sell globally. After some early struggles, she signed on customers like General Electric Co. and PepsiCo Inc., and four years later agreed to sell control of the business for $657 million in cash and stock. She had become an entrepreneur -- and a rich one. She started another company, Certus Software, and sold her stake in that one too. By the end of 2005, she had money and experience: She decided to move back to India and work with young entrepreneurs. 

She raised her first $210 million in capital in about six months, persuading investors the time was ripe for India's entrepreneurs. Many of her fellow countrymen who had gained experience abroad were returning home, and the opportunities in sectors like e-commerce looked enormous. "Many people talked of the limitations; I saw the possibilities," she said. 

She was convinced that local startups would have a fundamental edge over foreign competitors. She reasoned that outsiders would struggle to navigate complex business practices that are unlike any place in the West, including inefficient payment practices, byzantine regulations and underdeveloped infrastructure. "Even today, the delivery boy will call the customer 20 times to announce he is coming, ask for directions, etc.," Kola says.

1. Vani Kola is one the country's largest venture investors
2. She is co-founder of Kalaari Capital
3. She has raised $650 million and holds stakes in more than 60 startups